Don Broco, tour review: Exuberant quartet have the world at their feet

The foursome hurtled through the night with the inclusive glee of a band who know they won’t be playing venues of this size again, says John Aizlewood
Teen heartthrobs: from left, Tom Doyle, Matt Donnelly, Rob Damiani and Simon Delaney of Don Broco
John Aizlewood10 August 2016

When Bedford’s Don Broco last played London, in December, they sold out Brixton Academy. They have long fled the thrash ghetto which spawned them in favour of something closer to funk-era Spandau Ballet and The 1975, without sacrificing any of their power and exuberance. Their Priorities/Automatic Tour sees them spending two nights at small halls across the land, playing one of their two albums each night. As they go overground, it’s the quartet’s way of bidding farewell to the underground before they begin work on their third album.

Last night, a year to the week after it was released, they hurtled through Automatic with the inclusive glee of a band who know they won’t be playing venues of this size again. Impossibly cheery white-suited singer Rob Damiani’s grin and posture suggested a 21st-century Marti Pellow and he pumped out the instantly accessible, punchy choruses of Fire and Nerve with self-belief and swagger.

Riff-spraying guitarist Simon Delaney’s combination of straggly beard and tiny, tight cycling shorts was as shameless as it was fearless and he and bassist Tom Doyle bounced around stage like hipster Tiggers as the crowd chanted along, making the experience as good-natured as it was cathartic.

They strayed from Automatic during the encore, looking forwards with the new, in-your-face single Everybody, which ought to be their international breakthrough, and then backwards with Thug Workout, their one concession to all-out metal as Damiani joined the crowd for much moshing. The world is theirs for the taking.

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