A little while ago, the British alternative rock band Don Broco released their third full-length album ‘Technology’ (2018, Sharptone Records) and had a live release concert on the album’s release day.
The current members of the band, formed in 2008 in Bedford (England), are vocalist Rob Damiani, guitarist Simon Delaney, bassist Tom Doyle and drummer Matt Donnelly. So far, the quartet released their first EPs ‘Living The Dream’ (2008, EmuBands), and ‘Thug Workout’ (2008, EmuBands), while touring with bands such as Enter Shikari, as well as their third EP ‘Big Fat Smile’ (2011, EmuBands), followed by more touring and festival visits. In 2012, they released their debut album ‘Priorities’ via Sony Music and a fourth EP ‘You Wanna Know’ (2013, Sony Music) shortly after. The second full-length album ‘Automatic’ (Sony Music) was released in 2015, followed by the bands support of Bring Me The Horizon’s European Tour, were I luckily was able to go to one of the concerts. As I enjoyed Don Broco’s set at the concert, I was really happy when I saw they would release new music and have another concert, which was part of their solo tour.
Musically, Don Broco combines different styles such as alternative rock, pop rock and post-hardcore. The main parts of the songs are sung with clean vocals. However, there are also heavy screamed, as well as more spoken or rap-ish parts, underlined with heavy and dark guitars. However, the songs vary a lot depending on the pace and vibe they bring with them which shows a great variety and individual style of the band.
The sold-out album release concert took place at the ULU in London, which has a capacity for up to 1000 people, and opened the doors around 7pm to a rather young audience. First band on the stage was the British alternative band Future Love from Northampton, founded by Andrew, Jake, Nik and Meg. So far, they released two EPs ‘The Long Bright Dark EP’ (2015, self-released) and ‘Passive Obsessive’ (2016, self-released). Musically, they create a melancholic and vibey sound, especially through the mix of Meg Amirghiasvand’s and Andrew Convey’s voices together with rocky guitars.
Unfortunately, the crowd was quite hard to motivate at the beginning and took a while to engage into the band’s performance. Towards the end of Future Love’s set, the audience was more energetic and started some small circle pits.
The second band on the stage was the British indie rock trio Press To Meco from Croydon, England. Luke Caley, Adam Roffey and Lewis Williams formed the band in 2010 and released two EP’s which are ‘EP’ (2012, self-released) and ‘Affinity’ (2013, Invictus Public Relations), as well as one full-length album ‘Good Intent’ (2015, Best Before Records). Musically, they combine a very heavy and dark guitar sound with light and clean vocals, creating a rock-pop and alternative sound. Their energy on stage quickly transferred to the crowd who started moshing and jumping.
With Don Broco on the stage the crowd went absolutely mental! They started their set with ‘Everybody’ and literally everybody started to jump, dance and mosh. As it was very tight, there was no way of not jumping with the crowd as they lifted one up with them. Don Broco played a very good mix of the songs from the new album, as well as some older songs, even though it was the release concert of the new record which was released the same day. The crowd sang on the top of their lungs and seemed to spend all the energy they have been saving so far. Ending the set, Don Broco played ‘T-Shirt Song’ and nearly everybody started to take off their Shirts and swung it round their heads.
Not only the performance of the bands but also their light and sound performance was great. Don Broco had a nice light show with loads of different coloured lights which fitted the show and vibe of the set very well. The acoustic was good and the balance between vocals and instruments was great. The first two bands also had a well-mixed acoustic, and kept their light show simpler regarding colour schemes which definitely created the best fitting atmosphere for their music.
All in all, the concert was amazing and a great experience. I had a special time there and absolutely enjoyed it. All three bands delivered a good performance which was greatly appreciated by the crowd. The fans sang on the top of their lungs and had a lot of energy, which they spent moshing around, jumping and dancing. However, not only the crowd but also the bands enjoyed their time on stage and had a great evening.
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A Special Time 