Don Broco @ Wembley Arena

2025 has been a stratospheric year for Don Broco, featuring their biggest festival slots to date, the release of four huge singles ahead of their highly anticipated fifth studio album, and now a world tour that last night brought the Bedford rockers back to Wembley Arena for a massive headline show. I’ve been lucky enough to see Don Broco many times, but I still hold their 2019 Wembley gig as the best show I’ve ever seen, so expectations were definitely high upon their return to the venue.

The arena filled early thanks to a stacked support lineup of Magnolia Park, Yonaka and State Champs, which meant that by the time Don Broco hit the stage the crowd was already buzzing. Not that they needed much warming up, because the opening moments of ‘Cellophane’ are enough to light a fire under even the coldest crowd. As the first of this year’s singles its impact was immediate, sending the arena into mosh pits of blissful chaos with every riff and bass-heavy breakdown. That adrenaline barely dipped for most of the night, only pausing for the huge arena-ready ballads or the surprisingly intimate acoustic moments.

‘Cellophane’ rolled straight into ‘Come Out to LA’ and from that point the momentum was there for this to become one of Broco’s all-time great shows. The setlist was a perfectly paced run through most of their career. While a few ‘Priorities’ tracks would have been welcomed, the sheer force of ‘Technology’, ‘Amazing Things’ and the new material, with a sprinkling of 'Automatic' meant the night still had all you need. The truth is simple. Don Broco don’t have bad songs, and the energy they bring on stage manages to lift every track even higher.

Once the core four step out, backed by touring member Pete Daynes, something special happens. Rob Damiani’s presence grows year after year, commanding the room through cavernous gutterals and his unmistakable stomp dance. Si Delaney’s trademark leg kicks and crunching riffs are enough to get whole rooms bouncing. Tom Doyle’s basslines hit with seismic force and Matt Donnelly ties everything together with his powerhouse drumming and sharp backing vocals. Together they create a performance that feels bigger every time you see them, and as their status in UK rock has climbed so has the scale of their live shows.

Among all the heavy hitters there were still those stand-and-take-it-in moments. ‘One True Prince’ was a stunning emotional peak and ‘Nerve’ sparked a huge crowd singalong. The acoustic run added even more depth. Rob and Si made their way into the seated section for a heartfelt ‘You Wanna Know’, before Matt, Tom and Pete delivered a stripped-back ‘Anaheim’. The full band then regrouped on stage, joined by Yonaka’s Theresa Jarvis for an emotional version of ‘Further’. These softer moments gave the night texture, and made the heavier sections hit even harder.

As you'd expect at a Don Broco show, the acoustic calm didn’t last long. The crushing instrumental of ‘Bruce Willis’ roared in next, pushed even higher by over ten thousand voices chanting “Yippee-ki-yay, motherf*cker” in perfect unison. From there the home stretch kicked off, packed with favourites including ‘Endorphins’, ‘Everybody’ and one Broco's best standalone releases, ‘Fingernails’.

Aruably the night's biggest surprise came when the band opened the encore with ‘T-Shirt Song’ instead of closing with it. The songs introduction launched Wembley into a whirlwind of spinning t-shirts, highlighting the sense of togetherness across the thousands that comes with a Don Broco live show. It’s rare to see a song that suited to being a finale used earlier, but the decision made sense the moment ‘Hype Man’ dropped. As one of their newest singles it’s a bold choice for a closer, but it landed like it had been written for nights exactly like this, further highlighting that Don Broco are showing no signs of slowing down

It’s hard to put into words how good a Don Broco show really is, because it’s something every music fan should experience live. In my opinion they’re one of the best live bands of their generation, and nights like this back it up completely. They’ve smashed it in tiny rooms and academies. They’ve dominated festivals both low on the lineup and as headliners. But I’ve never seen a band look more at home, or more deserving, than Don Broco on an arena stage.