The UK leg of their tour ended earlier this month and after a few weeks off Punk Rock Factory was full of energy. On November 23rd they kicked off the European leg of the tour with a sold-out show in Tilburg. For support acts Bronnie and The Bottom Line this was the first date of tour, since they did not do the UK dates.
Bronnie started with quite an empty venue, but that did not stop her from singing her songs and entertaining everyone who came to see her. During her set, more people showed up and even though they were mostly hanging out in the back, the venue slowly filled up. While most of the crowd probably didn’t know Bronnie, she got everyone’s attention when she started playing a medley of ‘Stacy’s Mom’ and ‘Teenage Dirtbag’. Her songs like ‘OH!’ and ‘Scream’ have catchy choruses, so even if you’ve never heard any of her songs before, by the time the second refrain came you could find yourself singing along.
Next up was The Bottom Line, which was a great set to watch and made people laugh a bit. Their bassist, Max, ate a cheese cracker he got from someone in the crowd, which was very dry. The crowd was still mostly hanging out at the back of the venue, which The Bottom Line did not love. Callum, the vocalist, encouraged everyone to step forward since he wanted to crowd surf. When enough people came forward to catch him, he jumped off the stage onto the hands of the crowd. The good thing about a venue not being packed yet is that it has room for some great mosh pits. Guitarist Tom decided to join in the fun and jumped from stage to mosh along with the crowd, while still playing guitar. Not only was their music catchy, you could just see how much fun the band was having together, which was a great sight to see and could put a smile on everyone’s face.
When the lights dimmed down, a phone call rang through the speakers. Vocalist Peej was lost somewhere and did not have time to find his guitar. So when the band took to the stage, Peej indeed did not have a guitar during the first song. They started their set with ‘I Just Can’t Wait to Be King’ from The Lion King. If you’ve ever wanted to crowd surf to ‘Mamma Mia’ by ABBA, a Punk Rock Factory show is where you need to go. From theme songs to covers and from musicals to Disney, this setlist had it all.
The crowd in Tilburg was way too polite, according to Peej. During the songs, everyone went wild, but between songs, they were too nice and quiet. Peej wanted more chaos in the room, which he got. Immediately people started chanting “Broek uit, broek uit op je hoofd” (Translated: “Pants off, pants off on your head”), but Punk Rock Factory wouldn’t be them if they didn’t make a song out of it. With the crowd still chanting, the band made up the music to go along with it. Is it one of your dreams to mosh your heart out to ‘Let It Go’ from Frozen? Then you need to catch Punk Rock Factory live sometime. They are on tour until December 10th, dates and tickets can be found here!
