Junior - Live Review

Sunday 4th August 2019: Junior @ The Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham

It isn’t often you go to a Pop Punk show and come out feeling body-conscious because of the Bassist. Then again, not every band features a current WWE NXT UK Superstar Mark Andrews, centre stage pouring their heart out . We are in Birmingham for the 2nd leg of Junior’s album release tour for the bands debut full length ‘Beautiful Life’ two days prior the band had played Cardiff on the day the album came out, so spirits were high. 

If you’ve listened to the album, you’d be mistaken in thinking that because the way this album is put together Junior are putting on arena and stadium shows. Junior have sharpened their tools, and made something you wouldn’t expect. So to climb down to the basement of a Birmingham rock bar and find the small room pumping with pop-punk bangers you might be a little surprised. Junior feel like they are one good support slot away from breaking through to the next level. 

The energy in the room, as you would expect is high, and the band feed perfectly off that energy on the stage. You can almost envisage Mark Andrews running around a big stage and jumping off everything, if he only had the chance. Like any good show, they playlist is a solid mix of new and old. The most surprising thing, is that if you were to judge off the crowd you couldn’t tell which was which. If fans are already singing-a-long to the words from an album track which is only three days old that has to go down as a positive… right?

It isn’t just classic songs we get either, we also get classic antics. With the Junior Limbo World Championships being contested at The Sunflower Lounge, which featured a cameo appearance from Flash Morgan Webster, another WWE wrestler who just so happened to be in the crowd. 

Junior aren’t going to be for everyone, but that goes for every band. But what you can’t deny is that the fans that do pay their money and go out to a Junior show, really love this band. Nobody in the crowd has gone down to the Sunflower Lounge because “shall we go see this band, it’ll be the crack”. A great night hosted by a band that are definitely ones to watch - and listen to ! Go check out the album now! 

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