THE DRIVER ERA in Brussels
Article written by and photos by Sabine de Graaf
On Sunday, October 6th, it was time for THE DRIVER ERA to take over La Madeleine in Brussels, Belgium. This show marked the halfway point for the ‘X Girlfriend Tour’ for the band. Supporting them were almost monday and Your Favorite Color, both from California, USA. The 1500-capacity show had been sold out for months, with nearly 500 fans looking for a ticket on resale sites.
At 6:30 PM the doors finally opened to the fans, who had been eagerly waiting outside the venue for hours, some of them since 6 AM. Thirty minutes after doors it was time for some music, with Your Favorite Color first up on stage. They started their set with ‘What I Need’, instantly filling the venue with their energy. During ‘Stained’ vocalist Matt Warren jumped down the stage and stood on the barricade to get closer to the crowd. Matt took a moment to thank THE DRIVER ERA for taking them on this tour, which is actually their first tour ever. The crowd was loving every second of their set, eagerly participating and clapping along. For ‘Time Only Stops When You Come Around’ the whole venue lit up with flashlights. Their set was over way too quickly, leaving the fans wanting more.
Not long after the first set ended, the next band took to the stage: almost monday. This indie pop trio is from San Diego, California, and released their debut album ‘DIVE’ nearly two weeks ago. Once again the crowd was dancing along, which honestly was hard to not do to their music. Vocalist Dawson Daugherty is an amazing frontman, who knows how to entertain the crowd and warm them up for the headliner of the evening. After ‘tidal wave’ Dawson thanked Ross and Rocky for bringing them along and putting them in front of the best fans. While it might be October and fall is in full swing, almost monday brought us back to summer days with their feel-good music, with songs like ‘sunburn’ and ‘you look so good’.
After two amazing support acts that warmed up the crowd, THE DRIVER ERA was up to keep the good vibes going. The band consists of brothers Rocky and Ross Lynch, joined live on stage by bassist Riker Lynch, keyboardist Garrison Jones, percussionist Ellington Ratliff, and drummer Dave Briggs. Just before they started, Rocky was heard through the speakers telling the crowd they could win a meet and greet after the show if they signed up for the raffle they do at every show. Fans immediately grabbed their phones to sign up. When it was finally time to start, only Ross and Rocky came out on stage for ‘OMG Plz Don’t Come Around’ to kick off the evening.
While the spotlight might have been on Ross most of the time, the fans in Brussels started chanting Rocky’s name, giving all the attention to him. They then got treated to the unreleased song ‘I’ll Be There’, which mostly has Rocky doing the vocals. A piano rolled out on stage and it was time to slow it down. Garrison sat down behind the piano and Ross, Rocky, Riker, and Ellington gathered around him. They sang ‘Heart of Mine’, with Ross doing the lead vocals and the rest joining in with backing vocals.
The band left the stage for a second and filled the venue with rain/thunderstorm sounds. In the dark Ross took off his shirt, which resulted in loud screams from the fans. The stage was lit up in rainbow lights for the next song: ‘Fantasy’. As a last song before the encore, they played ‘Preacher Man’, which is THE DRIVER ERA’s debut single that came out back in 2018. The fans screamed along loudly to this one, enjoying every second and singing along every word.
