It’s a chilly Easter Sunday in Boston, MA but that’s not stopping this lot of dedicated fans from queueing around the block for an incredible lineup. Honey Revenge kick off this sold out night with an energy that’s picked up by just about everyone in the audience; the duo (Devin Papadol & Donovan Lloyd) treat us to our first song of the evening with their latest single ‘Airhead‘ and it goes down an absolute storm. As their short but sweet set continues, the excitement in the room can be felt from the doors to the bar in the back with this 500 strong crowd singing at the top of their lungs to bangers such as ‘Miss Me‘ & ‘Are You Impressed?‘. It’s becoming clear that this crowd are just warming up and Honey Revenge are the best way to do that.
Broadside are up next and it appears they have a fair few of their own fans in the building tonight. Starting off strong with ‘Heavenly‘ before moving on to ‘Coffee Talk‘ gets this bunch of Bostonians pumped for the rest of the setlist. Frontman Ollie Baxxter‘s interactions with the crowd show their genuine gratitude towards the people who have showed up today and their long time fans, bringing attention to a couple who had gotten engaged at a previous show warrants a huge round of applause. As their set continues, it becomes clear that the signs of being ejected for crowd surfing aren’t going to deter anyone and ‘One More Time‘ becomes an early favourite of the night. As Ollie asks the crowd ‘Do you want to hear something cool?’ I don’t think anyone is expecting the answer to be ‘I took 2 showers today!’ but we give him a massive round of applause regardless as the band speaks about showering at the gym.
More crowd appreciation is given as the introduction to the next song tells us just how much progress Broadside are making with ‘Cruel‘ reaching the UK charts & giving them the opportunity to tour Japan. The song itself is impossible not to move to and the roof is blown off the venue by the sheer volume of screams when Brian Butcher of the The Home Team arrives on stage for his part.
“You fuckin’ with target? You fuckin’ with Walmart? No, you steal from Walmart.” Mr Baxxter gives more crowd interaction showing that he knows exactly how to work a room before seemingly giving us all what we’ve been waiting for; ‘I Love You, I Love You, It’s Disgusting‘ takes top spot as the loudest song of the night so far. An emotion filled ‘The Raging Sea‘ is dedicated to Ollie‘s friend Julia and the track seems to resonate with the concertgoers in the room tonight. Before the band exit the stage we’re treated to ‘Foolish Believer‘ and just like that, we’re all ready for our headline act.
‘Watching All Your Friends Get Rich‘ is, in my humble opinion, the only way to start this hour with though, judging by the reaction of the rest of the room, I would say that Boston agrees with me here. A couple of songs pass and lead Brian Butcher confesses to dreaming of bigger audiences whilst touring the West Coast, playing to 4 people; their gratitude for this Bostonian crowd is immediate from the start and it’s clear to see how much passion this 4 piece have on stage. Guitarist John Baran‘s fun fashion suits the band down to a tee – sporting badged dungaree shorts & a punk spiked guitar strap, he certainly knows how to grab attention. Between him & bassist Ryne Olson, you lose count of how many high kicks and spins are done on stage but it’s all part of their energy & stage presence and it helps keep crowd going during the 3rd act of this epic evening. ‘Another Night Alone With You‘ gets every single hand in the air at Brian‘s request and a wave of screams fill the venue as Honey Revenge‘s Devin re-enters the stage to fill in for Yvette Young‘s part, showing off more of her voice.
For just a moment, The Home Team slow things down, bringing out stools for ‘Sails‘ and giving us all a chance to better witness every band members talent; from Brian‘s range to drummer Daniel Matson‘s ability to adapt to whatever’s needed it’s clear to see why the band are making waves as big as they are right now. ‘She’s Quiet‘ comes with the request of being able to hear everyone’s voices which they are more than happy to give. Turning the whole show up to 11, we head into ‘Scary Movies‘ where Ryne & Brian swap roles and Pat Diaz (Broadside bassist) is welcomed on stage to help out with the heavier vocals. ‘Grievance Pay‘ ends and Brian shoots off stage, leaving us with John, Ryne, Daniel & some Super Mario/Nintendo rave mini break – looking around the room it’s hard to find someone who isn’t into this brief interval as it seems like every single hand is in the air and cheers keep erupting from those who realise what is playing.
Bassist & guitarist get the crowd fist bumping to fill the Brian-sized gap on stage before he arrives just in time for ‘Right Through Me‘. ‘Watching All Your Friends Get Rich‘ is going to be a hard song to top but the audience give it a good go when we reach ‘FOMO (Bored of You)‘ & ‘On‘. Only managing to get slightly louder as Donovan (HR) arrives on the scene to help us rock out to a heavy instrumental courtesy of the 4 musicians on stage during ‘Danger‘. The energy on stage during the final 3 songs of the night is enough to keep this exhausted audience going until the very last second, leaving everyone totally satisfied with this evening from start to finish.
