Last night was the finale of the four day Biffy Clyro end of year gigs at King Tuts and what a finish it was.

Arriving at the venue a little later than previous days, it was, again, quieter than the night before. Apparently we missed an early support act of a piper but were in time to see the main support act: comedian Phil Kay. As frantic and manic as always, he amused the crowd for the most part, even if he waned a little towards the end. Jamie Lenman (from Rruben) and Phil Kay could both be seen wandering around the upstairs bar, among other, harder to spot band members.

At 10pm, as was their custom, the band took to the stage for the final time. This time, rather than known material, the set largely comprised material from their unrecorded fourth album. What an eye-opener. In places the new stuff is heavier with less screaming, and in others more melodic; a very wide selection. So as to keep things going, every two new songs was followed by a Biffy classic. The finale of “57” was immense, the fan picked to sing “A Day Of…” was surprisingly tuneful, and new track “9/10th Prayer Of Bombidimor” was mind-blowingly complex. How Ben kept up the drumming in that, I have no idea.

As a thank you to everyone, on the way out the band gave out Christmas cards (all hand-signed) and mince pies to all.

So, 4 nights, 58 tunes, many poor renditions of Christmas tunes by the crowd, and some truly bizarre support acts later and the four days of Biffy end. Worth every penny.

Day three and the last of the Biffy Clyro gigs at King Tuts based on released material. The atmosphere was much quieter before the gig, with the downstairs bar remaining quiet (there were seats still available) and upstairs at the venue staying pretty room until much nearer the main act’s stage time.

Shame, really, since the support act was the most entertaining so far. Again foregoing another band in favour of something a little bit different, tonight a magician took to the stage. While his finale was entirely underwhelming (a flimsily crafted card trick), the rest of the act was well-performed.

At 10pm, as with previous nights, Biffy took to the stage, this time playing Infinity Land; easily the band’s heaviest album. While “There’s No Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake” was the song that really set the crowd off, the highlight of the night had to be the unexpected guest appearance of Reuben‘s Jamie Lenman. That said, the encore of “And With Scissorkicks Is Victorious”, which the crowd had been asking for since the first night, went down a treat.

Another great Biffy gig.

Night two of the Biffy Clyro residency at King Tut’s saw a slightly different atmosphere early on. With so much waiting around for the band the night before, and the near non-existent support act (a clown), the earlier part of the evening was much quieter, with much more room and less heat in the downstairs bar.

Upstairs, the merchandise stand were selling a surplus of older t-shirts (not available the night before) and the band were milling around, talking to people and having a few drinks.

Tonight’s support act, while not traditional, was musical. A string quartet trio played a number of songs, largely comprised of Christmas tunes of which no-one knew the second verses. Many poor renditions ensued by the crowd.

While I’ve never been overly keen on the first half of tonight’s album, The Vertigo Of Bliss, I was surprised by just how good it sounded live. I guess that’s how the album was shaped (recording took only 2 days) so it makes sense that it’s such a crowd pleaser. However, there was nothing better than long time set and album closer, Now The Action Is On Fire, featuring the usual thrashing finish with stage diving.

A loud and brash finish, but sadly no encore as it was already running over.

A few months back, arguably the best rock band in the UK, Biffy Clyro, announced that they would play an unprecedented four nights in a row at King Tuts in Glasgow. On the first three nights they said they would play one of their three albums per night, whole and in-order. On the final night, they would play their unrecorded fourth album for the first time. Despite tickets selling out entirely on pre-sales, I managed to get several tickets to each night. So loud band, small venue, absolutely packed.

The first night was the Blackened Sky show. Being their most straightforward and most loved album among the ardent fanbase, this was always going to be a good night.

The support act was… unusual. A clown came onstage and made a balloon animal. Then, while Christmas carols were sung by all, he made his way around the crowd making more balloon animals for the prettiest girls he could see; smart clown.

Then the band took to the stage and slammed through the first album in its entirety. That the crowd knew every word to every song meant that Simon could go easy on the vocals, barely having to sing a note. 57, Just Boy and 27 were stand out classics, but the high point for many was the encore which consisted of old B-side, Hope For An Angel.

An excellent start.

For a while now, I had thought that the disappearance of the Degrassi (great band from Edinburgh) website was a temporary glitch. It was a fairly terrible looking website, and perhaps they were changing it. Sadly, that’s not the case: the band have apparently split. To keep things clear in my head, and for the benefit of future generations of the musically inclined, here’s a quick potted history of what happened surrounding that group of musicians.

First, there was Idlewild; another Edinburgh-based indie-rock band who have become progressively more mainstream as the albums have come out. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as the change seemed fairly natural, but by some accounts it is why Bob Fairfoull, the original bassist, left. The actual departure involved punching someone in the face, but details are somewhat sketchy on that front.

Separately, Degrassi had recently finished their excellent “Terminal Ocean” EP and begun touring the local music scene. I’m not 100% sure what happened, but their bassist at the time left the band and in stepped Bob. The band went onto record “The Form” EP, several pretty decent demos and, earlier this year, released a first single, “Tell Charles I’m On My Way”.

Filling the bass position in Idlewild was former Turn bassist, Gavin Fox, who, along with additional guitarist, Allan Stewart, helped provide a much mellower and folky sound to the traditionally sharp and jagged noise that Roddy and company were putting out.

Jump forward to September this year (as best I can tell) and everything went sour in Degrassi land. A bust-up of unknown reason has caused the band to go their separate ways. Bob and Degrassi singer, Michael Branagh, have formed a new band who have been playing recently (though I missed the show) under the name of Womb. If anyone knows the website (if there is one), do tell. I don’t imagine that name will stick for long since Womb were a band who were around 3-4 years ago, at least, but it’s what we know for now.

To finish, it seems that Gavin Fox has rejoined Turn for their upcoming Irish tour (and possibly new recordings), but will continue with Idlewild at the same time.