Live Review : Don Broco + Noisy + Kid Brunswick @ the Academy, Manchester on October 28th 2021
It used to be so clear cut. You either liked metal or you liked pop. They were two polar opposites, existing in different and wholly incompatible worlds. You never crossed the beams or even contemplated being able to like both, that was, frankly, heresy. Somewhere along the way, the younger generation have blurred the battle lines that we saw as being so uncrossable. They ignored our protests that pop and metal don’t combine, and you end up with nights like this.
Opening act Kid Brunswick is Justin Bieber if someone introduced him to the Sex Pistols. He is a human dynamo, hyperactively bounding across the expanse of the Academy’s stage like he is on some Haribo inspired sugar rush. For those used to band set ups, it feels bizarre to see a single figure free-forming over a backing track. In an attempt to fire up the crowd he spends more of his allotted time yapping with the audience than he actually does singing over that aforementioned backing track. He demands to open up the pit but then proceeds to soundtrack it to something that sounds like the Prodigy with all the danger removed. And that’s the issue, it all feels safe and sanitised, dance punk with the stabilisers very much on.
Noisy continue that hybrid of punk and dance, but with more bodies on the stage they find it easier to get the crowd going. They are bi products of the Spotify generation and display a highly eclectic mix of influences that vary from old skool hip-hop through brit pop, grime and back out to nu-metal with a good dose of Dizzee Rascal thrown in. As all of this is underpinned by drum and bass foundations. Somehow, they make all these diverse musical touchstones blend rather than jar. They have also got the attitude and if there is one thing a Mancunian crowd love, is a front man with an inflated opinion of themselves. Cody Matthews channels the spirit of Liam Gallagher, Shaun Ryder and Ian Brown combined. There is no modesty here, he knows what they are doing is good and is not ashamed to remind us of that fact. Final track All of You is perfect pop and screams hit. I may be way out of the age demographic but I enjoyed it every minute of it and there is definitely something here.
I am not sure whether Don Broco are a pop band doing rock or rock band doing pop, but the crowd certainly loves them. It’s Beatles mania from start to finish. Screams, wails, reaching hands, swinging T shirts, the whole bloody lot. As a band they seem comfortable in their bizarre genre neutral stance. Rob Damiani camps it up on the heavily pop numbers ( such as ‘Uber ) and they just seem to be having an absolute ball. They are very much a band looking forward as three quarters of the set is made up of tracks from the last two albums. We get three call backs to “Automatic” but nothing from “Priorities”. They are now very much about the splice between slick pop and bouncy punk. New album “Amazing” may well be less than a week old but every song aired from it, is treated by the baying mob like it has been part of their lives for years.
For ‘Action’, Kid Brunswick and Cody Matthews are invited back on stage. It is like the whole stage has become a huge trampoline as the three vocalists bounce up and down in perfect unison. From the back, it looks like the Chinese Olympic gymnastics team. It is that stellar energy that is utterly infectious. Don Broco’s style of rock may be highly stylised and sickly sweet, but it is done with utter conviction. You can’t help getting with the program and quickly begin to leap around and sing along. It doesn’t feel false or synthetic. They have found a style and sound that has clicked and they are running with it. Yes it is pop, but it is not formulaic or created in a sterile hit factory. This is pop with rocks’ passion and spontaneity and you can’t ask for more than that.
On a different note, not having seen Don Broco before I did wonder why some of the crowd were wearing retro Liverpool FC tops and thought they’re brave, wearing them in Manchester, maybe it’s a nod to last weeks result against Man United. When Rob came on stage I really thought the joke had gone too far, he’d even modelled himself on Craig Johnston! Anyone under the age of 40 and not a football fan, probably won’t get the reference but please, google images of him, you won’t be disappointed.
