Page 49 - Black Velvet Issue 93

BV93 pg49_BV93 pg49 09/06/2017 01:15 Page 1

BlackVelvetMagazine.Com - 49
YYYYY Excellent YYYY Very Good YYY Good
YY Listenable, Just Y Poor

MALLORY KNOX / LONELY THE BRAVE / FATHERSON – BIRMINGHAM O2 INSTITUTE, 24.03.17
Vocalist / guitarist Ross
Leighton begins Fatherson’s set
alone before his bandmates join
in. The Scottish band are cre-
ative chaps. ‘I Like Not Knowing’
features an almost quirky, repet-
itive ‘oh no oh no’ section.
Songs such as ‘Always’ are very
easy listening, quite mellow but
with an artistic and atmospheric
element to them.
Lonely The Brave don’t fol-
low the traditional concert stage
set-up. Vocalist David Jakes
stands at the back just to the left
of drummer Gavin Edgeley. They
say they started off like that due
to lack of stage space at small
gigs, although vocalist David
Jakes also has performance
anxiety. We give kudos to him for
getting on stage and singing
when anxiety is an issue. While
there is a lack of movement on
stage, the band make up for this
in the quality of their songs. They
have a soundscape that can be
pictured projected in stadiums.
Songs such as ‘Deserter’, ‘Back-
roads’ and ‘The Blue, The Green’
have a deep, melodic, wistful
feel. They’re a band you can
close your eyes too and still get
the full impact of their music.
After two quite sedate
bands, what we really need is
something to get the blood flow-
ing. Cue Mallory Knox. They do
exactly that with opening num-
ber, ‘Giving It Up’, the kick-off
song from new album, ‘Wired’.
The band mix up old favourites
such as ‘Ghost In The Mirror’ and
‘Beggars’, the latter being musi-
cal perfection, with tracks from
the new album. ‘California’ has a
happy, bouncy tone – you can re-
ally feel the sunny state of Cali-
fornia in the Birmingham venue.
Frontman Mikey Chapman in
particular has a smile on his face
and you can tell they’re happy to
be back on stage. It’s something
that both the fans and band are
enjoying. ‘Getaway’, ‘When Are
We Waking Up’, ‘Wake Up’ and
‘Shout At The Moon’ are songs
we’ve missed hearing live over
the past year and it’s great to
hear them again. The encore be-
gins with fan favourite ‘Light-
house’ before ending with the
newer single ‘Better Off Without
You’. The music scene is defi-
nitely better off WITH Mallory
Knox in it, and tonight’s spot-on
set shows us exactly why.
YYYYY
Shari Black Velvet

Mikey Chapman (Mallory Knox) Photo
By Shari Black Velvet

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