The first leg of the Kerrang Tour 2015 kicked off with a blast in Norwich on Friday (6/02/15). With Don Broco as the headliners plus We Are The In Crowd, Bury Tomorrow, Beartooth and last minute addition Young Guns all pitching in to put on one of the best shows the University of East Anglia LCR has ever seen.
Beartooth opened the show with 'Beaten in Lips' and their energetic performance set the crowd off jumping and singing along. Even those who didn't know the words soon caught on. However, it was clear that this energy tired the band quickly as the space between their songs to get their breath back were perhaps a bit too long. This didn't affect their performance, however, because as soon as the music kicked in they were back, jumping around the stage and encouraging the crowd to sing and jump along too. Performing tracks off their debut album 'Disgusting', the band carried themselves with dignity and showed Norwich exactly what they are about.
Next on the list was Bury Tomorrow. If it was possible for any other artist to scream as clearly as they do on CD then this is the band that does it the best. With the first circle pit of the night created during their first song 'Man on Fire' and shouting 'raise your f***ing hands in the air', the whole venue went crazy, and not once did they put their hands down. It was just a shame that you couldn't hear the clean vocals of Jason Cameron very well over the music. Playing tracks from their albums 'Runes' and 'Union of Crowds', people of all ages, backgrounds and hair colours couldn't help but enjoy them. Even the begrudging parents who wished for earplugs and sat as far away from the speakers as possible couldn't help rocking in time to the music and being ever so slightly amazed at Bury Tomorrow's quality in every breakdown.
The surprise last minute act of the night was Young Guns, having been announced only a few days before the Kerrang Tour kicked off. The band announced through Kerrang Magazine that they had a new album coming out and will be back in Norwich in June as part of their tour. It was good to see them back with new material. Despite only playing three songs in a fifteen minute set, they managed to convert a lot of the crowd who had never heard of them before into fans. When their set ended, there was a continuous murmur of 'wow they were really good' and 'I think I'm going to get their album'. Young Guns are the most experienced on the Kerrang Tour having been a part of it a few years previously, and they knew just how to get the crowd singing along.
We Are The In Crowd were one of those bands that seemed to be better live than they were on CD. When they were first announced, they seemed out of place alongside bands like Bury Tomorrow and Beartooth because of their pop vibe, but the Kerrang Tour was their time to show that they were perfect for the line-up. And that's exactly what they did. The New Yorkers seemed to be in their element playing to the Norwich crowd, and carried out their set with non-stop energy. With Tay almost being dragged into the crowd at one point it was clear that there was many a We Are The In Crowd fan in Norwich. Unfortunately, the tech guys couldn't quite get the levels right as the music overpowered Taylor Jardine and Jordan Ekes' vocals.
Then came the headliners. It was quite clear to see that the majority of the crowd, although they enjoyed the other acts, were there to see Don Broco. The venue suddenly filled up in seconds as they came on stage. And what a performance. The towering presence of Rob Damiani combined with the power of his vocals sent the crowd into a frenzy. Playing almost everything from their debut album 'Priorities' to some of their new songs such as newly released 'Fire' and even some of the tracks they wrote when guitarist Simon Delaney was still at university at UEA. Bury Tomorrow's Dani mentioned in the build up to the tour that they wanted to create the biggest circle pit the Kerrang Tour had ever seen. But, unfortunately for them, Don Broco beat them to it. Encouraging the crowd to push back in order to get some space in the middle during songs such as 'Whole Truth' and 'Priorities'. Don Broco rocked and shook the whole venue and every track was almost a perfect copy of their CDs.
Although each act took a while to come on stage and there were some technical issues with the sound, every artist took to the stage with the aim to blow the crowd away. Every act succeeded and each act tried their hardest to be better than the last.
4.5/5
Sophie Brannon
Official Site - http://www.kerrang.com/
