Don Broco/Burn The Fleet/I Am Forever/Forever Can Wait

Joiners Arms, Southampton

Don Broco are certainly on the verge of something big, they have played here at the joiners a few times and each gig is heaving with hoards of people coming along to find out what all the fuss is about, the band are about to be introduced to a much larger audience as their single the very catchy and uplifting ‘Beautiful Morning’ has been play listed on Radio 1. Tonight’s gig is part of yet another UK tour, this time they have got together with their Southampton buddies ‘Burn The Fleet’ to what promises to be an energy charged evening.

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The 1st band on are the local 5 piece ‘Forever Can Wait’ who supported Don Broco last time they came here and they are all attired in fancy dress to film a video for their single ‘Childish Wars’ in front of a backdrop of sparkling fairy lights spelling out the band initials F.C.W. Lead singer Tash Crump, who is dressed as a pretty Red Riding Hood, delivers some impressive feisty vocals on numbers from their Debut self titled EP, and she is backed amply by twin guitars that create catchy melodies that gives the audience some excellent early entertainment.

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‘I am Forever’ are next up, they are a four piece that have a hard melodic edge to their guitar sound and perform tracks from their interestingly titled ‘The Tragic Tale Of Jonny Pumpkinhead’ which is accompanied by a graphic novel. The 5 track Cd includes their strongest number seen performed here tonight ‘Only Stars Can See’ that has a catchy guitar rift that am sure those in the audience will take away with them. The band played much of their set with that gap between the audience and the stage,they sadly did not do very much to get the audience involved, despite a well delivered performance that showed promise of more to come.

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Prior to local boys Burn The Fleet arrival on stage the whole place just seemed to fill up with lots of people jostling for a place in front of the crowded stage. The band took to the stage and were greeting very warmly from their home crowd who totally knew what to expect. The band kicked of with the powerful ‘Nautilus’ and looking around, virtually everyone in the venue seemed to be familiar with the words and were singing along. The bands powerful sound radiated around the Joiners and was possibly the loudest I have ever heard a band play here, perhaps the sound man finally found the number eleven setting on the p.a. system.

Lead vocalist Andrew Convey promises a T-shirt to the first person on the stage in just their underwear and sure enough within minutes, one guy jumped up onstage in just his pants, promptly jumping off into the arms of the waiting audience who passed him over their heads towards the back. Burn the Fleet have all the ingredients to take their music one stage further, top class energetic performance, great songs and a will to succeed. After a solid performance of the new single ‘River Song’ the set ended as it started with all the audience singing out aloud to the brilliant ‘Handfuls of Sand’ a song that inspires anyone listening.

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I have seen Don Broco now possibly half a dozen times and each time I have seen them live, the band give 100%. I am sure they treat each gig as if it is their last, front man Rob Damiani bounds around the stage with what seems like endless amounts of energy. Tonight is no different, and the band perform with maximum confidence to a crowd who makes a Monday evening feel like a Saturday night, Rob is a great front man getting the audience involved in all manner of circle pits, wall of death, and a mosh pit featuring people on each other shoulders, a security persons nightmare, but all done with great respect for each other.

The songs flow from the band with an energetic delivery that very few bands can match, from the very catchy ‘Beautiful Morning’ to the cleverly melodic ‘I’m Good’. The band leave the stage with Rob crowd surfing over the safe heads of these fans who are seeing possibly one of the best live bands on the circuit today, catch them in small venue while you can, this band is definitely going places.

Setlists
Don Broco
Thug Workout
Top Of The World
Beautiful Morning
Living The Dream
I’m Good
Do What We Do
Dreamboys

Burn The Fleet
Intro:
Nautilus
The Greatest Fire
Black Holes
Fictional Children
River Song
Handfuls Of Sand

Videos
Don Broco