Photos / Review: Our Last Night’s Hometown Show at the Worcester Palladium

Who: Selective Hearing North American Tour – Our Last Night with I The Mighty, Don Broco, and Jule Vera

Where: The Palladium, Worcester, MA

When: March 24, 2018

Our Last Night is originally from New Hampshire, not Massachusetts, but the band from the bordering state celebrated their hometown show at the Worcester Palladium on March 24, halfway through their Selective Hearing North American tour. On the roster were three openers who I was very excited to see live.

Jule Vera opened the night. The first time I saw Jule Vera was this past summer at Warped Tour. Unfortunately, I saw only a few short minutes, but I was blown away by their sound, which is a mix of 70’s rock with a modern twist. The second time I saw them was when they opened for Emarosa a few months ago, in a much smaller venue. This time, they would be opening on the Palladium’s main stage. Unfortunately, when the tour started, Jule Vera made an announcement that one of their guitarists had left the band, which brought them down to one guitar. The sound was different and I definitely do prefer the two guitars. That being said, guitarist Jake Roland really got a chance to shine this time and he did an amazing job. Jule Vera had a short set, which included “Porch Swing” and “Bad Company.” As much as I love Jule Vera, I think the main room was too big for them at this point in their career. When I was in the front, they were great, but when I went to the back of the room, the vibe had faded and the audience didn’t really seem to connect with what was going on on stage. Jule Vera’s more mellow sound was also the wrong fit for the audience who wanted to mosh and crowd surf. Had it been a different lineup that suited their sound more, they would have had a better opportunity to shine. I will still see Jule Vera again because I know that they are a great band.

I was really excited to see Don Broco. Their newest album, Technology, is undoubtedly going to make my top albums of 2018. On top of that, they have a great reputation for fun and insane live shows, but Don Broco completely blew my expectations out of the water. From the minute the band stepped on stage with “Everybody,” you could feel that the audience was captivated. In that first song, vocalist Rob Damiani came down off the stage and stepped onto the barricade. The band was jumping around the stage and the energy was high their entire set. Vocalist Damiani has really unique, well-rounded vocals; drummer Matt Donnelly has a clean, soft voice that is also amazing on its own, but, when providing backing vocals, highlights Damiani’s and elevates the songs to something really special. The setlist was mostly made up of songs off Technology, like “Come Out To L.A.” and my favorite “T-Shirt Song,” in which the audience took their T-shirts and swung them around their heads, just like the lyrics in the song say to do. “Automatic” from their previous record Automatic also made the cut, which got a little sing-along from the audience. Don Broco was the best band of the night; fans right up on the barricade were just as into it as fans all the way in the back or up in the balcony.  In their relatively short set, they had crowd surfers, a circle pit, plenty of moshing, and a wall of death. If you can only see one band this summer on Warped Tour, make it Don Broco.

I know I The Mighty by name, but am not as familiar with their music as I am with the rest of the bands on the tour. Their set included “Lady of Death,” “Chaos in Motion” and “Dreamer,” all of which had plenty of people in the audience singing along. They even got a few crowd surfers. The energy from their set also reached the audience in the back of the venue. I The Mighty was fun, but their sound is not music that I really connect with, so I would probably not go out of my way to see them again.

After all of the build-up, the crowd was ready for the hometown boys to get on stage. Right before they took the stage, you could see Matt Wentworth’s son, Maverick, held by his mom side stage with his headphones on, so if it was not clear before that the New England boys had come home, that served as a great reminder. The crowd went absolutely nuts when the band came on stage. Their setlist was a good mix of old songs, new songs, and covers. “Tongue Tied,” “Shape of You,” “Ivory Tower,” and “White Tiger” all made the cut and the audience sang along loudly to each and every song. The connection between the band and the audience was one of the strongest that I’ve seen yet. It was a treat to see Our Last Night at the Worcester Palladium, their biggest headlining show yet.

The Selective Hearing Tour was a great way to see an amazing new band, celebrate the headliner, and have a really fun night out.

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Post and photos by Karen Shalev

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