Laredo Two plays a ‘Magical’ Sold Out Show for Debut Album Release

Laredo Two and their newest twelve track album, Broken From the Start, sell out The Armoury in Deep Ellum.

From young adolescent teens playing for their neighbors in the driveway to selling out The Armoury in Deep Ellum four years later, Laredo Two is only going up from here with the immediate impact from their first full length studio album, Broken From the Start. 

At The Armoury, the chill in the air is replaced with body heat as the attendance grows and the countdown to showtime is apparent by the hyped up body language. 

Opening up the night with “Poison,” it looked like a storm was brewing in the middle of the pit. There was not one person refusing to give into the moving, head-banging, air-guitaring, moshing or dancing in some type of way and it didn’t stop for the rest of the night. Although the album came out just before the show, that did not stop these fans from learning every new song word for word with no hesitation. 

Catching Lead Singer Tyler Ross’s eye, he points out a fan in the crowd with a custom made Laredo Two shirt and brings her on stage to show everyone. She begins to tell the sold out crowd how much she loves them. With that being said, Ross keeps her on stage to sing “Don’t Look Back.” Completing her stage time, she acts as if she’s going to stage dive off into the crowd but decides not to. Letting her intrusive thoughts take over, the hardcore fan dives over the audience and crowd surfs through the pool of people to the back of the venue. 

The storm of the crowd did not calm down, if anything it intensified with the music as “What a Waste” vibrated through the speakers that people were falling into. Circa 2022, the iconic bass line hit the stage for the first time and got every audience member hooked. The relief of seeing it on Broken From the Start after no luck on the last two EP releases, was worth the wait seeing the confidence radiate through bassist Ryan Shukla as he performs the catchy bass line. A group of girls that moshed their way to the front motivated Shukla by reaching their arms out and flashing smiles at him. I think it’s safe to say Shukla is one step closer to the bassist stereotype revolution. Drummer Ben Polanco enthusiastically hit his drums in the back corner of the stage, seemingly moving faster than the speed of light, making every movement look like a real life aperture blur, or maybe it was just the whiplash side effects. 

After completing the performance of every song on the album, the audience chants requests. At one point the whole crowd in unison chants “Po-ker Face! Po-ker Face!” The band’s notorious cover of “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga was the top request. Tyler Ross looks around the stage to Ben Polanco and Ryan Shukla and exchanges a mischievous grin and snickers a little into the mic and to everyone’s surprise, starts playing the intro to “Falling” from their first EP, L2-EP. The screams and emotions from the crowd overflow onto each other. Some in the back of the pit dancing, others on the verge of tears. A rare sight to see and hear from Laredo Two. Near the middle of the melancholic anthem, a mosh pit starts. These fans managed to start a mosh pit to one of Laredo Two’s most emotional songs and made it work. 

Closing the memorable night, Tyler Ross yells into the mic, “This will be the most active year yet!” Leaving the stage, the post concert depression hits almost immediately as the house music fades in and the tearing down the stage begins, ears ring and the headaches kick in but the audience hangs around and mingles. Some of the overheard conversations described there to be, “True magic in the air,” adding that it was a “Magical night.” 

Broken From the Start is available on all streaming platforms. Be forewarned, you’ll want to dance.