Words & Photography: Luke Brennan
As Brad said, a fair few times, “it’s Saturday night, baby!”
The night was kicked off, not so softly, by Soft Launch enticing the crowd, with their continuous change of lead singers in each song, each one as talented as the other. We don't often get to see a band where every band member is as gifted as they were. The five girls at the back of Rescue Rooms would probably be cheering me on with that statement, just as they were screaming - not singing - screaming every single word of Soft Launch’s set. Very impressive for a support band.
But hey, you’re not here to read about the support - you should because they were class. You’re here for Double Denim Patchworked, Bradley Simpson.
The set was kicked off with the unreleased tune Getting Clear. Just because it’s unreleased, does not mean the crowd didn’t know every single word. Glad I had my earplugs for this one, standing beyond the front row with my camera. With the energy Brad brought to the stage; yeah I knew we were in for a night of screaming, dancing, singing and everything in between.
Straight after the first track, Brad went picking daisies, quite literally. At the start of his second song, Daisies, the crowd threw, yep, you guessed it - daisies. Following on from Daisies was Not Us Anymore - another unreleased track that’s placed 7th on his forthcoming album, The Panic Years. And guess what, the crowd again knew every word.
Next up on the set list, wait… hold on we’ve got someone in the crowd blowing on a party blower, and with a quick glance from Brad, he notices it’s the same party blower from Birmingham, Manchester and now of course: Nottingham. So, in order to celebrate the three-show anniversary, Bradley did what he told the audience he’d done previously in Birmingham and Manchester. That was getting a party blower solo going from the fan. Brad requested the tune “Do Do Do”, for it to be repeated by the crowd. Suddenly, we were all part of some kind of party-blowing ensemble composed by Bradley Simpson.
Anyway, back to the setlist. Personally my favourite from the night, again unreleased. A slower, more intimate song, compared to the rest; touching on elements of love, calling himself a “soppy bastard”. But before announcing the next song, he did shout to ask if anyone was on a date that night when 5 girls at the back - yep, the same 5 from Soft Launch screamed, to which he replied, “okay, whatever you’re into."
Later on, he acknowledged a couple closer to the front before announcing the next song. But before playing the next song, he attempted to teach the crowd the lyrics, but the crowd were already singing the song, so he just cracked on after some words of affirmation, before playing Carpet Burn.
Following on from Carpet Burn, likely an unpopular opinion from myself, he then plays a cover from Chappell Roan, we can probably guess which song that is: HOT TO GO. Not something I wanted Brad to play, and quite frankly I'm sick of hearing it now. However, I’m not the target audience. The crowd loved it so was it was a hit. Oh, I’ve also got to add, that the crowd were singing HOT TO GO before he even changed his guitar over, so there was no backing out of it, unfortunately.
Okay, no more covers now, back to some originals: Holy Grail, Favourite Band and Always Like This. Paying homage to his lovely band, just before playing the song Favourite Band, Elena on drums. James on bass and electric guitar. You best believe the crowd were chanting Elena and James throughout the entire night.
At the end of Always Like This, Bradley walks off the stage for a few minutes before heading back to initiate the encore.
So remember when I said no more covers, I lied, sorry. Bradley went on to cover Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, with some backing vocals by James and Elena coming off their instruments. But Dreams wasn’t played before asking the crowd to give everyone a nice soppy hug, in a room filled with ex-teenagers and static boyfriends.
Finally, before playing his last song, he takes the time to plug his upcoming album that’s planned for release on 28th February 2025. Then, followed by another tour in May 2025, to which he mistakenly announced he would be coming back to Nottingham next year; awkward because Nottingham is not on the tour poster. But don’t worry Nottingham, Bradley said he’s going to be having words with his management and do his best to get a Nottingham date on there. I guess we will see.
That takes us to the last song of the night, Picasso. Perhaps, second, maybe third, favourite of the night behind Daisies. Picasso is likely symbolic of the concept behind his album, The Panic Years. An album about going through your 20’s; the “weird” times of change and “scary” years, but a reminder that it is also the best time of your life, and that you should “enjoy every second”.
“Turn the torture into art,” - a lyric from the final song Picasso is, what I could assume, the encouragement behind producing this album. Bradley hasn’t had, what you would call a normal life of someone in their 20’s, throughout his time spent in The Vamps. The release of this album is, what I would assume to be, his therapeutic output, and his diary of experiences throughout his 20s, reflecting on turning his torture into art, that art being The Panic Years.