As much as I love Biffy Clyro...

Posted on: 31 July 2010

I've just finished watching the live feed of biffy's headline set at the iTunes festival and as much as i love the music the band produce, they lack something live.

And as charismatic and unique a character as he is, I reckon the frontman simon Neil is the weak link. On record, simon Neil has an amazing voice, oozing with Scottish grit. But live, his voice is - well - nothing more than OK. It's an unfortunate by-product of the energy and enthusiasm he gives to every performance. No one can beat a guitar to death, entertain the crowd and pull off a flawless vocal performance. The backing vocals however, I thought were excellent.

My other gripe is with his single coil equipped stratocaster; a fantastic guitar in it's own right, but with the excessive amounts of distortion to their sound they seem to favour live,  the result is a muddled inarticulate sound that more often that not gets lost in the mix. It's unfortunate because simon's playing in general is pretty tight.

It does pain me to point out these faults because I love almost everything biffy clyro have put out. But what can I say? I'm perhaps a little bored and in an overly critical mood.