Don Broco with Papa Roach and Dance, Gavin, Dance – Alexandra Palace, London.

AKA: an incredible evening of crowd-surfing, moshpits, and sweaty shirtless people!

When I saw that Don Broco was going to play in London, I was pretty intrigued and curious to go; however, some don’t just go to a gig simply out of curiosity; I had another plan, I also wanted to see their special guest, Papa Roach! Being an 80s-90s child, I had to give it a go!

When I arrived at the Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally for the aficionados), which was packed with thousands of people queueing, I heard some even arrived very early in the morning!

After sorting out my pass and waiting in the cold outside to be escorted directly under the stage, the show finally began after some delay. First up was the Californian band Dance Gavin Dance opening the evening with ‘Chucky vs. The Giant Tortoise’.

From the start, you could tell they were thrilled to be there, showing big sincere smiles, and a little shyness, especially from screamer Jon Mess – or at least this is what I felt, judging the way he moved on stage.

While they were a new act to me, a portion of the audience was there for them, singing along and cheering the band at every opportunity. Tillian Pearson, the lead vocalist, did a great job warming up everyone, showing off some dance moves and inviting the audience to join in.

Overall the band played well, and special kudos have to go to Will Swan who had some serious skills for intricate guitar riffs while showing some ‘swag’ in the way he played; however, I felt that the vocals were not always as strong and crispy, perhaps the emotion of the night was a lot to handle. Nevertheless, it is a band worth checking out if you like contra-posing vocals, cool riffs and that fresh jazzy Californian feeling.

Next up, my reason to be there, Papa Roach! finally I had the chance to see them live for the very first time [I have missed them a few times]!

The lights were dimmed but enough to see the large printed roach on the black backdrop. One by one each member took the stage as a frantic audience awaited. The first notes of ‘Kill The Noise’ opened up their hour-long set, and it was straight into headbanging and screaming! Jacoby Shaddix (vocals) was truly pumped, moving up and down, left and right on the stage, making sure his voice and screams were well heard.

As expected, the band delivered an energetic set, packed with great hits that made the audience dance and jump from the front to the very last row! Ally Pally reverberated as thousands of fans, old and young, kept singing along, finishing off songs for them.

Following up was ‘Getting Away With Murder’, and the first interaction with the fans started with Jacoby asking to ‘scream’ and to see their ‘fucking hands to the sky’. The song closed with everyone shouting ‘getting away with murder’, to which Jacoby claimed ‘You got that shit, ah!’.

It was the right moment to stop for a few seconds and to engage some more with the crowd, saying how he needed ‘this shit’ before announcing the next song, ‘Help’.

Another little chat and Jacoby called for a ‘wall of death’ [a very large moshpit] session to the notes of ‘Blood Brothers’ and ‘Dead Cell’.

Everyone was so excited, including the band, you could tell as Jacoby went on saying something like “It sure doesn’t feel like Sunday. It feels like Friday”…well truth be told, it was a Saturday night! to which he then claimed”…I don’t fuckin’ know. I am in a fuckin’ rock band…” before getting into an amazing cover of Prodigy’s ‘Firestarter’.

The band went on restless for the whole set, with great charisma from Jacoby, asking the audience for all sorts and getting back what he wanted. 7 more songs were played intensively, alternated to moments of small talk, including one dedicated to those struggling out there, reminding them to ‘never give up on yourself. Never give up on yourself ’cause you’re worth it!’.

The end was approaching, the moment that everyone was waiting for. The lights went down, off the back of a gentle guitar solo. As this ended, everyone started screaming until the lights were back on, to the notes of ‘Last Resort’.

The audience was fully captured, from the back I could see thousands of phones with their screens on recording the scene from all angles! – a little ‘we will rock you’ was included and at that point, the audience was finishing off every other line of the chorus. The band ended their session with ‘Born for Greatness’.

Another short pause hit as Don Broco was ready to go. As the band entered the stage, frontman Rob Damiani placed himself behind the drums, standing and holding something, I couldn’t quite tell what it was until the moment he lit it up! he was holding a flare and on the notes of ‘Bruce Willis’ he started walking with the flare around the stage singing. That was certainly a grand entrance and not something I had seen before.

The crowd, already hyped by Papa Roach, went into proper delirium, jumping and moving so much to the point of pushing forward the front barriers. Not even halfway to the second song, ‘Gumshield’, the security guards had to stop the gig and talk to Rob Damiani, who then went on saying to the crowd ‘You guys are legit too fucking nuts’ and asking them to step back so that the security could put the barriers back in place – and yes, they moved us photographers to the side of the stage until the issue was resolved… a few minutes later they picked up from where they left and ‘Technology’ kicked in followed by ‘Uber’, with many singing along and being a little quiet for a moment. However, this lasted very little as the audience started jumping again to the notes of ‘Come Out To LA’, to then calming down, just for a few moments, to ‘One True Prince’, as Rob Damiani asked to sing along to this beautiful and well-performed ballad.

A little chat followed, to catch breath, with Rob Damiani asking where everyone was coming from, and learning that many not only came from outside of London but also outside of the UK. He thanked all of his fans, especially those from the US and Australia, for being there that night. Rob Damiani truly mastered his skills as a frontman through the gig.

A few more songs followed with further participation from the crowd and a surprise guess, Jacoby from Papa Roach joining in for ‘Manchester Super Reds’ and ‘Thug Workout’ rapping his way around! At this point the people in Ally Pally went crazy again – imagine a HIIT workout among 10,000 people, that was the energy level squeezed into those two songs.

Overall, the show was spot on, from the incredible stage set-up, with a good mix of lighting, lasers, and a back screen alternating static images, short videos and what was happening on stage.

Through the night the energy was kept high and particularly wild, with everyone in the room dancing, singing and moving … it was clearly The Saturday Night to be at. Not only that, I’ve also never seen so much crowd surfing before, the number of bodies being passed to the front was insane – security had a lot to deal with for one night.

The band played a very long set, with songs spanning across all their albums, including one of their debut songs, ‘Variety’. There was something in for everyone, and judging by the reactions from the crowd, everyone was pleased with it. They alternated fast-paced songs with funkier ones like ‘What You Do To Me’ and ‘Action’.

As the gig went on, I started noticing people getting rid of their t-shirts, I thought maybe they were hot after so many calories burned, but I was so wrong, they were simply getting ready for the finale, ‘T-Shirt Song’; and just before the final song, Rob thanked the audience saying that that was the best show by far they ever played, thanked Dance Gavin Dance and Papa Roach, and promised the audience to be back again this year.

Imagine seeing thousands of shirts being swung around like little flags, timed to the song. That was pretty impressive! And so the evening ended like a proper Saturday night would end, to the words of Rob thanking his fans once more time.

Don Broco setlist: