Words and Photos: Charlie Wallis

Its been some time since Four Year Strong last graced the street of Norwich. The last time was last years Kerrang Tour when Four Year Strong blew the doors off the city’s bigger music venue, The LCR. It is perhaps because of this that there are real murmerings of excitement in the air.

Don Broco are the first band on tonight and the Bedford four piece really strive to make an impact. Lead singer  Rob Damiani is a commanding frontman flinging himself from one side of the stage to the other. The band give a shout out to previous Norwich venues they’ve played and it goes down well with the massing crowd. Based on their performance tonight this year could be an important step for Don Broco.

Don Broco

Four Year Strong’s hometown buddies A Loss For Words are up next swiftly kicking their fast paced set into action. It’s an emotional half an hour and they  really cram a diverse and high octane performance into a relatively quick 45 minutes. They make the most of every second onstage whether it be blistering punky jams or a particularly entertaining Jackson 5 cover. It’s little wonder Four Year Strong brought these guys across the pond with them, as a sample of what’s to come they don’t come much tastier.

A Loss For Words

From the moment the first notes are struck Four Year Strong demonstrate that they’re bang on form tonight.  Every melody, every harmony and every beat of every beat down are perfectly executed demonstrating how this band really are a force to be reckoned with. Four Year Strong have always had a strong presence in this country but the level of dedication from their fan base is overwhelming with the fans singing back every word. The noise is deafening and crowd surfers come over the barrier like a waterfall of bodies.

Four Year Strong

The band strike a balance between older material and tracks off the new album. The new material goes down well, particularly tracks such as “Wasting Time” and “It must really suck to be in Four Year Strong Right Now” but the crowd clearly have a soft spot the size of a small country for the songs off “Rise or Die Trying”. Highlight of the night for me would be “Heroes Get Remembers, Legends Never Die” though there was no dull moment. An extremely impressive performance.

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Words and Photos: Charlie Wallis

Reel Big Fish are not newcomers to the Waterfront in Norwich. In fact with their relentless touring schedule they’ve been here many many times highlighting the fact that this is one of the hardest working bands in ska!

First band on tonight are The J B Conspiracy who set the energy levels high for the evening with lead singer Lank gelling well with the enthusiastic crowd.

The JB Conspiracy

Next up are arguably one of the reasons the Norwich Waterfront is sold out today; up and coming pop punk heroes Orange. Fresh off a successful UK tour with Bowling or Soup this band are really putting the rounds in to solidify themselves up with the big boys. Their performance is as flamboyant as it is impressive. Frontman and bassist Joe Dexter seems to love the attention of being on stage and feeds off it. Somewhere in between Billie Joe Armstrong and Gerrard Way it strikes me that you can’t fake stage presence on this level. You can’t help but this these guy deserve to be playing much bigger venues where their theatricality can be fully indulged. Tonight they go down a storm from the screaming girls in the front row, to the crowd surfing guy wearing a rubber horses head. Which ever way you look at it, these guys are ones to watch.

Orange

When Reel Big Fish take to the stage they are welcomed like returning heroes. Their mix of ska and pop punk is always entertaining to listen to but live its something else. The band really perform in the sense that their whole show is aimed at entertaining the audience both in terms of the music and they comedy element. The horn section in particular are an entertaining three piece acting out most of what frontman Aaron Barrett says.

Reel Big Fish

The hits go down particularly well with the show culminating in firm favorites “Sell out” and “Take on me”. Reel Big Fish manage to maintain the fun and energy throughout the length of their lengthy set, which is no mean feat. The audience reciprocate in turn and the skanking and bouncing doesn’t let up from start to finish. An entertaining experience all round which left the audience grinning from ear to ear.

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Words: Tom Willmott Photos: Emma Bowdidge

When you think about Manchester bands, the first ones that come to mind are Joy Division, The Smiths and Oasis. But what many people don’t know is that the city is also home to one of the best underground and criminally underrated rock acts of the past decade or so. Amplifier have been in existence for twelve years now, and despite the fact that they’ve made appearances at major festivals and received tons of critical praise for their latest record “The Octopus”, they’re still very much under the radar. This year saw the demise of their contemporaries and fellow Mancunians Oceansize, which sees them filling quite a big void there, aided no doubt by roping in Oceansize’s former guitarist Steve Durose for live duties.

First up we saw Northern Irish four piece Mojo Fury. Along with “The Octopus”, their debut “Visiting Hours Of A Travelling Circus” has been amongst the highlights of this year’s releases. As well as performing some tracks from that album e.g. “The Mann” and “We Should Just Run Away”, they also made room for some new material possibly for the next album. “El” and “Grounds” hinted at a more experimental pop direction, but also retained their signature sound which some might describe as very heavily influenced by Nine Inch Nails. The band expressed their gratitude to Amplifier for taking them on board, considering their difficulty in finding a band to support, given their eclectic sound!

Mojo Fury

 By the time Amplifier hit the stage, there was still only a somewhat sparse crowd, who although  very passionate in their welcome, could not fill the generous space of Islington Academy. However, that’s completely irrelevant to what happens on stage, where dressed in their familiar all-in-black with octopus logo, the band kicked off with “Forever and More”. Watching them live, it was great to hear grooves and melodies that haven’t been heard since the days of Soundgarden. With a typically Octopus-heavy setlist, they also made way for some of their older material, most notably “Motorhead” and “Strange Seas Of Thought”. Highlights came in the form of “Interglacial Spell” and the title track itself. For the majority of the set, the band maintained a silence in between songs, until the end when they explained  to their disappointed fans that they had hoped for a longer set, but due to club night arrangements, had been cut short. Initially ending with “UFOs”, the reaction was so strong, they had time to fit in one more for an encore, which came in the form of old favourite “Airborne”.

Amplifier

Generally, they are a rewarding live act, and should not be missed if they were to tour again. Possibly, the event would have worked better in a smaller venue such as the Relentless Garage or  The Underworld in Camden, but the main task was to deliver an eye catching performance, and that is definitely what they accomplished!

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