 After
a mad rush to get to the academy on time, on a
bloody cold Birmingham night i might add, i get
to the academy with time to spare.
Pulled Apart by Horses are the opening act, an
alt rock band from Leeds, with the singer being
originally from Birmingham, The kick off with
what ever they kicked off with, not big on telling
the crowd what there songs called, i couldn't
even derive the song titles from the vocals, because
i couldn't hear/understand them. There sound had
very few melodic sections, but id best describe
them as a punk band only the songs are longer,
at times it was just noise, but every now and
then it was heavy and had something i could musically
enjoy. Everything about the music seemed off kilter
as you weren't sure where they were going. There
performance seemed tight and it was good to watch
as the guys onstage were very lively! The crowd
seemed to enjoy parts, but didn't seem that impressed
with the boys from leeds, but the crowd clapped
them anyway off stage when they were done.
 Main Support was Manchester Orchestra , from
Atlanta, Georgia USA, another alt rock band, well
from the off they weren't opening with a bang,
and the same can be said for the rest of there
set, there not the liveliest of bands on stage,
except for the other drummer/synth guy on the
far right occasionally going nuts in his corner
of the stage. the band seemed tight and on it
tonight, but i get the feeling from the front
man, he seems reluctant or just a tad shy as every
now and again he would turn away from the crowd
then turn back to sing mostly with his eyes shut
only opening them to check the chords he was playing
on his guitar. There were some decent riffs scattered
across there set, but the first 3 songs were rather
long, so i gather they only played 5 or 6 songs,
but those songs seem to drag a bit and seemed
rather similar also there songs seem to lose there
way at times before coming focused again, not
sure what to make of them really, but the crowd
enjoyed them though.
 After an interval which seem to last a while,
Biffy Clyro make there way to the stage after
the black curtain is pulled down, to a great cheer
as the crowd know the time for Biffy has come,
no drama this time for any of the band members
after what happened last time out for the guys
in the old academy, enough history, they Open
with a track off the new album Only Revolutions,
That Golden Rule brings the crowd to life once
more, this is swiftly followed by the song which
got them noticed by a lot of people, many of which
im sure are in the crowd tonight, Living is a
problem, the version they played was shorter than
the album the intro was cut down, as were the
strings missing, but sounded great live, then
i get removed from the pit mid song for not having
the right photopass, but i shot a song and a bit,
im happy. There set is littered with a fair few
songs from the album Puzzle, they include Get
fucked Stud, 9/15ths, Saturday Superhouse (that's
a personal favorite), Semi Mental and Who's got
a match(yet another favorite). What was good to
hear was them playing some of the older stuff
too like Just boy, Joy.Discovery.Invention and
Liberate The Illiterate. There set was very tight
and as manic on stage as ever. Only a slight grievance
was that the band said very little to the crowd,
but with the amount of songs they played tonight
what does it matter, they ended there set with
Mountains, which had the whole crowd singing,
getting them nicely warmed up before heading back
out in to the bloody cold, great gig from one
of Britains best live bands!
Pulled Apart By Horses – 3/5
Manchester Orchestra – 3/5
Biffy Clyro - 5/5
Review By Robert Lawrence |
