Live Review: Biffy Clyro at James Hay Theatre, Christchurch

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Biffy Clyro
w/ Coast Arcade
James Hay Theatre, Christchurch
Monday 13 April 2026


There’s something surreal about seeing a band perform when you’ve listened to them thousands of times. Biffy Clyro have been my favourite band since I was a teenager. The first music magazines I ever bought – which happened to send me down the path of wanting to become a music writer – included a Rock Sound magazine featuring Biffy Clyro on the cover. I’d never heard of them but I did really enjoy the track that was included on the CD sampler that came with a mag. I heard another track on a Kerrang sampler that I acquired later in the year, and that was enough to sell me on wanting to get my hands on the album Puzzle.

I’ve been a Biffy diehard ever since. I’ve got most of their albums on vinyl, and a bunch of pretty rare stuff too. This is the third time they’ve come to NZ, and it’ll be my third time seeing them play.

Image: Bevan Triebels

This is my first time coming to James Hay Theatre. What a fantastic venue! It was nestled in as part of the Christchurch Town Hall complex. Nice and intimate, with a standing section at the bottom and two seated sections above, it appeared that the view of the stage was fantastic no matter where you were situated. The sound was great too.

Image: Bevan Triebels

Young Auckland band Coast Arcade kicked things off. After achieving success with Rockquest during their time at highschool, members of Coast Arcade formed the band in recent years, and are already seeing successes. They released their eponymous debut album on CD and wax last October, and have support slots with Play Lunch and Silversun Pickups coming up. Tonight was a dream come true for their drummer Thom Boynton, having been a huge fan since childhood.

I saw Ben Johnston and Mike Vennart watching and nodding along from side of stage during Coast Arcade’s set, and Ben had great things to say about them later in the night. And rightly so – they had big energy and plenty of head banging moments, following in the footsteps of their anthemic heroes. A cover of Velvet Revolver’s “Slither” also showed how tight they were – they’re asking for tough comparisons when playing the songs of rock royalty.

And then we had Biffy Clyro. It’s eight years since they last played in New Zealand, and they’ve released four studio albums in that time. This tour has been a long time coming. I was positively fizzing.

The precursor to their set was a stop/start electronic percussive ostinato played loudly over the speakers. Dilating tempo signaled something was about to happen, before the lights dimmed and the band came onstage.

Biffy Clyro’s sound has changed over the years, but as soon as I heard the drumming into to their most recent album opener, “A Little Love”, it unleashed some long engrained Pavlovian response. There’s no doubt whatsover that those drums sound like Biffy Clyro. I was moving and grinning from ear to ear.

My inner teenager was positively giddy. Hell, old man me was giddy. It doesn’t get much better than this. The irresistible bounce of “Who’s Got A Match?” took me right back to being 16 again, listening to Puzzle on my cheap CD walkman and marveling at these weirdly complex songs that the Scottish trio had written. I felt the same sheer awe and joy watching them play their songs now, in front of me. 

Image: Bevan Triebels

It was a two tiered stage. Ben Johnston was at the back with his enormous drum kit. Singer and lead guitarist Simon Neil stood to his side, belting out the vocals. Both were topless, heavily tattooed, and soon to be covered in a glistening sheen of sweat. The stage lighting was fantastic, with red and white blinders pulsing and flashing.

I mentioned Mike Vennart earlier. He and Richard “Gambler” Ingram have been part of Biffy Clyro’s live act for many years, both also having also been in legendary prog band Oceansize back in the day. (Vennart also has a metal side project along with Simon Neil entitled Empire State Bastard.) Vennart was on left-handed guitar, Ingram on keys.

I was hoping that they’d play a range of material spanning their back catalog, and maybe even a few special additions for NZ audiences, seeing how they’d never played here when releasing most of their albums. However, they have a fill-in bassist, Naomi MacLeod, stepping in while usual bass player James Johnston addresses some mental health and addiction issues. I imagined that Naomi had only learnt and rehearsed the songs that they’d selected for the standard set list of the tour so would have understood if they didn’t deviate from that.

Image: Bevan Triebels

Looking at Setlist.fm, I see that they did play the same songs they’ve been playing this far on tour. But it was still a great selection and I wasn’t left wanting. Nothing from their early albums when they were signed to Beggar’s Banquet, but I have no complaints.

Biffy Clyro have been around for a long time now, so have become veterans of the stage. We still got tastes of the human element though. It seemed like they got excited and sped up during “That Golden Rule” and “Bubbles”. And the Simon’s tortured scream during “Goodbye” had his voice breaking slightly in a way that I just love.

Image: Bevan Triebels

One criticism is that the backing tracks were too loud and borderline ostentatious at times. Yes, lovely string sections make ballads feel more emotional, but they stood out too much in the mix and took me out of the moment at times. I thought this made “Space” feel a bit like bad karaoke. But that didn’t stop half the crowd singing along with their arms in the air.

And Biffy Clyro know how to do ballads. “Machines” was the perfect antithesis to the garish rendition of “Space” – just Simon and an acoustic guitar, later joined by Ben on backing vocals. No need for backing tracks there, just pure magic. And who could deny the power of “Mountains”? Or “Many of Horror”? The unifying power of the ‘woahs’ in “Biblical”? Truly transcendent. 

But my heart lies with the riffs, with the songs that compel us to move and thrash about. There is few things in life that make my heart sing quite like the riff in the later half of “Different People”. The frenzied, acerbic riffing of “That Golden Rule” leaves me breathless. “Bubbles” the crowd bouncing with effervescence. The bombastic intros of “The Captain” and “Wolves of Winter” take no prisoners.

One moment that stood out was the outro of “Two People in Love”. I hadn’t paid that song much attention until now, but I really loved how the band sat on the motifs, building beautifully, first with twinkling piano, then adding fresh layers of guitar and crashing cymbals as the song grows and grows with captivating wonder. It sounded huge, ready to engulf us all.

Image: Bevan Triebels

This is a band that isn’t afraid to mess with us, to show off a little. Just listen to “Living is a Problem…” A few minutes of seemingly random stabbing that launches into choral harmonising and erupts into big choruses. As if it wasn’t technical enough, Simon derailed it during the bridge, the mad conductor holding the band hostage as they entered a passage that was somehow even more chaotic that the recorded song that we all know. He paused, slowed it down, sped it up, added weird distortion and just enough tension, before finally letting it resolve, the band following along flawlessly.

If I had to describe Biffy Clyro in one work it would be: anthemic. They know how to write a song that rouses you and makes you feel. Big riffs, big choruses, big energy, big singalongs. Plenty of dynamics and loads of fun. This gig was everything I’d hoped for and more.

Mon the Biff!

Image: Bevan Triebels

Review by Joseph James.

Photos by Bevan Triebels.

Thanks to 818 and Live Nation.

Image: Bevan Triebels

Live Review: David Byrne at Spark Arena, Auckland

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David Byrne Who Is The Sky? Tour

Spark Arena, Auckland
Wednesday 14 January 2026

David Byrne came to Wellington on his American Utopia Tour in 2018. It was incredible, one of the best shows I’ve ever witnessed. And it truly was a show. The uniform, the choreography, the lighting… not to mention the music. Outstanding.

And then a few years ago I went to the local Embassy theatre to watch the re-release of the iconic Talking Heads film, Stop Making Sense. I’m too young to have seen it when it first came out, so this was a such a joy to behold for the first time on the big screen, especially with the amazing speaker system that the Embassy boasts.

So I was pretty excited when I saw that Byrne was returning to NZ. I’m not a big fan of going to Auckland, but the promise of an incredible show was too good to pass up.

I happened to sit next to another music writer on the flight up (Alexander Bisley – check out his excellent recent write up on Don McGlashan) and he asked me if that last David Byrne show would rank in my top 10 concerts. It was a very convincing yes. I had no doubt that tonight would be amazing, the question was how would it differ from last time.

The thing that sets this show apart from most is that everyone is mobile. Most bands would have a drum kit set up, amps at the back, microphones on stands… But in this case, everyone had their instruments on straps or harnesses in some way so that they could move about the stage as they played. Drummers playing mounted drums and percussion like a marching band would, and everyone used wireless pickups and headset mics. This changes the dynamic so much because every song is choreographed and we see the performers line up and move in different formations, adding such an interesting visual component to the show.

This was the same for the American Utopia tour, but there were a few updates. They all wore dark blue uniforms, whereas last time they all wore light grey suits that showed up sweat patches, and had bare feet. Last time a curtain of chains enveloped the rear and side of the stage. This time we had huge screen walls showing videos.

This is the Who Is The Sky? Tour, and they played three tracks from said album. Lead single “Everybody Laughs” was a joyous time. But Byrne is synonymous with his old band Talking Heads, so he treated us to many of their classics.

I also liked that they included a Paramore cover. Paramore singer Hayley Williams featured on the Who Is The Sky? album, although they didn’t play that song tonight. Byrne also recently recorded a song with Olivia Rodrigo. I find it so charming that this iconic man in his 70s is so connected to current pop divas.

They started off with the beautiful “Heaven”, and took us through memory lane, with obligatory inclusions of crowd pleasers like “Psycho Killer”, “Once in a Lifetime”, and “Burning Down the House”. These all saw people jumping to their feet to boogie at a seated concert, and looking through the crowd, hundreds of phones were lit up as people recorded the experience.

And although I think people are better off being in the moment, I can see why they wanted to capture things. It was a sight to behold, a baker’s dozen worth of star performers singing, dancing, and playing in complex evolving formations.

I could see what they were playing, but even so, it was hard to believe that it was all live instrumentation. It is so commonplace for bands to rely heavily on backing tracks these days that it makes me wonder how Milli Vanilli was so controversial when they were exposed for lip syncing. But this was the real deal. It’s a shame that he didn’t do it again tonight, but I remember last time they actually made a point of building a song up slowly, player by player, so it was evident how each musician contributed to the sound. Even then, despite the evidence, it still sounded almost too good to be true. Remarkable stuff.

This show would have taken an incredible amount of rehearsing. I can certainly think of some shows that I’ve seen that have felt borderline sterile with how rigid and rehearsed they were. But this was lively, infectious. We could see how much fun the performers were having, full of energy. It was a celebration of music, of the arts, of humanity.

Byrne and Talking Heads came up in the new wave and punk music movements of New York, largely connected to the iconic venue CBGB’s, alongside contemporaries like The Ramones and Blondie. This exciting scene was known as vibrant and innovative. It’s incredible how Byrne has kept the creative momentum going, and remains relevant in his 70s.

He quoted an interview he’d read with director John Cameron Mitchell, in which Mitchell stated that “love and kindness are the most punk things you can do these days” [my paraphrasing]. After some consideration, Byrne decided he agreed with this. Especially considering the current world events and the state of the USA, choosing to be kind is an act of resistance.

Byrne made a point of highlighting how people have fought to come together for humanity in recent years. He shared how Italians would sing to each other from their balconies during the pandemic – especially on their Independence Day – which was a day celebrating the defeat of fascism. They used the screen walls on stage to broadcast footage of protests, or even just t-shirt slogans, with progressive bumper sticker sayings on them. The audience would cheer loudly when they saw images or slogans that resonated with them. I strongly remember Byrne playing an incendiary cover of Janelle Monáe’s “Hell You Talmbout” at the last show, a powerful song that decries police brutality and racial violence. There’s no denying that he was making strong political statements, but with a filter of positivity and inclusivity.

David Byrne blew me away with his last show in 2018. And this new iteration delivered just as much, but with more Talking Heads hits thrown into the mix.

Before playing “And She Was”, Byrne shared that the song was about a girl he’d gone to highschool with who always seemed super happy. He’d wondered what the secret to her happiness was. Turns out it was LSD… I can’t comment on taking acid, but I think attending a David Byrne concert can deliver a pretty darn potent dosage of happiness too.

 

Joseph James

 

After the show Marty Duda from 13th Floor stopped me and asked about my tshirt. I was wearing a House of Guitars shirt I’d bought when I was on tour with Ranges earlier in the year. Turns out Marty used to work there, 30 years ago! And then I met another music writer, Nick Bollinger (author of Goneville and Dancing Sundays) – his daughter and I are both Kindergarten teachers. I thought it was pretty cool to have randomly met three other music writers in the space of a few days.

Live Review: Ash Grunwald at Meownui, Wellington

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Ash Grunwald

w/ Simon Donald
Meownui, Wellington
Sunday 24 August 2025

Ash Grunwald was the first musician I interviewed for Will Not Fade. Local author John McCrystal helped me edit the interview and I was so proud of the finished result. It gave me a big confidence boost as a writer. Ash was great to talk to and put me onto a bunch of artists and ideas that were new to me.

I saw him play that year, at Meow. I wouldn’t have even classed Meow as a proper venue back then – more a cafe that sometimes hosted folk acts and singer/songwriters. Ash pulled a modest crowd and I remember having a fantastic time. The standout moment for me was when Ash left the stage, walked into the middle of the room, and gave a powerful rendition of “John the Revelator”, just stomping, clapping and hollering. I was so inspired by this that I started a band a few years later that I modelled on this sound of stompy, chanty blues and rock.

So it was very cool to see Ash play again tonight, a decade on. Meow is now more known as a venue than a cafe, and the owners now have an even bigger venue – one of the best in Wellington… Possibly even the country – called Meownui. Ash’s popularity has increased so much over the past ten years that his current NZ tour has resulted in many sold out shows, with demand being great enough for him to play second shows in many towns. And he’s managed to make Meownui feel full on a Sunday night. He joked at one point that being a full time musician is basically living a life of poverty, so this is a pretty awesome achievement to see him have such success.

First of all, it sounded great. Meownui is an old Salvation Army church, so the acoustics have probably always been good in this building. Ash kept giving shout outs to Drew on the mixing desk, and mentioning how much fun he was having, hearing himself on such a good sound system in front of a good sized audience.

And he was was a class performer. Most of his songs have a big stompy feel, so he had us clapping along to many. And many have repeated singing parts, so he got us singing too. It was interactive and immersive. 

His set up was a bit different to last time, but the essence was still the same. Last time he had a crazy foot operated thing that housed all these drum and percussion bits. This time he had a few e-drum pedals instead, as well as a cajon box drum he sat on with two pedals attached. He has three guitars too – one being a resonator and another being a hollow body – all of which gave that classic bluesy rock sound, especially when played with a slide. 

Ash’s daughter Sunny had been tagging along on tour. She’s currently being homeschooled so that she can come on the road with him. Ash got her up onstage for a Bill Withers song and her voice was a show stopper. Seriously good, even outshining her dad. No doubt Ash is super proud of her.

Ash Grunwald Meownui Wellington

Ash joined onstage by his daughter, Sunny

Ash has a large repertoire to draw from, and wasn’t afraid to drop a handful of covers in as well. He gave a nod to Chain – the only Australian blues act to hit No. 1 on the charts. As I’d mentioned already, his daughter Sunny came onstage for Bill Withers’ “Grandma’s Hands”. He’s just as happy to draw from the blues greats like Robert Johnson or Howlin’ Wolf, as pop acts like Gnarls Barkley with his cover of “Crazy”. A good song is a good song, and we don’t need to gatekeep with genre.

He was such a pleasure to watch, clearly at home onstage after a lifetime of touring. Whether he was eeking out dolphin sounds, getting lost in the love of the riffs, or letting his dreadlocks fly about as he headbanged, he brought fun, effusive energy to his work.

I thought it was interesting that there weren’t any merch offerings available, because Ash is proving so popular that I have no doubt he would have sold plenty. [Post edit: I’ve since learnt that Ash will have merch at his other shows, but a contractual issue meant that he couldn’t sell it at Meownui.] I’m pleased to see his clear increase in popularity since he last came to Wellington, and seeing him again tonight made it clear why he has begun to sell out big venues.

Tickets for the rest of the dates on Ash’s NZ tour can be found at https://ashgrunwald.com/ 

 

Words and photos by Joseph James

Ranges & Man Mountain USA Tour 25: Boston, Rochester, Columbus

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Read: Ranges and Man Mountain Tour Diary Part 1

Day 4

Monday 21 July 2025

O’Brien’s Pub, Boston, Ma

w/ The Burning Paris

I’d been looking forward to going to Boston, having spent a few days there last time I was in America.

We drove through Connecticut along the Merritt Parkway, a beautiful stretch of road with many unique bridges and lush woodlands either side.

The guys all wanted to have lobster rolls. Feeling that my day yesterday had been dominated by getting a sandwich, I choose to instead go exploring the city and get some time to myself to recharge.

Boston is a great place. It has the benefits of a big city, having decent public transport and lots to see and do. But it still felt clean and open, with lots of cool old buildings and greenery. And the weather was ideal.

Ranges. Mark on drums, Tim on guitar

David from Man Mountain

There was another competing post-rock gig in Boston that night, with a lineup of Pelican and Glacier. Surely this affected turnout for our gig. But somehow, even though the turnout wasn’t huge, this was the show that had netted the band the most money on tour so far.

I don’t have too much more to say about Boston. I was exhausted and in a low mood and not really present much that night.

Day 5

Tuesday 22 July 2025

The Spirit Room, Rochester, NY

I woke up feeling significantly better. It’s amazing what a decent sleep can do to improve one’s mood. We set off to Rochester, to the north of New York state.

It was a reasonably long drive but didn’t feel it. On the way we stopped in at The House of Guitars. It’s was a music nerd’s dream. There was a music shop selling instruments, dotted with memorabilia. Rare instruments, many signed by famous musicians. Downstairs was an old recording studio. Through the rabbit warren was a record shop with thousands of records and CDs and t-shirts piled haphazardly. Photos and signatures of bands who stopped by adorned the walls.

The House of Guitars

Mark works for Gibson, painting guitars. He struck a conversation with the staff and turns out they had a lot of mutant contacts. They gave us a tour of the place. They were showing us a stage where in-store performances happen, and mentioned one that Zakk Wylde had done there. Then he dropped the bombshell that Ozzy Osbourne has just passed away.

It was such a weird coincidence. Mark and Chuck had just been talking about Ozzy on the drive there. And last tour, Mark had been talking about recording with Steve Albini the day that we’d heard that Albini had passed. And I remember that Tom Petty died when I first went on tour with Ranges. So we need to stop touring in order to protect these famous musicians?

One of the funniest stories from House of Guitars was about when adult model Jenna Jameson had come to do an in-store signing to promote Jackson guitars. The line was out the door and around the block, with more fans queuing up to meet Jameson than there had been when Green Day had done an in-store signing.

Most of us bought a t-shirt or hoody. Mark picked up a new cymbal at a very good price.

Rochester had an interesting feel. Lots of big stately looking buildings, like the Kodak headquarters and a few sporting venues. But it was fairly quiet and not many people around.

Spirit Room

The venue, Spirit Room, was a cool space. There was all kinds of weird and wacky decor. Lots of taxidermied animals. The statement piece was huge cast of an elephant head that had featured in The Greatest Showman film, as had a taxidermy ostrich. The bar had a drink offer that involved pulling a tarot card from a deck, and then the bartender would make you a cocktail that corresponds with the chosen card. I was sad to hear that the venue was in it’s final days, with the landlord kicking them off the premises in the near future.

We went and got barbecue before the gig. The portions were big and tasty and everyone was having a great time.

Barbeque

We finished the night with a trip to Taco Bell. The Man Mountain guys had recommended the Baja Blast drink, and Tom could not get enough of the “Obama Blast.”

Ranges. Mark on drums, CJ on guitar

Day 6

Wednesday 23 July

The Spacebar, Columbus, Oh

We started the day with a visit to Niagara Falls. I was surprised to see that it didn’t cost to go to, seeing as many American state parks and attractions do charge for entry. It was pretty impressive. The falls created a lot of water spray, and rainbows were being formed in the mist. Canada was on the other side of the river. We walked around, seeing various falls from different vantage points.

Niagara Falls

We got to Columbus early and browsed a few shops – a record store and a curiosity store that stocked a lot of items similar to what we’d seen at The Spirit Room the night before.

Ranges and Man Mountain had played The Spacebar together back in 2017. They were surprised to see some of their stickers still stuck up where they’d placed them, all those years ago.

It was largely as I remembered it. One of the staff mentioned covid and it made me realise how fortunate we are to still have spaces like this, after years of the live music scene coming to a halt.

We ate Skyline Chili. Spaghetti with chilli. I’m not quite sure what makes that different from spaghetti bolognese but it tasted good.

It was a good sized stage, with lots of incandescent lights hanging and giving a nice glow. Both Man Mountain and Ranges played well.

We stopped at a pizza joint on the corner. Last time we’d been there I’d been quite drunk and Jared had carried me out, quoting Lord of the Rings: “I can’t carry the ring for you Mr Frodo, but I can carry you!” Bryan was delighted to see that the pizza joint had The Fellowship of the Ring playing on the TV, purely coincidentally.

After the gig we had a great time celebrating the last night of the tour. Man Mountain had a ridiculously hot chip coated in a chili seasoning that had been sitting in their merch box for years, with nobody brave enough to try the challenge. I ate a good portion of it, with David and Tim also having some. It was punishingly hot and painted our tongues blue.

L-R: Chuck (sound tech), David, Tom, CJ, Tim, Bryan, Mike. Front L-R: Jacob, Mark, Me (Joseph)

We traded merch, signed each others’ posters. The bar was selling a pineapple cider that was popular. We took a group photo together on the stage, before heading downtown to take another with an Arnold Schwarzenegger statue.

We’re all heading to Indiana for Post Festival after this. Ranges are playing on Saturday. Man Mountain played the festival last year, and are coming as attendees this year. It’ll be a nice way to cap things off, without the big drives and exhaustion that can come with touring.

Joseph James