Photo Credit: Ben Stapleton
London boy Kid Brunswick’s hometown headlining show at Omeara London is something of a lucky fall from grace. Following his 2021 debut mixtape XFOREVER riding high on the sweet smell of success it brought with it, smashing out singles that would become the soundtrack to defining his career including Bipolar Rhapsody and Prescription Kid, working on material with Cassyette and Mike Shinoda, gracing covers of Kerrang! to Notion magazine and getting the biggest support slot of his life, opening for Don Broco.
However, it was Brunswick who suffered a blow, hit smack in the face with the complete desolation of a relationship between Brunswick and his then record label, radio silence could be the only things heard from Kid Brunswick, aka real name Harry James for the best part of 18 months.
That was until like a phoenix, he rose from the ashes. Back as an independent artist, something he addresses in the latter part of his headlining show at London’s Omera “This is my first live show as an independent artist. You don’t need no record label to be able to follow your dreams”, Brunswick has come back swinging with his boxing gloves on in the form of new EP The Fall: Part 1. So, as he booms on stage with the style of Bad Omens and the swagger of nothing, nowhere. Kid Brunswick’s Omeara headliner proves the grunge, hip hop and heavy worlds can collide in perfect harmony. He is the one delivering the knockout blow.
Before Brunswick even makes his presence known to a packed-out Omeara filled to the brim of his most die-hard fans chanting his real name around the room whilst adorned in his skully merch, it clear to see if you weren’t about to go hard at this gig, then you should be going home. Kicking off his set with The Fall single Heaven Without You, Harry meant business. Giving out a menacing glare to his chanting crowd he brings the frantic fast energy levels to new levels of euphoria, pumped with adrenaline, the heartbroken dark pop banger ascends to new heights.
The Fall: Part 1’s command reigns supreme throughout the evening, songs such as Blow embracing the chaos that unfolds in front of them. “Take all my money/ Take all my money, honey/Take all my money and blow” sings Brunswick followed by the biggest bass drop that gets 320 feral fans bouncing like they are at the biggest R&B rock rave of their lives, mosh pits popping off just as much as they would at a heavy metal or hardcore show. But Brunswick begs the crowd to give it even more than they have been giving already, demanding “I need you to turn it up more, I need more strobes, I need more mosh pits.”
In between this scintillating genre defying new era of Kid Brunswick, a live debut of unreleased track Collide and a monstrous rendition of Deftones’ Sextape, for fans of XFOREVER, the aforementioned Bipolar Rhapsody and Prescription Kid bring trap beats mixed with nu-metal style breakdowns, and a restart of one because he holds himself in such a high regard, stopping songs and starting them all again to make sure they are performed to pristine perfection. Second time around and he nails it.
Just when you thought Brunswick was about to wrap up his headlining set for the night, you thought wrong. If you know the SKINNY singer by now then you know his long-standing history of giving tracks the airing they deserve. Not once, but twice, performing Blow, Prescription Kid, Heaven Without You, Stained and Bipolar Rhapsody again, Brunswick’s turnout staying and skyrocketing their energy levels that acceded their outpouring of passion the first time around.
Some might say Kid Brunswick is just a heavier, more tattooed version of Justin Bieber. But those who say that clearly don’t know him. Staring out a self-proclaimed ‘grunge lord’ Brunswick is pushing his own boundaries, throwing rap, rock, nu-metal, punk, trap and R&B into a burning fire and watching it smoulder into the defying sound he has curated. So don’t you dare say Kid Brunswick ain’t heavy, because this guy is redefining the word and writing a new one for the modern-day history books 9.5/10
Written By: Katie Conway-Flood
