Young Knives at Rock City

We saw Young Knives at Rock City this week. The experience was somewhat unforgettable.


The bass guitarist walked on stage in a boiler suit, that he confessed ‘smelt of human shit’, in a giant papier mâché head, drinking beer and miming the child-voiced intro to 12345.

That set the tone for the rest of the Young Knives gig.

Fast, loud and raw

Opening with ‘We could bleed’, it was fast, loud and raw from then on out. Frontman Henry, wearing a paisley shirt with a woman’s bauble necklace, was hard to take your eyes off as he sang intensely at a crowd who seemed keen despite a 7pm start time.

A shout of ‘We used to be like the Kaiser Chiefs but now we are fucking nothing like the Kaiser chiefs’ received a cheer before the band carried on tearing through last years ‘Sick Octave’ album.

Fiercely energetic

Synths, backing vocals and furiously played guitar made for a noise so rich that it was almost literally deafening. The front row are probably having their eardrums operated on now.

There was a quick guitar change and Young Knives played some rare old material in ‘The Decision’ and ‘Something awful’. Henry told the crowd, “Here’s an old song, I hope you like it. I fucking won’t like playing it.”

Fiercely energetic, the set was worthy of head thrashing and hair swaying, toeing the line between youthful pop rock and something darker and less predictable.

In a nod to the flamboyant Flaming Lips they preceded, Henry ended the set wearing a pair of giant homemade bat wings.

Bizarre start, bizarre finish and everything great in between.