Featured image and gallery: Gracie Hall
To kick off the evening, Australian nu-metal band Ocean Grove launches onto stage, with lead singer Dale Tanner jumping around with as much energy as the Duracell bunny. With clear influences from the likes of Limp Bisket, baseball caps and all, they play songs including ‘SILVER LININGS’, a more pop punk song that talks about the silver linings of life and talks someone down from suicide.
Another featured song, ‘NEO’, is a heavier, angrier song about how internal struggle becomes external and impacts those around you. Ocean Grove works the crowd like a charm before the next set of bands come on, setting a very dynamic and hectic precedent for the evening.
Next to perform before Don Broco is Trash Boat, a melodic hardcore band from the South of England. Immediately urging circle pits and movement from the crowd, Trash Boat moves the audience’s vigour up several notches and their infectious stage presence more than matches this. Guitarist James Grayson spinning around like a whirling dervish. Expected crowd surfers start towards the end of the set and symbolise the high energy being omitted in anticipation of the main act of the evening.
Lead singer Rob Damiani, waltzes onto stage sporting a large white neck brace. Not the most rockstar of attire, until he clarifies that the injury came from head banging too hard and suddenly, it turns into the most rockstar injury one could have.
Opening song ‘Gumshield’ excites fans, as pits open and people run, jump and kick their way through the song. Then, to the delight of the Manchester attendees, ‘Manchester Super Reds No.1 Fan’ blasts through the speakers. Damiani requests an old school wall of death from the audience and screams his lyrics, whilst a stampede of 3000 people run at each other.
Don Broco crowds are not for the faint-hearted. Rob speaks to the crowd and asks for respect for one another and to always pick someone up when they fall down. ‘Yippee-ki-yay, motherf*****!’ is shouted from every corner of the room, signalling the start of fan favourite ‘Bruce Willis’. The setlist includes songs that span the band’s entire career; over a decade.
From 2012’s ‘Yeah Man’ through to the 2023 release ‘Birthday Party’, every Don Broco fan hears their favourite songs sung live. The latter ends up with Damiano sporting a birthday hat given to him by a fan towards the front. With a two song encore ending with ‘T-shirt song’ and an immense windmill of t-shirts being swung around by the crowd, the insane spirit from the band and the crowd stays high until the very last note of the final song.
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Slayed queen