Arriving at a packed Nottingham Arena Biffy Clyro were already on stage and, whilst personally I don't understand why their brand of indie rock is held in such high regard amongst a lot of the rock and metal press, I am happy to give them a chance.  Unsurprisingly most of the material in their set was culled from the most recent, and successful, album Puzzle with the likes of “Who’s Got A Match”, “Whole Child Ago”, “Get Fucked Stud”, “Nine Fifteenths” and “Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies” all getting an airing, the latter of which also saw  the band adding a syncopated lighting display to accompany the drumming. As a live band Biffy Clyro appeared somewhat static on stage, barely moving from their microphones and hence never really seemed get the crowd going, perhaps surprising given their current popularity although on this evidence it would be hard to tell whether they are popular or not, oh well Linkin Park would be on soon.. 

Over an hour later and the lights finally went down to the roar and screams of the crowd. The curtain that had hidden the stage set from the audience was back lit by rear spots and the cheers got louder and louder as each of the member’s silhouettes came into view.  Finally the curtain dropped and Linkin Park wasted no time jumping straight into “What I’ve Done” quickly followed up by “Faint”.   After the initial onslaught “No More Sorrow”, “Somewhere I Belong” and “From The Inside” kept the crowd going and it quickly became evident that the majority of the set was to be made up with material from the recent Minutes To Midnight opus. Not that that was any surprise but the early omission of anything from Hybrid Theory was perhaps more of a though provoker given the high regard with which that album is held.  

With a high platform dominating the rear of the stage, inhabited by Joe Hahn and drummer Rob Bourdon, the band fully utilized the space available on the huge Nottingham stage , reaching out to the whole audience rather than just those in the first few rows. Add to this the giant video screens that hung overhead providing constant images and videos to accent the material, with the visual for “Hands Held High” being particularly impressive, meant that the band were as intimate as possible in so large a venue. Indeed Chester Bennington even went as far as to venture out into the crowd during “Given Up”.  “Valentine’s Day”, “Numb” and “Shadow Of The Day” followed and although they may be decent efforts they actually felt slightly tame given some of the material the band have in their arsenal.  At this point there was so much Hybrid Theory material left un-played that it came as a bit of relief when the crowd erupted into “Crawling” and  “In The End” before new song “Bleed It Out”, which incorporated the drum solo, brought the main set to a close.  

For the obligatory encore Bennington returned, alongside Mike Shinoda on keyboards, to deliver “My December” before the rest of the band joined the party for “Breaking The Habit”, after which they took their leave once more and, at this point, people started to file out of the Arena thinking it was all over even before house he lights came back up. Somehow you felt that there was more Hybrid Theory waiting to break out. Sure enough Linkin Park returned one final time to round the evening out with “A Place For My Head” and finally “One Step Closer”, in what was a great way to end the show. Anyone who left prior to the second encore will surely be regretting that decision now.

Return To Gig Reviews Main Menu