LIVE: Don Broco @ Manchester Academy

If you have ever seen Don Broco live before, then you already know that they never disappoint. A band that combines indie rock bangers with electronic dance anthems resulting in sellout tours, what’s not to be intrigued by? I’m still not sure whether they are a rock band doing pop or a pop band doing rock but either way it’s safe to say that I love them. I have since they released ‘Priorities’ in 2012.

Already warmed up by support acts Kid Brunswick and NOISY, the crowd were more than ready for Don Broco to hit the stage. As everyone stood in the darkness of Manchester Academy, the band were individually led to the stage with torches to pave their way and the energy levels of the crowd were at an all-time high. It is evident that they thrive off the energy of the crowd whilst performing and it definitely helped that it was kept at a maximum for the duration of the set.

The Bedford band had clearly gone all out for this tour. From their stage set up to their presence and banging setlist, every little detail was thought out perfectly, even if they didn’t sing a single song from ‘Priorities’. The different stage levels allowed each band member to be seen more clearly and the lighting array was unlike anything I had witnessed before in a smaller venue. The production was actually something you would expect from an arena show and to experience it in a 2,600 capacity venue, felt so much more intimate and exclusive.

Opening with ‘Manchester Super Reds No.1 Fan’ couldn’t have gone down any better. It kicked off a set rammed with new bangers from their latest album such as ‘Gum Shield’, ‘Uber’, ‘One True Prince’, ‘Endorphins’ and ‘Bruce Willis’. The dedicated crowd danced, jumped, moshed and crowd surfed their way through the night, loving every second of the high energy show, and even took their tops off at the end to swing around their necks in honour of ‘T-Shirt Song’. Their fourth album may have only been released on October 22nd this year but every song aired from it was treated like it had been around for months, maybe even years, with the way people were screaming every lyric back at the top of their lungs without fail. The girl behind me was even doing the backing vocals - talk about impressive.

One of the main highlights of the night was the way lead guitarist Si Delaney played. I’ve never seen anyone play whilst swinging the guitar, and himself, around in circles and ending with a highly impressive jump kick quite the way that Delaney does. It looked very dizzying for him but insane to everyone else and I would pay to watch him do it on repeat.

With an arena-like production and an overwhelming stage presence, Don Broco continue to show that they deserve to be headlining bigger stages. They are a quality band, arguably one of the most untouchable British rock bands at the moment, and continue to push genre boundaries. They deserve everything and more.

You can catch Don Broco on the rest of their tour at the following dates below, find tickets here.

NOVEMBER

8 - O2 Academy Oxford, Oxford

9 - O2 Academy Bristol, Bristol

10 - Bedford Esquires, Bedford

25 - PRYZM Kingston, Kingston