Broadside with opening bands Cherie Amour, First and Forever, and Young Culture played a packed show at the smaller upstairs room at the Palladium.
Cherie Amour kicked off this fun pop-punk tour package. Their set was full of upbeat and fun instrumentals paired with smooth vocals that are almost more of an R&B style. This mixed style of genres in the same band has been done with other popular bands such as Issues. The crowd was more on the subdued side but there was definitely positive feedback and happy fans in the crowd.
Next up was First and Forever. Notably, there were only three members on the stage which included a vocalist, a guitarist, and a drummer. Despite the less than full lineup, this band was jammed packed with energy, the vocalist lost his in-ear monitors a few times from his headbanging and dancing while singing and amping up the crowd. In between songs, there was a sweet moment where the vocalist shared how he had just told his girlfriend he loved her for the first time before coming onto the stage. Their whole performance was jam-packed full of energy and it was hard not to join in dancing.
The second to last band was Young Culture. From the moment the band walked onto the stage, they radiated positive energy. The vocalist had a smile that was contagious and that happy attitude carried on throughout the whole set. This show was in the venue’s smaller upstairs room so it was a more intimate show but that didn’t stop the crowd from moshing to some of their favorite songs and even crowd surfing through the very short and small crowd. The fans’ reactions to this band were very clear – they were having the time of their lives. The band played some of their hit songs such as “Tattoo” and “Holiday in Vegas.” It was easy to see why the band was second to last from the room full of smiles and their sound matching their positive attitudes.
Broadside came out to the crowd already screaming with excitement. The band opened with their hit song “Heavenly” off their latest full-length release Into The Raging Sea, and the crowd was clearly thrilled. The band followed that up with their older hit song “Coffee Talk.” The vocalist Ollie Baxxter joked around before playing “Coffee Talk” that he was sometimes scared to play this one live because the crowds always went so hard and have such a high standard for it. The crowd did not disappoint Ollie with their participation in the song either.Ollie had a very vulnerable moment before playing their song “Seasons,” he opened up about how he has struggled with depression since the pandemic and having to slow down his life and take a break from playing live due to the closures. He went on to say how he talked to a therapist to try to figure out his current life and mental health but uses music in-between therapy sessions to help him cope. “Seasons” was about the depression and feeling like there were two different parts of him. The crowd was very in-tune and paying attention to his words and it touched many people in the crowd. The performance of the song was very emotional for the band. Some members of the crowd were obviously touched by this with one member yelling out the words “Thank you” at the end of the performance. When Ollie smiled and thanked the fan back, the fan continued to say “No seriously, thank you man, your music helped save my life.” It looked like the vocalist turned around and got choked up and had to take a moment before responding by saying that meant a lot.
There were a few other emotional snippets about the vocalist’s life shared in between songs, he also touched on the subject of his fiancée beating cancer. There were a couple of light-hearted jokes thrown in there but it was clear that this had been a hard time for Ollie recently between his partner’s health and his own mental health. This was shared right before their self-admitted disgustingly cheesy love song “I Love You, I Love You. It’s Disgusting.” The emotional sharing clearly did not dampen the mood of the crowd because there was actually a proposal at the end of the love song (yes, they did say yes).
Even with all of the emotional words the vocalist shared with the fans in between songs, the music was the clear star of the show. The smooth like velvet vocals over their rock music, their touching lyrics being screamed back at the band, and fans dancing the night away. There were a few more crowd surfers and a couple of people that just jumped on stage and back off. Possibly most notably, the fan that jumped up, whispered something to the vocalist, and was handed the mic to sing part of the song herself before hopping back down. Ollie commented at the end of the song “Isn’t confidence a wonderful thing?” The fans were engaged and loved the band’s entire set. As hard as it is to believe that this was the band’s first headlining tour after eight years together, it is clear the bands want more.
BROADSIDE
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YOUNG CULTURE
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FIRST AND FOREVER
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