A church member who had a close friend stabbed to death said he has been encouraged by the response to the first knife crime concert in the city.
The first of two No More Knives concerts took place in Norwich on Friday (December 6) with a second set to be held in the city on Saturday (December 16).
The concerts, held by the Potters House Church in Norwich, come following a couple of knife attacks in the Dereham Road area of the city in the past few weeks.
Michael Brick, a member of Potters House Church on the road, organised the concerts after he himself lost a friend who was stabbed while he was growing up in Leicester.
He said: "It went really well for the first one.
"There were quite a few people. It's getting the message across that it doesn't have to be that way and I was encouraged by the support from people there.
"I believe it was only the beginning though and am hoping we will see a lot more people on Saturday."
He added: "Even if people have not been affected by knife crime the point I'm making is we want to stop it before anything happens."
Following his experiences of knife crime - and the devastation it causes - Mr Brick, who became a Christian at 17, wants to get the message across that young people "don't have to choose that path".
He said: "I'm a gospel rapper who's trying to show people that you can change and highlighting how parents need to be very cautious as I was brought up in a good home with good parents yet I was carrying a knife at 15/16 years of age and I'm currently in contact with the police to proceed further with this campaign throughout Norfolk in the schools."
The 23-year-old, who has dubbed his campaign 'save a life, drop the knife', added: "I really do believe we can see a massive change in our city and our local communities."
The next concert will take place at TheOne80 venue on Stevenson Road, Norwich, on December 14 at 7pm.
They follow a daylight brawl on Dereham Road on November 5 during which two men were stabbed and an attempted robbery near the Larkman Lane area, off Dereham Road, in which a teen was stabbed just a few days later.
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