Photo Credit: Press

As they prepare for the release of their fifth studio album, Don Broco embarked on a huge UK arena tour to test out new material and fan favourites to capacity crowds across Britain. Accompanied by a stacked support slot to warm up the crowd, show two took place at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena.

Orlando based pop-punk band Magnolia Park opened the show, with an arena already filling up ahead of their set, this served as the perfect opportunity for the Florida act to introduce themselves to many new ears and faces. A set with high intensity throughout was enough to please many people’s curiosity and grip the attention of those who witnessed a potential new favourite.

Following up next was Brighton alt-rockers Yonaka. With an arena tour under their belt already with their run with Bring Me the Horizon back in 2018, the big stage was not new territory for these guys. These guys don’t go lightly and that is one of the reasons why they have such a dedicated fanbase. They grip every audience with ferocity and with tracks ‘Punchbag’ and ‘Seize the Power’ thrown into the setlist, their support slot was certainly worthy of that arena stage.

Having not joined the tour until this show, New York pop-punk heroes State Champs’ return to the UK is always a pleasure for their fans. The Albany foursome continue to bring energy no matter where they go, and no with over a decade a UK visits to their name, this was a breeze for the band. With a set list worthy of a headline slot in itself, the band kicked things off with ‘Silver Cloud’ from their self-titled record which is still flying high twelve months on. The entire standing area quickly became more and more involved as the set progressed, with set list staples including ‘Act Like That’ and ‘Criminal’ keeping fans of their previous records entertained, a heavy portion of the set was filled with songs from their most recent release, to many peoples delight. The quartet made use of every inch of the stage, with frontman Derek DiScanio constantly making his way across the front section, giving everyone spread across the barrier a moment to see him up and close as he belted out the lyrics with perfection. In typical State Champs fashion, the band concluded their set with their biggest hit, ‘Secrets’. The energy reached a new level as the entire arena was now singing along, just in time for the headline act to come on stage in thirty minutes.

It is an exciting time to be a Don Broco fan. With blistering new music setting up a clear bigger release in the not so distant future, this still gave the band plenty of time to give some of their older material their potential final run out. As the entire arena began to fill up after the interval, the Bedford quartet made their grand entrance to the chest bursting ‘Cellophane’. Quickly following up with ‘Come Out to LA’, this really pumped up the energy early on for both the band and audience. As they powered through their triumphant arena worthy set, ‘Technology’, ‘Euphoria’ and ‘Pretty’ all featured which then led to a brief breather from everyone in the room as the band seemed to exit the stage.

Not quite an encore, but more of a planned moment which saw Rob Damiani and Simon Delaney enter the seating section of the arena and take their spot for what was set to be a very special surprise. A fan had arranged for the band to be in on his proposal and to the entire arena’s delight, a yes was echoed and the place erupted in cheers before an acoustic rendition of ‘You Wanna Know’ led the band back to their usual antics on stage. Yonaka’s Theresa Jarvis reappeared to join in for ‘Further’, while even more big hitters such as ‘Bruce Willis’ and ‘Nerve’ kept everybody’s voices unrested into the latter stages of the night.

Rounding off with ‘T-Shirt Song’ and the heavy hitting ‘Hype Man’ to conclude Don Broco’s return to Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena, the future is looking very bright for the Bedford lads for sure.