CRAWLERS with Moloka at the O2 Institute, Birmingham.

Crawlers are a rock/alt band from Liverpool, after Crawler’s debut album titled ‘The Mess We Seem to Make’ was released earlier this year, crawlers returned to Birmingham at the 02 Institute for their UK headline tour. It was a cold, wet, and windy evening, but this didn’t faze the fans. When I arrived, everyone was so happy and smiling, excited to see the show.

Unfortunately, Slowly Slowly was ill on this particular day, so they could not perform. At the very last minute, Moloka, an up-and-coming artist from Birmingham, bravely stepped in and put on an incredible performance. Throughout her performance, we hear her sing about love and relationships and her love for charity shops. The audience was captivated by her beautiful vocals and cheered her on throughout the entire show. Even though it was just her and her acoustic guitar on stage, she still captivated the crowd. As this performance was planned so last minute, there is no set list available, unfortunately, but you can hear her songs on her Spotify and Soundcloud at @MOLOKA, and you can follow her on Instagram at @Molokamusic. Overall, her performance was beautiful and if you get the opportunity to see her live, I highly recommend you do.

And now it’s time for the main event, Crawlers. They have gone and done it and sold out the venue! It was packed in there and full of so much excitement and love (as it should be!) that you do feel the sense of community at a Crawlers show. Every person in the venue was dressed so beautifully, and each person is unique, it is truly beautiful to see everyone dressed in what makes them happy.

This is my second time seeing Crawlers perform live, and they did not disappoint! From the second they walk on stage, lead vocalist Holly Minto jumps up and down on stage, hyping up the crowds and getting you excited for what’s to come. They started the night off with a banger, ‘I End Up Alone,’ which is a perfect opener. The crowd screams the lyrics, “I end up alone, “while Holly Minto is head-banging and dancing alone to the music; the vibes in the room are incredible.

Halfway through the set, we had a whole 360 change in the atmosphere in the venue when they performed ‘Golden Bridge’. This is an incredibly emotional and sad song. Instead of dancing around on stage, Holly sat down on the stage and sang, making it just that little bit more intimate. Some people in the audience were crying, some were hugging their significant others, and some were singing the lyrics. It was a beautiful and raw moment. Then, right after this, Holly and Liv are back to their usual ways of dancing and headbanging while performing. The energy of the show was incredible, and it was amazing to see how they could go from one extreme to another.

Intimate shows like this one are always so special. The fans are singing every single lyric word for word at the top of their voices. One fan also shouted to Holly Minto, “I made a bracelet for you!” Holly is always very appreciative of fans who bring gifts to the shows, so she asked for the bracelet to be passed along to her. Other members of the crowd pitched in and helped get the bracelet to Holly, and it was such a beautiful moment. Things like this remind you of how supportive the Crawlers community is.

You really cannot fault a crawler’s gig, and I highly recommend going to one if you haven’t seen them before. To make this show even more special than any other, they played a brand-new unreleased song called ‘Afraid to Die’. Fans were thrilled to hear a new song live for the first time, and everyone listened continuously. There are so many alt/rock bands out there, but Crawlers will always stand out to me, from their stage presence to their lyrics, they are truly a pleasure to watch live, if you have the opportunity to see a Crawlers gig, definitely go!