BIFFY CLYRO PROVE WHY THEY’RE STILL THE BEST LIVE BAND

LIVE REVIEW | BIFFY CLYRO w/ The Armed, Soft Play | UTILITA ARENA, CARDIFF | 18th January 2025 by Ollie Hayman

After having been in the scene for years, Biffy Clyro still prove to us all why they’re still regarded as one of the best live bands around – proving just why they deserve all the plaudits for their major headline slots across the festival circuit. Cardiff’s gig was no different, despite the miserable weather, the Scottish trio sure knew how to keep their Welsh fans happy. The only key difference in all their UK headline shows this January was the absence of bassist James Johnston, who – after announcing a struggle with mental health and addiction – was filled in perfectly by Naomi Macleod (Empire State Bastard, Bitch Falcon).

The Armed

First on the stacked bill came Detroit’s very own The Armed. Self-described as ‘The Best Band In The World’ – it’s clear that they’re not quite there yet – but nonetheless, put on an opening slot to be proud of. Their sound can be described along the experimental hardcore punk lines, which is extremely evident in how they perform. Two vocalists – one female, one male – with a mix of cleans and screams from both. It’s not well documented as to who the true members are of the band, too but they’ve had many famous collaborators across their time as a band, including, but not limited to, Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age), Eric Avery (Jane’s Addiction) and Josh Klinghoffer (Red Hot Chilli Peppers). They have been widely criticised among the Biffy pages for not fitting the bill well – but they seemed well received here in Cardiff, and their energy on this night made it somewhat of a night to remember for the collective.

Soft Play

Soft Play came next – an out and out punk duo from ‘The Gardens of England’ – more commonly known as Kent. Formerly known as Slaves – but underwent a recent name change after a hiatus which contained many struggles for the pair – including having to deal with deaths, mental health struggles as well as the birth of a child. Isaac Holman (vocals, drums) and Laurie Vincent (vocals, guitar) are two true showmen. But not only that, watching them is like watching two best mates genuinely having the time of their lives. After the success of their 2024 album ‘Heavy Jelly’ featuring hits such as ‘Punks Dead’, ‘Act Violently’ and ballad ‘Everything and Nothing’ – they’ve been on tonnes of big name festival lineups such as Rock am Ring 2025, and this summer bagging even more big European festival slots such as Vainstream and Jera on Air.

Quite a memorable part of their set was giving any girls who wanted to mosh 3 renditions of the same song, ‘Girl Fight’ – a 15 second long track which gave them a safe space to mosh to their hearts content. Their incredible but short set was ended by ‘The Hunter’ from 2014’s Are You Satisfied?, which saw a continuation of that same energy and momentum of pits opening throughout their set.

Biffy Clyro

Then came the main act. Biffy Clyro, with their pre-set beginning with some questionable music choices, before hitting straight into hit single ‘A Little Love’ off of their incredible new album ‘Futique’, followed swiftly by ‘Hunting Season’ from the same record. On this UK run of shows, their production must be one of the biggest and best that they’ve ever delivered. It truly had everything. Projections, raising curtains, pyrotechnics, streamers and confetti – they had the whole package.

‘Who’s Got a Match?’ began with Simon Neil (lead singer, guitarist) shining this huge torch into the crowd, which was met with rounds of applause and cheers from the crowd. ‘Shot One’ and ballad ‘Space’ came next, allowing the 7000 strong Cardiff crowd to have a bit of a sing and dance before ‘Wolves of Winter’, where we see the first delivery of that high value production being used, with bright white streamers going high into the crowd. High enough in fact, that they became stuck on the fixtures on the ceiling, making for some interesting viewing from the back of the arena!

As the set went on, lots of the more well known material got its airing. ‘Biblical’ came after a back-to-back ‘Futique’ set of songs, whilst deep cut ‘Different People’ hit hard live. ‘Black Chandelier’ made for a beautiful singalong, before hard-hitters ‘Instant History’ and ‘Mountains’ had the crowd truly singing their hearts out, with Simon himself saying the crowd were ‘beautiful’.

One of the most incredible parts of the new Biffy shows is the introduction of live violinists which added so much depth to their performance. Not only does it works so well with some of the newer songs, but also many of their classics, such as ‘Machines’, performed acoustically before a hard hitting 4-song encore.

Said encore began with ‘The Captain’, a song which saw a sea of concert-goers moving non-stop, bouncing and moshing from start to finish. ‘Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies’ came next, and although it was only one of three songs throughout the set from early album ‘Puzzle’, everyone knew the words and were singing along to it. Then came ‘Bubbles’, where when Simon asked the crowd to bounce, the Welsh fully complied. Quite fittingly, somebody had managed to smuggle a bubble gun past security – so half of the room soon filled up with beautiful bubbles!

Before their very last song of the night, they just had to remind everyone exactly who they were, “Biffy. Fucking. Clyro!” screamed Simon, before gently transitioning into ‘Many of Horror’ – arguably their best known song ever. People got on others shoulders, screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs and singing the parts that were deliberately left for them to sing, leading to some genuine tear-jerking moments if you love the band as much as this crowd do. A wave of confetti finished the song off, before another exclamation of exactly who the band were – and they were indeed, ‘Biffy. Fucking. Clyro’ – at their very best too.