Live Review : Don Broco + Kid Kapichi @ O2 Academy, Liverpool on August 24th 2023

For years now Don Broco have been slowly but surely rising through the ranks of the reliable, hardworking, quintessential British Band League Table. What started off as 4 guys fresh from the pages of Lad Bible has turned into an unstoppable behemoth that is hell bent on making sure that every corner of the British music map has something they can see in Don Broco that makes them think “yeah these guys are the shit”. Their sound is vast, their inspirations numerous, their creative scope, endless. Don Broco keeps their audience on their toes at all times whilst making sure they have the time of their lives whilst doing so. 

Tonight’s stop at the Liverpool O2 Academy can be considered an intimate affair these days seeing as they have recently finished up a tour of the UK’s Arenas alongside Papa Roach. In order to help them get suitably warmed up for their appearances at Reading & Leeds Festival, Liverpool, along with Glasgow were considered lucky enough to have the honour of getting the lads ready for what will surely be a massive weekend for them. 

Before all this however, Liverpool were given another treat in the form of the Alternative Powerhouse that is Kid Kapichi. Kid Kapichi first earned my attention in the run up to 2000 Trees festival in which I instantly gravitated to their Infectious, mature blend of Political Punk/Alternative sound. They have crafted a unique sound that can be considered “textbook Kapichi” through the use of hard, stabbing guitar tones complimented beautifully by pin point accurate rhythmic patterns. Over the top of this vocalist Jack Wilson regales anecdotes that covers themes such as life in small working class towns, the political system that has our nation in a stranglehold and also why it is morally correct to shoplift from your local supermarket.  

This concise, 30 minute glimpse into the world of Kid Kapichi was the perfect advertisement for what the band is all about and I think they done the perfect  job of both warming the crowd up for the nights headliners as well as showing Liverpool why they are a band that too could fill out a room like this one day. 

The night however belong to Don Broco and Don Broco only. From the second the first few notes of ‘Gumshield’ rang out across the packed Liverpool Academy, you could tell in the air that both the band and the audience were absolutely up for it. The energy never once waivered, every song was anthemically sang back to Rob Damiani and Co, and every call for a pit was met with instant movement. 

As mentioned, Don Broco are a band in which everyone can find something they like, not just those more in tune with Rock or Metal. ‘T-Shirt Song’ is pure contemporary stadium banger, ‘One True Prince’ is a homage to grunge, ‘Come Out To LA’ is just straight up RnB in its verses. 

All too often you see bands play Warm Up Shows or Album release shows that last maybe 45 minutes and only consist of new material. I had a worry that this may have been the case tonight prior to Don Broco taking to the stage. Whilst what we did get was tracks primarily from their latest release, 50% of the setlist was from “Amazing Things”, there was enough variation from other albums to keep this show flowing from each passage to the next, even if their debut LP Priorities was unfortunately neglected. 

The band themselves sounded absolutely on point too. Every note of bassist Tom Doyles trademark slap bass shone clearly through the mix, complemented perfectly by the clean funky tones that emanated from the guitar. The addition of live keys was also a nice touch that helped add a depth and charachter to their sound that a traditional backing track may not have been able to produce.  

The real star if the show however was vocalist Rob Damiani. I’ve always been incredibly impressed with his credentials as a frontman, he has the swagger, he has the ability to conduct the crowd in any way he wants, but more importantly he has a vocal range that is somewhat unmatched in their surrounding circles. Damiani has the ability to dictate his voice to suit  whatever style the song demands and this ability carries over into their live sound. Songs on the more harsher end of his range such as ‘Gumshield’ or ‘Bruce Willis’ show his voice at its roughest most gutteral whereas ‘Come Out To LA’ or ‘One True Prince’ seamlessly bring it down a touch and show Damiani’s voice at it’s most intricate and refined. In the grand scheme of things however, a deep dive into the vocal range of Rob for the purpose of review is completely pointless in this context seeing as every single word of every single song was regaled back to him by a simply passionate Liverpool Crowd. 

Overall, if tonight proved one thing, it was that Don Broco are definitely more than warmed up for Reading & Leeds and they will well and truly destroy the place, just as they did Liverpool. I very much doubt those in attendance will get to see Don Broco in a room this small again, considering they have turned into the arena bothering giants that they are, but the general consensus seemed to be that those in attendance were extremely lucky to witness a show of that calibre .

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Don Broco, Kid Kapichi