Well
tonight is my last gig of the year, it’s
been a great year for bands and an even better
one for live music, I’ve seen loads of great
acts and If I’m not mistaken I started this
year off with Don Broco as a support act, so it’s
only fitting that I end the year with them as
the main headliners!
Tonight is the normal cold winter night in Birmingham,
its breezy its damp and it’s clear that
instead of the yule tide spirit we have the Christmas
blues, but fear not the institute is warm and
bustling and in the main room is a sell-out gig
for a band who just keep getting bigger and better
with every show, and let’s hope tonight
is no different for the Bedford four piece.
Don
Broco take to the stage in front of the hundreds
of screaming fans that have packed this multi
floor venue, the come out slowly with more of
an experienced style instead of previous outings
where they rush out as fast as possible and jump
straight into the main songs to get there music
over, no tonight they can take their time and
pace themselves, as everyone here knows every
word to every song, as they’re playing mainly
their debut album Priorities which has gone down
hugely since release and shows no signs of stopping.
They start of the 16 song set with their last
single You Wanna Know which goes down a storm,
everyone is singing and dancing along, and the
band sound great. The
guitars rattle through the PA, crisp and clear
with all the technique and effects pedals it really
makes it sound great through the venues awesome
system, the bass plods along with jamming rhythms
whilst the drums rattle and crash all making the
unique vocals of Rob Damiani sound even better
as the sweet upper pitch tones intertwine with
the instruments to make awesome sounds.
The set continues with Whole Truth, Dreamboy,
Back In The Day and You Got It Girl before the
night takes a heavier turn with the fan favourite
Thug Workout where Don Broco scream into a dark
track with comical vocals that gets everyone moshing.
The line “Sexy girls come up to me, and
they always come,
if you know what I mean” gets me laughing
every time and it’s this mixture of tongue
in cheek vocals with great musical styling’s
that make Don Broco one of this year’s success
acts. They continue the madness by getting there
fan club “The Push Up Squad” to do
push ups in the instrumental which means in the
middle of the room, people get down on the hot
messy floor and do push ups whilst the band plays,
it’s an amazing sight and adds to the charm
of the live show. Damiani takes a moment to thanks
the fans for coming out and tells everyone that
he loves Birmingham and that his parents are from
Solihull (which gets a mixture of boos and cheers)
and that they always love coming back here to
play to such wonderful crowds. The last time they
were here they were
supporting Four Year Strong so it’s amazing
for them to be headlining such an amazing venue.
They continue their set with Lets Go Back To School,
Yeah Man and Fancy Dress before taking another
trip back to their old EP which Damiani tells
the crowd “this is for all the old school
fans, who here saw us before Priorities came out?
(Huge screams) Well that’s a bit of bull,
as we never got these crowds before it came out,
but I jest, here’s one from Big Fat Smile,
it’s called I’m Good”. They
wrap up the set with Top Of The World, Here’s
The Thing and Actors in which they tell the crowd
this is the last chance to crowd surf, as these
lovely security guards are having a long night
and need a bit of a rest.
Don
Broco leave the stage, but as is normal at a rock
gig, they come straight back out and play there
three biggest hits, Hold On, Beautiful Morning
and Priorities which goes down a storm, the band
leave the stage to huge cheers and the crowd leave
the building happy.
This year has been an amazing year for Don Broco,
and with the size of the venues increasing and
the stage show getting better, its glad to see
the boys haven’t let it go to their heads
as they’re still as charming and as down
to earth as ever, with such a great set list and
awesome stage presence its clear to see why they’re
so popular and I’m pleased that I leave
tonight happy in the fact I’ve ended the
year on a high. Hopefully the boys will be back
with bigger and better things in 2014 and I can’t
wait to see what’s in store.
Don Broco 4/5
Review By James Daly
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