Dear Diary…Ok scrap that. Although I do feel a bit like a starry-eyed teenager as I write this review
A few friends and I have been hot on Broncho’s heels ever since they came out with their first album ‘Can’t Get Past the Lips’, so it was obviously quite an honour to get to see them live in such a small place with a small stage where you could, if you really wanted to, touch the band members.
In keeping with the teenager experience of the night, someone actually threw a bra onto the stage, landing perfectly on the front mans’ left arm.
Frontman Ryan held it respectfully over his arm while playing two songs until it eventually plonked down and lay there in a sad-ending kind of way. I had a little chat with Ryan after the show and it turns out he thought someone had thrown a towel so he decided to mimic a fancy butler while strumming. When he did eventually realise that it was a fancy C cup boob holder, he swung it around and around, demanding to know whom it belonged to but nobody owned up.
So. Yes. The music!
It’s hard being a reviewer, because it was just great to see the songs you have listened to on your way to work, in your house and in your headphones while at your desk come to life. But from a critical standpoint I think that BRONCHOs’ set was possibly a touch messier, louder and faster than the recorded songs and there was too much reverb on Ryans’ voice, so you could not really hear anything he was saying.
As a band they played very nice and tight together
They started the show with songs from their new album ‘Double Vanity’, which are pretty, slower and sung alternately by the frontman and the bassist. The colours and lights on stage were red and deep and it suited the experience as a whole very well but I was also more than happy that they played a decent amount of songs from their previous albums.
The full audience definitely had fun watching a battery-charged Broncho on stage
And of course, the support band, Mise En Scene is definitely worth a mention. The frontwoman has a most beautiful and powerful voice, which she uses in magnificent highs and lows, with calm emotion and ecstatic shouts. It was also great to hear her use a vocal pedal that doubled up her singing, sounding like a mixture of Tori Amos and Cat Power. Big ups once again to a very good female drummer who seemed to keep the bands’ timing together, a most talented guitarist who did some crazy things on his guitar and bassist who used his bass like a beautiful powerful synth. Very nineties grunge inspired. But in a good way.
Privatclub Berlin is a wonderful venue for live music, with a classy ambience, free salted sticks at the bar and delicious cocktails.
