Don Broco back in Bedford for sold-out hometown Esquires show

Don Broco return to Esquires in Bedford this week for a hometown gig at the end of their UK tour.

When the show was announced in May last year, the premise was to help the venue through its coronavirus-enforced closure during lockdown.

However, after intended dates came and went, the band decided to conclude their latest tour in support of their new album Amazing Things at the venue.

In recent weeks the Bedford natives have played at Glasgow’s Barrowlands and headlined multiple nights at Manchester’s Academy, Nottingham’s Rock City and London’s O2 Academy in Brixton.

While they’re set to play Pryzm in Kingston later in November, talking about ending the tour in their hometown, lead singer Rob Damiani said: “It’s really nice how that worked out because that wasn't the original plan. The show was originally a Covid relief fund show for our local venue.

“A lot of small venues, when lockdown hit, were hit the worst and they don't have all the support that the bigger venues might have.

“We wanted to do something for them and all the profits for the show went to the venue.

“But then as things didn't open up we just kept having to move the date that we were allowed to play.

“In the end after moving it a few times and finding a place where it could be safe for us to do it, it actually made sense to finish off the whole tour and end on this real nice hometown vibe to finish the tour where it all started. It's gonna feel like a really nice end of tour party.”

Damiani is joined in the band by guitarist Simon Delaney, drummer Matt Donnelly and bassist Tom Doyle.

Amazing Things is the fourth album by Don Broco and follows 2018’s LP Technology.

Since their 2012 debut, the band has melded elements of alternative rock and post-hardcore with pop hooks and funk – resulting in hit singles such as You Wanna Know, Superlove and Automatic.

Besides their own headline tour, this Summer Don Broco were able to finally headline the Slam Dunk festival at its sites in Hatfield and Leeds after the event had been postponed in 2020.

Slam Dunk is one of the UK’s best alternative rock festivals which champions a plethora of genres across different stages and Don Broco’s appearance was their first as festival headliners.

“Slam Dunk had been in the diary for so long that it was the thing we had been building up to since before the first lockdown, two summers ago almost,” explains Damiani.

The band’s recent run of dates has seen them play at least half of the tracks from their new album, a record they’ve previously described as their ‘angriest’ record to date with songs written specifically with the live environment in mind.

“It’s been so hard for so many people getting through what was obviously a year of uncertainty,” says Damiani.

“I was definitely going crazy just being locked in the flat, in this perpetual state of just being in front of a screen the whole time and not seeing anyone.

“But, the one thing we could hold on to was that all our frustrations could then be taken out in the music and it gave us a focus.

“Even if you had a really bad day or really bad week, you could still usually see some sort of album progress that at least made you think well, ‘life might be on hold but at least this thing I'm doing is slowly moving in the right direction’.

“It was so hard to get through, you know, all those months, so the fact we actually did have something to do and get all the stuff we were annoyed about out in just one place was a real blessing.”

Last week, BBC Radio 1 featured a live session by Don Broco from its Madia Vale studios.

Following their UK tour, the band will head to the US and Canada in April before heading to Europe for a run of festival gigs.

Talking to anyone who hasn’t been to a gig since lockdown restrictions lifted, or to new Don Broco fans heading to see them at Esquires for the first time, Damiani said: “It's a night out, it's a party, it's good vibes. It's just everyone getting on.

“We're very lucky to have a very diverse, but a very happy fanbase.

“I feel like people who go to our shows are there to have a good time and not let any of their worries get them down, it's like it is a release.

“We like to pull out all the stops, to do all the things that we used to love at shows.

“We do everything to encourage that feeling of unity and good vibes.”

Don Broco headline Bedford Esquires on Wednesday, November 10. Tickets are sold out.

Visit https://www.donbroco.com