Saturday 24th October 2009 Biffy Clyro, Southampton guildhall

Saturday 24th October 2009 Biffy Clyro, Southampton Guildhall

At 7 o’clock, Saturday(24^th October 2009) evening I was standing in an impressive queue outside the Southampton Guildhall, mentally preparing myself for an evening of sweaty topless men, hideously expensive beer and the possibility of being deaf for days to come.

No I wasn’t off to a Chippendales show; it was, in fact, time for Scottish trio Biffy Clyro’s first show of their UK tour.

With their fifth studio album Only Revolutions to promote, Biffy’s performance promised to be a mixture of the old and the new...and boy it didn’t disappoint.

The concert started strongly with the first of the two warm up acts Tellison, a four piece, South London outfit, warming the crowd up suitably with their charming indie beats.

Following was Pulled Apart by Horses, an alternative-screamo band from Leeds, with a fantastic display of angry guitar, blistering screaming and ear splitting bass.

Then, with the sell out crowd on tenterhooks, the ominous black curtain covering the stage was ripped down and Biffy Clyro emerged to don their instruments.

Opening with the blistering song from their new album That Golden Rule followed immediately with the equally blistering Living is a problem because Everybody Dies it was an epic start to the proceedings.

Biffy produced a truly impressive set with a meld of the orchestral songs from latest album Puzzle, played back to back with the raw, post-hardcore sounds from their earlier works.

As for their new material, Biffy played seven songs from Only Revolutions and each one fitted seamlessly with the rest of the set.

Yet again Biffy Clyro showed that they are still furiously passionate about their music and if this show reflects their new album then roll on the 7^th of November, because I’ll be first in the queue to buy it.

When You See A Man With A Horse, Just Keep Your Head Down.

So I admit, I’m from a small village in Devon and, by and large, haven't encountered many gypsies. I realise I may be being a little prejudice here and must outline that I am talking about the stereotypical angry, vicious gypsies that are portrayed in the Daily Mail and the Sun. However I thought everybody knew not to start fights or conflicts with Gypsies as they have a reputation for being ruthless and vast in numbers...I was wrong.
Recently I have been "establishing a drinking team" with a lad on my floor who is genuinely a good guy but must have missed the life lesson and what to do when confronted with and angry gypsies.
Two nights ago myself and a few other lads were getting a bit drunk, on an empty stomach when will we learn?, watching the football at a pub. All was going swimmingly with no hint of trouble or animosity and, after a swift meal, we returned to carry on the session in my room.
Many hours of binge drinking and FIFA 10 later, we inevitably began stumbling into Southampton town. Now it’s important to comment here that we all tend to be from small towns and have never seen a large family of gypsies walking a small horse up a high street, Sunday however we were treated to this spectacle.
Alarm bells were ringing in our heads, these people aren’t the sort you want to cross when you've been in the city for all of two weeks and so, after gingerly patting the horse and minding our P's and Q's, we all proceeded back to the pub that we watched the football in many hours before, for some cheap beers. We all did, that is, apart from my friend.
Before we knew what was going on we were confronted by a member of the bar staff saying that one of our party had punched a gypsy and they were hiding him in the back of the pub. One of the bar ladies even pitched in with "they'll kill him and won't even care."
Now having only known this lad for a couple of weeks I even surprised myself when I stormed out of the pub round the back to collect what was a very shaken, yet relieved young man.
After further discussion with the Bar staff we were encouraged to head back home and lay low for a couple of hours as my mate wasn't going to be the most popular person in Southampton that night and so, whilst walking him home I got the full story.
He was stroking the horse when the handler punched it in the head; a little shocked, my friend apparently told the handler that there was no need for that, ethical yet foolish. Unsurprisingly the handler reacted badly and aggressively, immediately squaring up to my friend, who, in another genius move, gave the handler a punch in the face.
After a whirlwind of abuse and a certain amount of walking away my friend was bundled into the pub and hid by the manager who had witnessed the scuffle and realised that my friend was in some serious danger, before releasing him out the back entrance, leaving me to pick up the pieces.

In hindsight my friend acted in a very ethical way and you have to admire his bravery in sticking up for the horse but it was unbelievably stupid to try and start a fight with a group of gypsies and incredibly lucky to escape the situation without so much as a scratch. I think however it is a very good lesson to learn and pass on, don't start fights with gypsies it's never a good idea.

The important debut...

There is a certain amount of futility writing the debut post on this blog as I currently have a grand total of 0 followers and it will be a while, if ever, before this is read.
However I am bowing to pressure and realise that during my gap year, and mainly accredited to some truly spectacular drinking binges, my writing and general intelligence have definitely taken giant leaps backwards, therefore it is probably in my best interests to put some effort into recapturing my form.
Therefore in the coming weeks anyone who I am brave enough to tell about my blog, and anyone who is brave enough to read it, can gain an exciting insight into the world of a first year Journalist Student who has definitely contracted the dreaded 'Freshers Flu.'