I have a confession: I'm not a huge Biffy fan. I've never bought any of their albums or attended any of their shows. But I have listened to their music and enjoyed it, and they do have a reputation for being excellent live, so this special show tempted me. A chance to catch them in a smaller venue.
I experienced an odd situation on the drive in when I approached the entrance to the northbound Clyde Tunnel, and the traffic lights changed to red. Typical! Here I am early for the show and now delayed for what turned out to be twelve minutes. By the time I arrived at the venue, the road system around the place was in gridlock as the fans attending the earlier show were now leaving. I still managed to find a nearby parking spot without too much delay and made my way to join the long queue.
Inside the venue, I decided to stand on the left-hand side of the room, next to a wall pillar. That way, I wouldn't be obscuring anyone's view if I raised my phone above head height. The crowd seemed a friendly lot, with the ratio of males to females strongly favouring the latter. I was amazed and angry that so many chancers, late on, dared to make their way through the crowd to get to the front. One family, led by the mother, pushed as far as four deep from the barrier, then stopped, unable to get any closer. They didn't care about the other audience members whose view they now blocked. All that mattered was that the daughter had a clear view.
As the band took the stage, I was surprised to see five people, with a guitarist and a keyboard player joining the usual trio. I was unaware that this was their touring line-up. As they played, it almost felt like a religious experience, with the crowd acting as a choir, the soft female voices notably growing louder for the swear words. They were engaged with their heroes, their faces lit up with joy. It was contagious.
Then, more people tried to push forward through the crowd, acting as if their strength of fandom entitled them to a better position. One girl in a shiny black leather jacket bustled past me without warning as I was videoing the third song, knocking my arm. That annoyed me. I take pride in my recordings and like to share the best ones on YouTube. I could see her get close to the front, but she didn't last long; she met resistance that forced her to retrace her steps. When she tried to halt in front of me, I may have 'encouraged' her to continue her journey, resulting in another lapse in my camera attention. If there had been sufficient space, it would have been fine, but I was already against the wall. I had nowhere to go, so she had to.
That slightly marred my appreciation of the band. They played for just shy of an hour. Their performance was glorious. I was most appreciative of their talents, just not the character of some of their fans.
Afterwards, I waited to see if anyone had been handed a setlist. I managed to get a photo of one, but it turned out to be two because the girl had accidentally stuck the ends together. It was nice of her to allow me to take the pictures, though.
On the way out, I noticed a small group of fans waiting to get a selfie with a bloke standing inside the sound booth area. I didn't recognise him initially, then later realised it had been Dougie Payne from Travis.
Setlist
Ticket Price: £22.50 from Assai Records.
Video
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