Scottish rock giants Biffy Clyro made their first appearance in Ireland since before the pandemic in the 3arena this week and what a performance it was with an absolutely epic production. They played a mammoth 25 song set with a great variety from across their 9 studio albums.
The set started off strong with ‘DumDum’ off the bands latest album ‘A myth of the Happily Ever After’. The band started off in the middle of the layered stage before coming to the front of the stage for another song off this album ‘A Hunger in Your Haunt’, which had epic heavy breakdowns with fantastic lights. Next up was ‘Tiny Indoor Fireworks’ off the bands 2020 album ‘A celebration of Endings’, this was one of my favourites in the set as Simon, Ben and James were able to show off their fantastic musical talents.
For ‘Who’s Got a Match?’ Simon made his way down to a platform at the front of the stage swinging a light over his head for the first verse before resuming to play guitar for the rest of the song with the light hung around him. The band then took the energy down a little bit to perform ‘Black Chandelier’ off their ‘Black Chandelier album. This was a nice moment in the set which gave both the band and the crowd a bit of a break from the mayhem. The energy was immediately brought through the roof again with ‘That Golden Rule’ from ‘Only Revolutions’ which really highlighted Bens fantastic drumming.
‘Instant History’ was an interesting moment in the set as it really showcased the bands more mature sound which is really epic and cinematic in a sense. The breakdowns in this song really got the crowd moving and singing along. This was continued with ‘Mountains’, you could immediately tell this was a fan favourite with members of the crowd throwing their arms around their friends, screaming back the lyrics. Simon then switched to an acoustic guitar to play one of the older songs in the set ‘Machines’ which was another nice change in the set. The production was quite tame for this one with a spotlight on Simon for a majority of the song without much other production.
The band immediately went back to the newer epic sound for ‘Unknown Male 01’, which was extremely catchy and another track which got the crowd singing again. The band then played ‘57’ a much older song off their 2002 album ‘Blackened Sky’. My favourite part of this song was the chorus with the band taking turns to shout and really gave the early 2000’s vibes the crowd were looking for. The band then returned to ‘Celebration of Endings’ with the epic bass riff that is ‘End Of’. This was yet another song in the set in which the band showed off their huge sound. ‘Wolves of Winter’ was accompanied by some fantastic graphics on the massive screens around the stage which made the song seem even more epic than the massive sound alone.
‘Space’ brought the energy down for a lovely sing along for which the band resided in the middle of the massive stage again. The graphics on the screen were great again and added to the production. ‘Victory Over the Sun’ was also a little lower in energy than the rest of the set allowed the crowed to get some lower tempo head banging before the end of the set. ‘Re-Arrange’ stuck to this theme of lower tempo songs but was in no means less epic than the rest of the set, this section the the show especially showed the range and versatility of the band.
‘Biblical’ is the literal definition of a stadium anthem with great verses and absolutely massive choruses. The band were accompanied by a strings section or this song which really added to it. ‘Living Is a Problem Because Everything Dies’ was also epic but in a very different way. This song was really dramatic with great lights during then heavy sections which added to the drama of the song.
When I first heard ‘Cop Syrup’ in 2020 I suspected that it would be incredible live and I was not wrong. The stark contrast between the extremely heavy sections and the beautiful string sections was a treat to the ears and once again highlighted the versatility of the band once again. ‘The Captain’ ended the main set and once again was a great crowd pleaser allowing them to sing back to Simon loudly from start to finish.
The band eanded the night with an epic 5 song encore including ‘God & Satan’ ,’Opposite’ and ‘Glitter and Trauma’ beforing playing the two songs many people came to the show for ‘Bubbles and ‘Many of Horror’ which were both amazing live and had the crowd linking arms once again to have one last sing along. A great moment to highlighting exactly what music does which is bring people together.
Biffy Clyro had been on my must-see list for a while now and did not disappoint in the slightest putting on what can only be described as an EPIC show and I cannot wait to see them again soon.
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