Mallory Knox
Guildford, The Boileroom,
Sunday, 29 Sep 2019

For years Mallory Knox were the band that everyone in Cambridge looked up to, they were the band that made it big. If they could do it, so could everyone else. As a massive inspiration to countless young bands it’s incredibly sad to hear they have decided to call it a day and go out on
one final tour.


Before Mallory Knox even took to the stage it was unclear how good their performance would be. Vocalist Sam Douglas came out and explained to the crowd he had damaged his voice and would only be able to perform a short set, three dates of the tour have now also been cancelled as a result. The crowd applauded him for his honesty and the show went on.


Despite these setbacks and a mere 7 songs set, the quartet blasted through fan favourites from previous albums and celebrated what has been a successful 10 year career. Every song carried the emotional weight that this would be the last time fans would be hearing these songs live, Mallory truly gave a performance fans will never forget. Sam was very clearly struggling with his vocals and he was unable to hold back the tears; this wasn’t the last show they wanted to give the fans.


The set was weighted mostly with songs from the first five years of their career, with only one song from their 2016 album ‘Wired’ and none at all from their new one released in August. While other nights on the tour featured a wider range of songs from the back catalogue, it’s interesting to see
which songs they chose to cut under the circumstances.


It was short but sweet night in Guildford, but a set of hits from a band giving it their all despite such frustrating problems and a crowd wanting one fond and final memory of this band, made the show special
in an unusual way.

Words and Pic - Ryan Bird

Thanks to Sophie Entwistle from Chuff Media for arranging this.