Live Review: Biffy Clyro - Hamburg 2016

Alsterdorfer Sporthalle, Hamburg, Germany
4th November 2016
Biffy Clyro, Lonely The Brave

Going to a concert with friends and having a good time while enjoying some music is still the best way to welcome the weekend. Apparently, that was also the opinion of some 7,000 people who went to see BIFFY CLYRO on Nov. 4th 2016.


Lonely The Brave

Unfortunately, supporting act THE HUNNA were forced to cancel their appearance on short notice, resulting in the event starting at 7:50pm with only one opening act instead of two: LONELY THE BRAVE hail from Cambridge, England, where they were founded back in 2013. They managed well to include the audience into the show and quite a few people seemed to like the band's solid rock music that evening. In an interview with powermetal.de, David Jakes once named FUNDERAL FOR A FRIEND and BIFFY CLYRO as influences on their own music – a relation that's impossible to deny. Sadly, the lighting during the show was rather underwhelming. The sound, however, was flawless. http://www.lonelythebrave.com / https://www.facebook.com/LonelyTheBrave 



Setlist
01. Black Mire
02. Dust and Bones
03. River River
04. Jaws Of Hell
05. The Blue, the Green
06. Strange Like I
07. Trick of the Light
08. Backroads
09. Call Of Horses

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 5
Total: 6.5 / 10

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Biffy Clyro

The room is pitch-black, the air is fraught with tension. Suddenly, a children's choir sounds, the room is lit with gleaming lights and BIFFY CLYRO get going. All of the 7,000 people present immediately recognize the first song and start to sing along, as ‘Wolves Of Winter’ off the new album ‘Ellipsis’ opens this show in Hamburg. BIFFY CLYRO have arrived on the very top of the scene with their new long-player ‘Ellipsis’ and the same-titled tour. Their recent songs are on heavy rotation on several radio stations and the sold-out Sporthalle in Hamburg shows a high degree of popularity also among German audiences. The band's songs have turned in to anthems, they sell out big concert halls and headline several famous festivals. BIFFY CLYRO's story of success is absolutely marvellous. And rightly so, as can be seen on their live shows. The two-hour concert evolves into a proper party night. Everyone's dancing, there's constant mosh pits, the fans are absolutely euphoric and reward BIFFY CLYRO with big rounds of applause. The show's diversity is downright unrivalled, the band is on fire and rocks the hell out of the entire huge stage. But there's also space for mellow, thoughtful ballads on the set list, where rock music turns into catchy, melodic pop tunes.



“Good evening, Hamburg! How are you? It feels great to be back!“, says singer and guitarist Simon. As usual, he plays topless, so do James and Ben, much to the delight of the female members of the audience, who slightly outnumber the males. The guys keep on emphasizing their affinity to Hamburg, since they have already played at Molotov, Knust and Docks before. The set list left nothing to be desired – a well balanced mix of their back catalogue including all favourite BIFFY CLYRO hymns. The fans were cheering like mad, supported every chorus with their voices and completed every line completely unrequested. The interaction between the band and the audience appeared to be very intimate and intuitive. After 23 amazing songs, BIFFY CLYRO got back on stage for an encore of another three all-time favourites. The fantastic fan chants on ‘The Captain’ put smiles all over the band members' faces. The Hamburg audience was terrific, as Simon praised repeatedly. The show's closer was ‘Stingin Belle’, which saw all the highly pleased fans cheer one last time about an uncompromisingly great performance. Line-up: Simon Neil (guitar, lead vocals), James Johnston (bass, vocals) and Ben Johnston (drums, vocals). http://www.biffyclyro.com / https://www.facebook.com/biffyclyro



Setlist
01. Wolves of Winter
02. Living Is a Problem Because Everything Dies
03. Sounds Like Balloons
04. Biblical
05. Spanish Radio
06. Howl
07. In the Name of the Wee Man
08. Bubbles
09. Herex
10. Black Chandelier
11. Friends and Enemies
12. That Golden Rule
13. Re-Arrange
14. Wave Upon Wave Upon Wave
15. Medicine
16. Different People
17. Mountains
18. On a Bang
19. 9/15ths
20. Animal Style
21. Many of Horror
22. Whorses
23. Machines
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24. The Captain
25. People
26. Stingin' Belle

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 10
Sound: 9
Light: 10
Total: 9.5 / 10

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All pictures by Mandy Privenau