A little too much thrash, not enough melody
Last time I saw Biffy, they were awful, so I wasn't looking forward to this at all. Fortunately this time, with the sun shining and the festival atmosphere, it was a damn site better. For a three-piece band, they make a hell of racket.
It's hard to know what to make of this band, it's indie but it's not. There's jerky pop and a disjointed bent but it tends to get a bit samey after a while. Not to mention the fact that the stage swallows them up, which is a shame.
Combining indie and heavy rock has a tendency not to work but the crowd loves it, even the hardcore metallers. The third song is pretty chilled out with a gorgeous melody and, as the guitar kicks in, the sun comes out. Sunny indie pop that's reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian makes the set worth watching. The chilled out mood carries on with 'Just Boy', a ballad that picks up and turns into what comes dangerously close to emo territory. But after a set that contains the same sort of thrash/melody/thrash songs most of the time, the last song with its restraint is one of the best songs of the set.
Biffy wasn't as bad as I was expecting, which was a great relief. Yet they weren't exactly great either, with their own special blend of indie, rock, and metal.