Lovejoy at the o2 Institute

I feel very lucky to get to photograph and review gigs and sometimes you go into them with preconceptions of what you are going to see. Tonight’s gig was one of those times. Bands with social media superstars coming to play music, and a  sold out crowd of mainly teenagers with their parents in tow. When I arrived the queue was around the buildings with a hum of excited anticipation. Many of them had been there all day so they could get the best positions.

Alice Lily

Alice Lily, a local band, were first on, playing their biggest show to date and were visibly shocked at the screams and shouts from the crowd when they came on. They opened with Layla before moving into Bite My Lips from their Under The Lights ep, then straight into Darlin’. Vocalist Alice Roach was in great form and climbed onto the barrier at the front of the crowd to sing and was greeted by a sea of phone torches which made an amazing spectacle. They followed this up with Burn, Against The World and Echoes, all from their Burn ep. The crowd were loving it and they finished with Bedbound, leaving the stage to a cacophony of noise. We will definitely see more of these guys.

James Marriott

Next up was YouTube sensation James Marriott. The crowd went wild. He had moved into making music in 2021 and by the reaction the audience knowing every word to his songs they were on the same page as he was. He came onto stage, arms outstretched to greet the cheers and screams of the crowd. James and his band were all sporting James Marriott Band t-shirts for a spot of product placement and started with No Left Brain, before he picked up his guitar for Grapes.

So Long led into Calling before James was asking the crowd if they were ok…bit of a silly question because they were on the verge of delirium. Next was his first ever song – Slow Down, then into Where Has Everyone Gone? Followed by Car Lights. In full swing now they played The Other Side before finishing with Him, a great set and the crowd were perfectly warmed up.

Lovejoy

With the crowd at fever-pitch, it was time for the teenage sensation that is Lovejoy. The lights went down, the screams were deafening and if the roof could come off the Institute it would have done. The boys walked onto the stage almost apologetically and started with Model Buses. Vocalist and multimedia sensation Wilbur Soot was the perfect frontman with a great voice and a real presence on stage. They have only two eps behind them and they played nearly all of their music. Next was Taunt, then Perfume with the crowd knowing every word and singing them at maximum volume.

Wilbur asked “is Birmingham ok? We haven’t played here before and we will be back” and was greeted by two thousand screams. The sold out crowd were singing, dancing and jumping to new song Consequences before Sex Sells, You’ll Understand When You’re Older and Cause for Concern. The rest of the band – Joe Goldsmith – lead guitar, Ash Kabosu – bass and Mark Boardman – drums together with trumpet players Leandra Badruza and Zoe, all looked like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The set finished with The Fall and Call me What You Like before leaving to a deafening noise. They returned with One Day then It’s All Futile! It’s All Pointless!, before finishing with a brilliant version of Concrete. Lovejoy will go from strength to strength and with a passionate support like this there is no stopping them. My own preconceptions were truly blown out of the water, this was an amazing night and good to see a new generation going to gigs.

 

Review and photographs: Andy Shaw

 

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