Finding a new height of fame following a tour with American superstars Twenty One Pilots (TOP) at the end of last year, the lovable Irish giant which is Bry is well on his way to finding an established place within British and Irish music alike. His charismatic performance style is admirable and his catchy tunes contain a level of emotion that really do pull at the heart. Tonight’s sell out show at Komedia will leave you not only grabbing for the tissues, but also intrigued as to what the future of this brilliant artist holds.

Before doors even open tonight, the outside queue is far longer than any I have seen at this venue, stretching far down the tight Brighton lanes. Whilst the majority of Bry’s audience is young and a fair few uninterested parents can be seen in the shadows, this makes absolutely little to no difference as the music begins. By the time first act, Danny Gruff, walks on stage, the room is already at its capacity and ready to hear the music. Danny’s style of strong acoustic folk is a remarkable start to the evening, with his vocals being reminiscent to that of Brian Fallon from The Gaslight Anthem. The inclusion of in-depth levels of humour throughout his set and a smile really leaves the crowd in a great feel good mood for the next act. With over a million YouTube subscribers, American musician Tessa Violet is up next. Tessa’s style could not be more different from Danny’s and stresses a more synthesised, delicate sound. However, this drastic change works incredibly well and makes her entire performance feel very refreshing. Tessa is a great frontwoman and clearly knows how to get a crowd moving, her track ‘Haze’ is quickly becoming a new personal favourite as the certain quirkiness to her soft spoken voice really resonates with the track and makes for an incredible listen. Overall, both supports have more than got the room pumped for the headliner.

Bry enters the stage accompanied by the combination of a hyped boxing voiceover and a TOP parody of ‘Ride’, replacing the chorus with his own name, definitely a humorous start. Being an extremely tall fellow, he dwarfs the audience before heading into ‘Don’t Go Alone’ which immediately sends the room into a jumping mess. His lyrics hit hard and the chorus hits even harder thanks to the accompanying band. Released at the end of last year, Bry’s self-titled debut album has been a great insight into what makes this artist tick. Whilst some tracks do hold an optimistic outlook on the future, the majority share past experiences of depression, love and self doubt. One such track is ‘Pieces’. Probably the most emotional track on the album, Bry dedicates the number to his dad before bringing out the acoustic guitar. His higher notes in particular are met perfectly well and as the emotional song progresses, what looks like a single tear streams down his right chee; I’m sure there are a few wet eyes in the audience too.

Not all is doom and gloom though, as the saddened tones are soon brought up when Bry does make an ongoing joke about his tour with TOP and the opportunities it gave him. First he states that he has managed to turn it into a simple drinking game. Every time TOP are mentioned, you drink. I can tell you now, if you are playing this game, you’re guaranteed to be hammered by the end of the night. Bry does continue this witticism by playing a brilliant cover of TOP’s ‘Tear In My Heart’, don’t forget to drink though! As he takes control over the accompanying keyboard for the cover, it soon becomes apparent he is not only a brilliant guitarist/singer, but an incredibly holistic multi-instrumentalist. The cover is popular with the audience and, if nothing else, offers a great homage to the band who have given him such an incredible opportunity.

Recently moving down to the Sussex area, this is technically now a hometown show for Bry and, as the set comes to a close, he announces, “Brighton, I am glad to be living in you, you’re a lovely place with lovely people!” before breaking into final encore tracks ‘Care’ and ‘Disarm’, as the whole room is moves and screames the lyrics back at him. With such a dedicated following, especially in Brighton, I can see Bry very easily selling out shows in venues far bigger than this, all across the city.

All three artists tonight have put on a brilliant show and all are more than worth a listen. I’m sure that Bry is certainly set for bigger things and I'm intrigued to see where his sound will take him across his career as he continues to find his place in the industry.
Ben Walker

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