Young Guns Festival @ Waterfront Studio

In the stuffy space of the Waterfront Studio, Friday night was about to get fun and lively, with the last evening of the Young Guns festival- an explosive performing platform created by Craig Hill to raise new acts into the musical world.

First up is Lucy Grubb, and in the lowering peaks of sunlight she plays a relaxing and tranquil acoustic set, enough to warm the coldest beers being poured at the back for the arrival of more and more friends and family into the venue. Covering the likes of Frank Turner, Lucy achieves creating a wonderfully exuberant atmosphere, the crowd now anticipating all of the acts to follow, as well as appreciating Lucy’s hard hitting lyrics and soft silky vocals.

Following this serene set was going to be hard to do; however volatile and fiery Dogs Dinner come bounding onto the stage and seem to sweep away any hesitation of them being able to put on a show. Dressed as black-and-white-striped convicts , their alternative and in your face style oozes through, front man Josh Whitmore-Lyons embodying a Dingus Khan-esque performance style with barefaced audience interaction, taking the crowd out of their comfort zones. Tom Stanners on bass providing a calm stability to the group, Tom O’Driscroll smashing it on guitar, and Jacob Harrey destroying (in a good way) the drums, this quadruplet get the crowd completely hyped, mosh pits being created and fulfilling the band’s goal of providing a fun and animated introduction to them as a band, and the evening itself.

After a little break, Midnight Zoo (a three piece rock band) take to the stage. Jess Page Garrett embodies a young Ian Curtis on vocals, their style as a whole well and truly reflecting a rough Joy Division, but slightly more loud and bassy. A slight decrease of crowd capacity (Dogs Dinner wearing out the audience?), however still a wonderful set by this band rising the ranks of Norwich, one to definitely watch in the future too.

Bringing back the peaceful atmosphere we started with, Cape Sundew seep onto stage just like their music seeps into the crowd. Staring transfixed at the psychedelic tones smoothly emitting round the room, Gabriel Gifford on guitar and vocals chills the crowd to a complete mellow state, William Saunders on keyboard doing especially well to turn ‘Space Ballad’ into a whimsical masterpiece that can mentally transport you to another land. Reminiscent of Tame Impala, with Laurie Dibble on bass producing a punchy undertone and Jan Shelly’s rhythmic drumming, Cape Sundew completely keep the crowd in awe, head bobs and halcyon dance moves proving how to catch the attention of the audience and keep them connected and intrigued.

After a tense wait and a packed in audience, Lobster themselves start packing onto the stage, the funk 8 piece (more or less, with new and old members helping out and contributing at every gig) kick starting their set with an instrumental introduction to the band, each member getting a small solo which the crowd already are going wild for. Over the set, Molly Holdom with sultry vocals ascends to performing their own written songs, mellow jazz sound flooding the Waterfront studio. Huge highlight for everyone in the crowd is the surprises that Lobster have in store, from choreographed dance moves in the centre of the audience, to the release of giant blow up red lobsters. All of these add together to evoke undeniable smiles, so hard to remove that cheeks seem to ache wherever you turn. Just as you thought they were over, Lobster knock out a cover of Disclosure’s White Noise, one they have been doing for a while but increasingly gets better with every gig (as well as the notorious limbo that frontman Dominic Trevor, magnificent of saxophone, gets started in the crowd). And if that wasn’t enough, the absolutely ecstatic atmosphere keeps on elevating, until the peak is hit when Joseph Webb blares out the horns of Higher Ground by TNGHT- a bloody miraculous version of a trap/electronic tune that seems almost impossible to cover in any shape or form, but is absolutely obliterated into shreds (once again, in a good way) by this amazing local band. As if it couldn’t get any better, Noah Merrell bashes out the beat to Uptown Funk, and Lobster finish on this high-energy fun-loving tune that gets the whole building singing in unison.

Overall, an absolutely amazing evening full of fresh new acts in Norwich, who are bound to change the face of our local music.