Mallory Knox + Lonely The Brave + Fatherson @ 02 Institute, 24th March, 2017
The queue stretched far down the road in anticipation for Mallory Knox‘s return to Birmingham tonight. Having released their first single “Giving it Up’ all the way back in November of 2016, we’ve finally been able to get our hands on their 3rd studio album “Wired”. This is just in time for their latest tour, in which they’re joined by Scottish band – Fatherson and their friends Lonely the Brave.
Walking into the venue with Fatherson playing, a 3-piece band hailing all the way from Glasgow, I was caught off-guard by the vocals of Ross Leighton. The raw emotion that flows, with what seems little to no effort, together with the great Scottish accent captures your attention from the start. Accompanied by Marc Strain on Bass and Greg Walkinshaw on drums, they put together a great sound, bouncing from song to song in their small set.
Although they might have been a little lost on tonights crowd as they still make their way to fill up the room, they could have easily gotten everyone in the palm of their hands if it was their headline night. It’s refreshing to see another great band emerge from Scotland, standing in the shadows of greats such as Biffy Clyro, I have no doubts Fatherson will smash it in the coming years.
Lonely The Brave were up next, clearly a fan favourite as they entered the stage to cheers. Fronted by David Jakes, although fronted might not be the right word as despite his incredible vocals wrought with emotion, he’s known for taking a step back and shying away from being upfront. The band played a short set, though each song shone through the packed out venue. Playing hits from their latest album “Black Mire’ and “Dust and Bones” before hitting the crowd with the beautiful Deserter, it was up to guitarist Mark Trotter to make small talk between each song. It is clear that each member enjoys what they do so much and have great appreciation for the crowd singing along to each song. Ending their set on “The Blue and the Green” Jakes kicks out his haunting vocals of “I wanna know what it’s like, so I can feel it inside.” before exiting the stage and leaving us in a trance.
It’s almost time for Mallory Knox to grace the stage, the familiar MK lights on both sides of the stage are uncovered and the lights go down. The crowd erupts with cheers and whistles as the drums start and you can just make out the band members as they appear on stage and kick into “Giving it Up”, kicking the room into a frenzy of singing and dancing. Heading straight into Ghost in The Mirror they showed that they were a force to be reckoned with, and with the stage framed with a colour changing ‘MK’ even this room at the Institute felt too small for them.
The energy and love of the crowd matched to the drive and passion of the band on stage, they owned it and showed they belonged up there, if not somewhere bigger. Front man Mikey Chapman has been entertaining throughout; his personality being a definite match to the quality of their music. Smiles never left their faces through-out the night. Hurtling through their hits, including “Dying to Survive”, “Getaway” and “Beggars”, there was no stopping them, hit after hit, this felt like the perfect setlist for any Mallory Knox fan. But it was “Shout at the Moon” that really left an impact with me, Chapman’s raspy vocals, supported by each member of the band in such unison, clearly feeding off each others energy and love for the music. They left the stage for a minute before indulging us once more, and with a bang the room was back to the frenzy for “Lighthouse”, the audiences voices almost matching Chapmans vocals ending the night with “Better Off Without You”.
Having recently been announced to be headliners at 2000 Trees Festival, this show gives just a taste of what will be unleashed and gives me confidence that this band will be around for a long time yet, heading for the bigger venues.
Mallory Knox Setlist:
Giving It Up, Ghost in the Mirror, Wired, Dying to Survive, Getaway, California, Beggars, Falling in Love, Lucky Me, When Are We Waking Up? Wake Up, Shout At The Moon, Saviour. Encore: Lighthouse, Better Of Without You
Reviewer: Jordan Wynn
Photographer: Chris Bowley