Don Broco + Mallory Knox + Hey Vanity @ O2 Academy, Birmingham – Tuesday 19th February 2013
It’s been a long long time since I’ve seen the Academy as busy as it was tonight. With sold out shows in both the main room and the Academy 2 the queue was ridiculously long. I got here early to interview both Don Broco and Mallory Knox, and some of the crowd waiting to see them had been there since 12pm!
By the time first band Hey Vanity arrived on stage it was heaving in the Academy 2. I wasn’t familiar with Hey Vanity before tonight but they certainly seemed to have some fans in the crowd, and their punchy rock melodies fit in very well with what was to come from Mallory Knox and Don Broco later on. Opening with Colours and Signs, then into Wading, straight to the song Terry Tibbs, named after the Phonejacker/Facejacker character; they were a tight sounding band with infectious melodies. The Chelmsford rockers went down a storm with their cover version of Hey Ya and managed to get the sold out crowd to split down the middle and sing back to them in two halves. They only played a short set, finishing with current single Breathe Bleed Glow, they were definaltey a brilliant warm up band and the crowd were nicely pumped for the rest of the evening!
There is sooo much hype around Mallory Knox at the moment. From their appearance on Radio 1’s future festival, to their constant airplay on Kerrang radio and videos on Scuzz, they’ve certainly worked their arses of to get to this point. The room went mental when they came on stage, it was so intense! Opening with Wake Up from debut album Signals, the floor was actually moving from people jumping up and down. Next up came Beggars, then into title track from the album Signals. Signals has THE most amazing outro, and to hear it blasted out on ginormous amps was just immense. Singer Mikey couldn’t stop smiling throughout, and by the time they blasted out Death Rattle, he seemed a little overwhelmed by just how much everyone was enjoying their set. The crowd were singing along so loudly, I don’t think anyone noticed him get a little flustered at the beginning of the song, it was ear splitting! Finishing with current single Lighthouse, they pretty much blew the roof off. The major problem I had with their set is it was too short, full stop. They need a headline tour. I don’t think I’ve experienced a set by a support band like it before, ever! And I have been to a lot of gigs! They were AMAZING.
I genuinely began to worry a little for Don Broco as it seemed like everyone was here to see Mallory Knox, and I didn’t know how they were going to follow it. As each member of Don Broco arrived on the stage the crowd went nuts, going straight into title track ‘Priorities’, I don’t know why I worried for them. The room was bouncing. Don Broco have to be one of the most energetic bands you will ever see live. They had three crates at the front which they danced up to and jumped off, as well as singer Rob, guitarist Simon and bassist Tom all doing the running man dance in time together, it was hilarious and brilliant!
I also think its important to point out what an amazing voice singer Rob has, even with all the dancing and jumping around he was flawless. Certainly put all the dancing miming pop stars to shame! The poor bouncers at the front had their work cut out as there was crowd surfer after crowd suffer flying over the barriers. Don Broco then went into Here’s The Thing, followed by Whole Truth, I’m Good, and Beautiful Morning and the very popular Thug Workout. I think singer Rob then introduced ‘Back in the Day’ as their new single but the screaming and cheering from everyone around me made it pretty impossible to hear! They finished with the very very popular song Actors, and it all seemed over far too quickly!! The Broco boys left everyone hanging just long enough as they came back on to chants of ‘Broco’ to play Yeah Man. By now the crowd were eating out of the palm of their hands and Rob Damiani stood on stage like a great conductor getting the eager crowd to sing back the chorus when he asked.
When Don Broco say they are all about having fun and a sing along they weren’t lying and if I thought the crowd singing along to Mallory Knox were loud, then even the Deftones show next door must have heard the noise that erupted when they finished the encore with ‘Hold On’. There was even a circle pit that was so intense someone actually threw up everywhere (and I mean everywhere) right at the end of the song. Don Broco are a stunning live band and its pretty evident why this tour is almost completely sold out, I feel very privileged to have seen them in a smaller venue as next time round I have no doubt it will be a sell out in the main room instead.
Review and photographs by Lucy Pryor