One of the best things about more smaller, intimate festivals, is the potential of discovering new bands in a different environment before they “make the big time”, and X&Y did exactly that, more specifically in the form of Broken Men.

There’s always something just that bit more special about seeing a home-grown band in their birth ground, and this was the case catching Broken Men rock Liverpool at X&Y this Friday. Although still fairly early on in the afternoon, there was a relatively decent turn out to see the band play and a few devotees could be spotted in the crowd. Undoubtedly there will be more after their performance – with powerful vocals, crunching guitars and an all-round ‘feel good’ atmosphere throughout the room as Broken Men bounded through their arsenal of tracks.

Broken Men have an interesting format to say the least, with the more so expected structure of vocalist, guitarist, bassist and drummer but also added into that mix comes two female backing vocalists/guitarists and also a saxophonist and trumpeter, adding a somewhat more unconventional feel to the set. Did it work? Of course it did, with their performance containing aspects of a big show in there, and with that being said, these guys can easily be envisioned performing on a big stage.

A special mention (not by any means taking anything away from the other ‘broken men’) must however be given to well-dressed frontman Bob Westhead with his powerful, gritty yet smoothed-out vocals leaving you thrown back by the sheer volume of his voice. He then draws you back in with a smooth transition before hitting those belting choruses and big notes, almost Eddie Vedder-esque – not a bad trait to have at all. This voice could easily fill an arena, and I hope that is indeed the case in the future.

Want to hear the vocals that even Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) himself would be proud of? Have a listen to tracks ‘The Outsider’, ‘Oversold’ and ‘1956’.

As the band leave the stage the crowd are left comfortably satisfied, and waiting for Broken Men to replenish their thirst for themselves once again in the near future. Liverpool has been known world-wide for numerous decades for producing some of the best music the world has ever seen, and it seems it will continue to do so, with Broken Men being right in the mix.

If you’re out and about around the Liverpool area this Saturday or have no plans so far, get yourself down to Broken Men’s latest show at District, early-bird tickets just £5 and advanced tickets priced at £7.

James Cummins.

@CummyBear