The Welsh capital has a palpable buzz around it this evening and it’s due to one thing. Don Broco are back touring arenas again, with it all beginning in Cardiff. Coming off of the back of their chart topping fourth album “Amazing Things”, they are currently at the height of their powers on what they say is their biggest, but shortest tour here. So needless to say that the anticipation is high. However, for the millennials present in the audience tonight, we’re given a smashing blast from the past in the form of “Papa Roach” warming up the eager crowd.
Opening up with “Kill The Noise” it really sets the bar high and a precedent for the rest of the 45 minute set. For a band that have been together for around 30 years, they still exude youthful exuberance and energy from moment one. It also feels collectively that everyone has a core memory unlocked when they hear the first few notes of “Blood Brothers” and it takes people back to playing Tony Hawk on the PS1. Myself and several thousand others are just left with a massive smile on their faces whilst also banging their heads along at the same time.
The nostalgia hits keep on coming in the form of “Getting Away With Murder” and “Scars”. But despite several albums of hits, they really get the crowd going with a couple of well chosen covers including a rousing rendition of The Prodigy’s “Firestarter”, which gets the floor moving and a surprising cover of “Still D.R.E” which is welcomed in the same way.
I think it’s fair to say that many of the attendees tonight might not have even been born when their debut was released. However, songs such as “Between Angels and Insects” and in particular “Last Resort” feel so engrained in nu-metal lore that everyone here still sings along to every word. I think it’s fair to say that the crowd have been well and truly warmed up; now for the headline event.
No intro music is played as the lights go down on stage and we see the members all illuminated by a light from behind them. Frontman Rob Damiani lets off a smoke flare and we know that things are about to go down. The distorted bass in the form of “Bruce Willis” kicks in and you can already feel the excitement building in the room. There’s the immediate swagger from Damiani bounds on stage, rocking an extraordinary mullet and commands the crowd along to every beat that is dropped.
You want mosh-pits…this gig has got them in spades. “Gumshield” is one of those tunes that builds and builds upon each verse that follows it before culminating in one beautiful array of bodies flying around in the crowds. It’s the first of many times where a large circle opens up across the floor and it doesn’t stop until the gig finishes. “Technology” has everyone bouncing up and down to its beat which is incredibly infectious.
There’s something so immediately satisfying about that Broco “tone” that they strike. There’s something so clean and tight within the breakdowns you get on the likes of the synth infused “Uber”. It’s most evident on “Pretty” which perfectly blends the right amount of heaviness with a wonderful melodic groove as a kicker. “Manchester Super Reds No.1 Fan” is a personal standout of mine from their latest record and we’re treated to a little something extra with Papa Roach frontman Jacoby Shaddix, lending a hand to lead vocals which gives an already energetic song that extra little punch. It finishes with a fleeting glimpse of very early song “Thug Workout” and it’s a shame that we don’t all get to bust our moves to it for more than just a few brief seconds.
In the ten plus years that they released their debut album, the band have come on leaps and bounds and fit right at home within the arenas. However, we still get looks into their past with the likes of “Priorities” and visits from “Automatic” including the title track and “Superlove”. The more poppy nature of these tunes give everyone a welcome break from the large pits but don’t stop the crowd moving along. It’s much needed because the drop that comes down during “Endorphins” results in the biggest pit of the night so far which circles around a large portion of the arena before becoming a mass of bodies bumping into each other. “Nerve” gets everybody involved with the biggest singalong of the night and a good number of people up on shoulders throughout the room.
After leaving the stage, they come back on to the pounding drums of “Fingernails”, which is played here tonight for the first time in the UK. “One by one by one by one” is chanted out by those in the crowd and those who are really putting on a show tonight. Both the crowd and the band are feeding off of one another’s energy and it really is lovely to see. When it comes to the closing tune of the evening, there couldn’t really be anything else. Pre-emptively there are quite honestly, several hundred topless men already in the pit; flesh on show and shirts aloft in the air. “T-Shirt Song” feels like that kind of festival anthem that will leave you feeling on a massive high at the end of it. Everyone comes together as one and it doesn’t matter if there is some sweaty back rubbing on your face for the next four minutes. That’s what music should be about, so thank you to Don Broco for making that happen!
