You have to feel sorry for the opening bands on tours.
Far too often they leap into a half-empty room, watching trickles of early entrants pass, looking to the bar rather than the stage. I Am Ghost But goth-punks I Am Ghost have found the secret of the opening set – it's all in the entrance. They begin by turning out the lights and filling the room with blood-curdling ethereal chimes. If anything is going to get the attention of Kerrang's macabre-minded teenage constituents, this is it. With all eyes to the front, the lavishly-mascara'd heavy metallers vault through deviant delights such as the biting Vampires Never Really Die and the pointlessly poetic Lovers' Requiem. The Bronx Next up are California-based bruisers The Bronx – a band so different from I Am Ghost it's comical. And it's not just their sound – their image and attitude could not be further from their preening predecessors.
 | | The Bronx - see more pics in the gallery |
Forget make-up – the only thing adorning their faces is a scowl. They're an unapologetic bile-spitting guitar-thrashing outfit with lyrics as poetic and graceful as a football terrace chant. Both bands are entertaining, but one has to wonder how on earth they get on back on the tour bus. But at least I Am Ghost won't have to worry about shaven-headed The Bronx wanting to borrow their hair straighteners. theAUDITION They’re followed by theAUDITION, a band with more to worry about than their hair – they're in desperate need of a personality transplant. Their breed of Stateside rock aims to be slick and simple – on stage it's banal and forgettable. Biffy Clyro And finally, the headliners: a band who, ironically, vanished from music magazine headlines three years ago. But before their oh-so-long hiatus, Biffy Clyro released three acclaimed albums, with a mix of mellow moments and punching aggression which set everything in place for the art-rock renaissance. And as they begin their set it’s a huge relief to see that while the indie floodgates have burst open, Biffy have not been swept away by the tides. Their sound is more arresting and accomplished than ever before, and they take old favourites My Recovery Injection and Glitter and Trauma to new heights. Biffy's power and professionalism sets them aside from anything else on show this evening. While the opening acts played with a hopeful enthusiasm which said 'here we are', Biffy pound through their set with a jubilance which screams 'we're back'. And doesn't Norwich just know it. The Kerrang! Tour came to the UEA, Norwich, on Friday, 19 January, 2007. Photo credits: Ben Piper. | 
