Birmingham Symphony Hall show for Biffy Clyro
Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro are back on the road for a rare acoustic gig at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. The show on Wednesday follows the release earlier this year of their first acoustic album, MTV Unplugged: Live At Roundhouse London.
Recorded at London’s famous Roundhouse venue on November last year, the set represented the UK relaunch of the iconic MTV Unplugged series.
Biffy were following in the footsteps of influential rock bands who had previously performed as part of the series, notably Nirvana, Oasis, Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and George Michael.
Although their live shows were best known for their electrifying and explosive energy, Biffy had often demonstrated that their songs possessed an added poignancy when stripped back to their essence.
Brothers James and Ben Johnson, the band’s singing-bassist and singing-drummer, have enjoyed their reinvention. Ben says playing an Unplugged show was a thrill. “We thought that we weren’t a big enough band to be asked to do that.
“It was a real pinch yourself moment. It took a while for it to get confirmed; we’d been asked and we thought it would never happened because we’re not a big enough band for this, but it did. We’ve got a lot of songs that work in the acoustic guise; we can definitely do that. Our wonderful live players helped us out, it was a really smashing night. Really special. I’m so glad that we’ve gotten an album out of that and a DVD.”
James adds: “I think we made the mistake, you see all those 90s performances being so iconic, of going back and watching them all. We got really nervous and naturally we compared ourselves to some of our favourite bands, which was a mistake. We’re not Nirvana, as much as we love them, we’re a different thing. We just had to be ourselves, as corny as it sounds.”
