Kid Brunswick | OMEARA, London | 22/05/23 (Live Review)

A defiant headline set to an audience more akin to a devilish choir, willing to lend their anger, vocals and spirit at every given opportunity. What culminated was a room full of energy we’d never seen.

★★★★★★★★★☆

On 22nd May 2023, Kid Brunswick played a zealously chaotic sold-out headline show at the emerging talent venue, OMEARA in London. Tearing up the venue, he orchestrated a defiant set to an audience of 320 who were all more than willing to lend their anger, vocals and spirit for the night at every given opportunity.

What culminated was a room full of energy I don’t think I’ve ever seen before; something truly unparalleled, unrepeatable and potentially unprecedented.

Kid Brunswick, known off-stage as Harry James, rose to notoriety in the punk and alt-rock scene in 2021 after the release of his debut XFOREVER. Only aged 22, the record explores years of addiction, toxicity and turmoil.

Fun Fact 🔥: After hearing the earlier single ‘Bipolar Rhapsody’, Mike Shinoda (LinkIn Park) was so impressed, he reached out to help produce two of the tracks on the album.

It was over two years building a hardcore cult following, somewhat comparable to early YUNGBLUD, before he ever played a live show. After a string of small gigs and support slots in 2021, when 2022 came around, Kid Brunswick made huge debut appearances at major festivals (Download/Community/Reading & Leeds) before playing two special shows in London and Manchester.

Now in 2023, after 18 months of no-new music due to label complications, Kid Brunswick released The Fall Part I (which includes hotly anticipated singles Blow and Heaven Without You) and announced a headline show at the 320-capacity OMEARA in central London.

As the curtains opened at 9pm, a warm welcome of roaring cheers greeted the now 24-year-old artist, ready for electric opener Heaven Without You. The night had barely even started and mosh pits were already opening up ready to unleash carnage.

Before a breath was gifted, things went up a notch, as we raced into Prescription Kid, an underrated alt-rock tune worthy of venues far greater than these four walls. Bigger mosh pits unfolded, crowd-divers took their wings for a spin and there was more crowd-surfing than a beach summer vacation. And this was only the second song – you wouldn’t believe that this set was only rehearsed once beforehand. But it was.

As the spotlight dimmed, the bass of Blow started pulsating through the venue. That devilish choir of an audience started screaming the chorus before it’d even started. Lights flickered, Kid Brunswick joined in, and then it dropped. All hell broke loose. Blow, arguably one of the most impressive songs on The Fall Part I, has a potential that’s currently floating in the ether of the melody.

Earlier track Skinny had its time to shine around about now, then we battled through new track Collide, which went down a storm considering various technical issues from the venue sound department. The song was restarted to compensate, with Kid Brunswick stating ‘This is the first time we’ve played this song, we want it to be special’. All in all, it gave fans a taste of what’s to come from The Fall Part II later this year.

Storming through Stained, a moment opened up for a crowd rendition of popular track 4AM, followed by a unique acoustic intermission. A cover of Sextape by Deftones and a very stripped-back version of Skin were showcased.

Dear Anonymous, another from the debut, got the crowd riled up again with a passionate and enduring performance that encapsulated the rising star’s versatility. Following that was The Fall, the opener on the new EP, giving people a chance to groove, scream and rage.

Things came to a big finale with crowd-favourite Bipolar Rhapsody, a gnarly and grungy track that practically demands a mosh-pit the size of an arena. The entire room became one big circle, a sort of mosh pit cult. On the drop, the room bounced and the gothic chandelier shook as people threw themselves into a frenzied animalistic state to commemorate the experience.

That’s just it, though. The evening didn’t end. As the crowd chanted the chorus of Blow as a send-off, he decided to play it for a second time. This time to an even more wired crowd, who all seemed to unlock a new wave of energy, something much more powerful than before.

For a second time, those chants were underway before the song had a chance to start, as Kid Brunswick basked in the glory of orchestrating a youth choir without mouthing a word, an impressive feat that some artists would die for.

When it came to a close, deafening yearning for ‘one more song’ filled the room. We checked the time, surely not? He wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, ‘alright, f*ck it, this is the song that started it all, one more time’, before deciding to play Prescription Kid again too. It went absolutely nuts, every person gravitating towards the middle screaming every word like it was the holy grail.

People, dripping in sweat and beer, started taking a breath. What a night. Nope – not over yet.

The sound issues earlier on in the night had clearly wound up the artist and feeding off the hysteria in the audience, he announced a spontaneous replay of the set before jumping into Stained, Heaven Without You and Bipolar Rhapsody. It felt like some kind of euphoric dream state, with people high on endless dopamine, each jump or scream just adding to the rush.

After an ear-piercingly loud chorus of Heaven Without You (and my Apple Watch telling me I’m about to go deaf), hearing those synth chimes of Rhapsody for a second time ignited something far more significant than this moment, a blatantly obvious bright future for this lad.

:: Round-Up ::

If you haven’t found or listened to Kid Brunswick yet, do it. Do it now. And when he plays another show, go. Just go. Kid Brunswick is going to become f**king massive, it’s just a matter of ‘when’.

See full setlist on Setlist.fm. Were you at the show? Check out our Insta and TikTok for videos, or share your own with us.

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