Review: Biffy Clyro, SECC, Glasgow | Herald Scotland

Last time Biffy Clyro played the SECC – November 2010, to be exact – it marked a step-up to arena sell-out status for the Kilmarnock trio.

The fact that they’re back in the same venue in 2013 does not in any way suggest time is standing still; if anything, this was an even more ecstatic homecoming, buoyed by the success of their first No 1 album and Best British Band crown at the NME Awards. Headline prestige at Reading and Leeds festivals follows in the summer.

They’re certainly confident enough of their new material to fill no less than half the set list - that’s 13 of 26 songs - with tracks from Opposites, which was only released at the end of January.

And that confidence is well placed: the likes of Sounds Like Balloons and Stingin’ Belle already punch the arena air as powerfully as back catalogue favourites Bubbles and Who’s Got A Match.

The band have also stepped up a gear when it comes to putting on a big rock stage show, embracing their inner Spinal Tap with constant live video projections, jets of steam and a domineering sculpture that’s part-stairway, part-human spine and severed arteries.

The night ended, as it did back in 2010, with Mountains, their biggest hit single but now just one of any number of major-league rock anthems that spill from Simon Neil’s burgeoning songbook.

It underlined what sets Biffy Clyro apart from the pack: verse/chorus singalongs that no longer require a nudge from an X Factor hijacking to thrive in a sweaty, communal embrace, but still manage to keep at arm’s length from the mainstream through complex rhythms and ruptured riffs.

You get the feeling that the world is theirs for the taking.

Rating: five stars