DANCE, SWEAT, MAKE A FRIEND | JOEY VALENCE & BRAE DELIVER TOTAL MAYHEM IN GLASGOW

LIVE REVIEW | JOEY VALENCE AND BRAE w/ WHATMORE | BARROWLAND BALLROOM | 10th May 2026 by Amanda MacEachen

Hip hop duo Joey Valence and Brae brought an absolute sweat-fest to Glasgow’s Barrowlands on their Hyperyouth world tour, with support from WHATMORE.

This gig can be described as nothing other than complete mayhem, with constant crowd surfers and mosh pits, it was an absolutely incredible standout night to everyone who attended. Their latest album, Hyperyouth, released in August last year, centres primarily around the messy transition into adulthood. Across the album, JVB explore the fear of growing up and accepting change, whilst still desperately trying to hold onto the energy and freedom of youth.

Through their connection with fans, the duo have created an incredibly welcoming sense of community with their live shows, turning their gigs into a space where fans can dance freely, embrace themselves fully, and momentarily forget about the pressures of growing older. This theme was evident at the show, with the whole gig feeling like a packed underground nightclub, with everyone dancing, jumping, and singing with no other cares.

WHATMORE

Support came from American hip hop group WHATMORE, whose high energy set proved to be the perfect warm up for the chaos that was about to follow. Matching a very similar style and energy to Joey Valence and Brae, the five piece band immediately got the Barrowlands crowd moving from the moment they stepped on stage, with all five of them bouncing about taking turns in singing. One of the members even jumped down from the stage and entered the crowd whilst still performing, further ramping up the atmosphere. By the end of their set, the crowd were fully riled up and ready for JVB to take over.

JOEY VALENCE AND BRAE

Before the set had even begun, it was impossible to not notice all the incredible effort that fans had put into their outfits. There was custom made t-shirts and jeans, with references to lyrics and artwork from Hyperyouth, just showing the sheer tightness of this community. When Joey Valence and Brae finally burst onto the stage, the crowd exploded instantly.

Opening with ‘HYPERYOUTH’, the first track from the album, immediately established the tone for the night. The song begins with a nostalgic voice sample of BMO from cartoon Adventure Time, asking, “but does growing up just change your body? or also your soul? maybe I could just stay the same forever?”, going straight into repeated lyrics “dance, bounce”, followed with a beat drop. These first few lines of the track perfectly introduces the albums themes of youth, growing older, and trying to hold onto parts of yourself whilst everything around you changes.

From there, the energy barely dropped for a second. Tracks including ‘STARTAFIGHT’, ‘HOOLIGANG’ and ‘OK’ sent the crowd into constant motion, with endless mosh pits and dozens of crowd surfers filling the front of the crowd. Even between the bigger tracks, there was never really a pause, as every song carried the same infectious rave like energy that just kept the crowd dancing throughout the entire set. At several points during the night, Joey Valence and Brae stopped to talk to the crowd, reminding us of the shows only rules “dance, sweat, make a friend”, something that the audience I believe fully embraced.

One of the standout moments of the night came during ‘THE PARTY SONG’ which brought a slightly different atmosphere to the set. The track has a high energy rave section which then switches to a more calm ‘bring it back’ feeling as the music slows. Their aim with this was to capture the feeling of going out and partying til the club closes, and then switching to that emotional “end of the night” feeling. This one song in itself demonstrated how strongly JVB are able to successfully translate the themes of their music into a real live setting.

The duo also surprised fans with a cover of ‘Security’ by Amyl and the Sniffers which the crowd loved and all sang along too, alongside a mashup near the end of the set which included Joey’s solo release ‘Napalm’. They ended the night with huge hit ‘THE BADDEST’ followed by their last song being ‘DISCO TOMORROW’ which is the last song on HYPERYOUTH, bringing a proper full circle moment to the set. During this, the Barrowlands became complete chaos one final time, with CO2 cannons blasting across the stage as the entire crowd jumped and screamed.

By the end of the night, it was clear that Joey Valence and Brae had achieved exactly what they set out to do: create a space where people could dance freely, sing all the lyrics, lose themselves in the music, and fully embrace who they are.

SETLIST

1. HYPERYOUTH
2. GIVE IT TO ME
3. BUST DOWN
4. HOOLIGANG
5. STARTAFIGHT
6. LIKE A PUNK
7. OK
8. GO HARD
9. IS THIS LOVE
10. LIVE RIGHT
11. WASSUP
12. THE PARTY SONG
13. HAVE TO CRY
14. push the pipe
15. Security (Amyl and the Sniffers cover)
16. SEE U DANCE
17. FREAKS/ GUMDROP/ Napalm
18. PUNK TACTICS
19. THE BADDEST
20. DISCO TOMORROW

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Amanda McEachen

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