When trawling the UEA Box Office for any sniff of interest a couple of weeks back my interest was piqued by Mallory Knox. Their current track Ghost in the Mirror is being played plenty on the radio at the moment and I really like it but I couldn't rack my brains and remember what any of their previous music sounded like. In a spontaneous-ish spirit I thought we should just go along for an evening out and hope that they were entertaining enough; seeing that the support were Lonely the Brave who I had also heard of but couldn't place was encouraging. I thoroughly enjoyed the support – I would have been chuffed if they were the main act. Great set and ace music, they'll go far.

Lonely the Brave

It turns out that there are some loyal Mallory Knox fans in Norwich and I'd say 75% of the crowd knew all the words to all the tracks. I committed my own cardinal sin of not familiarising myself with their back catalogue so I did feel like something of an outsider from the second track onwards (they opened with a rousing blast of their current single). Do you know what? It didn't really seem to matter that I didn't know anything else; each track was loud, lively and catchy with the crowd who were most inclusive. There was a great deal singing, air-wanking as Chris calls it (he is one of those who stands planted like a tree throughout, le sigh) and a bit of jumping – or bobbing from me. Their music was clearly designed to be played live for maximum effect, listening to the studio recordings (which although good) don't have the same spark of magic. We both really enjoyed their set, it flew by and the crowd couldn't get enough.

The guys gave a stonking performance, it was high energy and no holds barred. They weren't playing to the crowd, they were playing with us; close enough to almost reach out and touch and really toying with our feelings. I'm going to have a girly moment now if you'll excuse me. They were all so fit, phwoar indeed! They drew us in and totally gave us everything you can can give on the stage.

Despite not knowing much of the music at all, this has to be by far the best gig I've been to in terms of atmosphere, music and overall feel-good experience. Mallory Knox, I bloody love you. Please come back to Norwich soon.

Sophie

On Tuesday I went out to see Royal Blood play at the Norwich Waterfront with Chris. It's not all that often I head out to gigs, especially to see a new band; it has to be one I really feel I have to get to see. The first time I heard material from Royal Blood was last year while I was listening to Radio 1 at work, I can remember it clearly. 'Out of the black' came on and I stopped what I was doing to stare at the radio because the intro was so intense and utterly grabbed my attention. I probably pulled a 'dafuq' face, wondering who these guys were. Think 'The Captain' by Biffy Clyro except in RB's case the rest of the track delivers. A couple of weeks ago I heard their second single 'Little Monsters' play on the radio which also got me all excited. Two real-deal tracks. As luck would have it I found that they were coming to Norwich in a week's time so I booked tickets, all rather fortunate.

Let me tell you that Royal Blood playing live is something you need to witness. Bands should (in my opinion) sound just as good, if not better live and Royal Blood certainly did not disappoint! There are just two guys in the band but there is no shortage of talent or noise so I guess it proves that you don't need numbers to make good music. Their sound is loud rock, catchy yet rough and tumble; a bit of Muse, Biffy, Arctic Monkeys, best heard at high volume with an air guitar to hand.

My only whinge was that they didn't play all that many tracks, or seem to, either that or time flew by without me realising it as I was having so much fun. Tracks to watch out for as well as the delicious Out of the Black and Little Monster are 'Figure it out' and 'Come on Over' but there is no sign of the album yet it's very much a case that they're keeping me waiting. On purpose.

Oh wait, I haven't told you about the support act which are well worth a mention; Tigercub opened the show and immediately swept me off my sturdy feet with their super catchy tracks which I would go so far as to say sounds a bit like cheerful rock to me. I'm sure parallels have already been drawn with Nirvana, as the lead vocalist has the most hypnotisingly husky voice a la Kurt Cobain. Last night I tried to find out a bit more about this three-piece but there isn't much to be found yet although their Youtube channel has three videos so far with Centrefold being my firm favourite with Little Rope and Mother being good listens as well. I guess they played around 8 tracks which I all enjoyed with what I would uneducatedly describe as nifty riffs, it's a bit of a shame that the volume was SO loud that I couldn't make out any words (thought I picked up 'telephone' but that turned out to be 'centrefold' and another song may have been about liver but goodness only knows). Tigercub have found a fan in me and I'll be keeping my ear to the ground to hunt down new music from them. 

G

Get your backsides out to see both these young bands, they're more than worth a listen.

Sophie