The Brit Pack Setlist

You Really Got Me (The Kinks cover)
Paint It Black (The Rolling Stones cover)
All My Loving (The Beatles cover)
Help! (The Beatles cover)
A Hard Day’s Night (The Beatles cover)
Dreams (Fleetwood Mac cover)
Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears cover)
That’s All (Genesis cover)
Bennie and the Jets (Elton John cover)
Don’t Stop Me Now (Queen cover)
Fat Bottomed Girls (Queen cover)
Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover)
Don’t You (Forget About Me) (Simple Minds cover)
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (Eurythmics cover)
Let’s Dance (David Bowie cover)
Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 (Pink Floyd cover)
Pinball Wizard (The Who cover)
I Melt With You (Modern English cover)
Dancing With Myself (Generation X cover)
Twist and Shout (The Top Notes cover)

I had made my way from Minnesota out to Delaware for a vacation in Rehoboth Beach, sitting at the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Delaware Bay. My initial instinct had been to hang up the reviewer’s hat while I was out here, but other members of the team at We Heart Music have found ways to be on the job whether it be a road trip to Peoria, Illinois specifically for a show earlier in 2026 or a bit of happenstance to catch a talented busker in Paris in January 2026. So, with the tiniest bit of investigation, I found there was a venue that would be hosting live music while I was there. The Rehoboth Beach Bandstand has been holding live music events for over sixty years, with the current structure right off the beach and boardwalk built in 2006. They host a variety of bands, mostly over the weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day, with the Atlantic Ocean as the visual backdrop. On a sweltering Sunday evening, it was a British music invasion with The Brit Pack taking over. The cover band, which describes itself as “British born, but American made” plays a broad swath of mostly classic and prog rock of UK artists from the 60’s through the 80’s. With British guitarist Mark Johnson and drummer Will Haywood Smith founding the band in New York City, they joined forces with American vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Matt Nakoa and bassist Bryan Percivall where they all add vocals as needed. They got started fast with The Kinks’ You Really Got Me, and those harmonies crushed, with all four singing. A quick welcome from Johnson (he ran banter all evening) and they went with “the most obscure band of the evening”, hitting a run of songs from The Beatles. Nokoa really leaned into inhabiting the different singers, but the fact that we had all four band members regularly singing helped a tremendous amount. It really filled the space, and they weren’t washed out in the outdoor space (always a risk). This was fun and The Brit Pack had the songs down cold, and the audience (the seating area was completely packed, with the crowd spilling over into the street) appreciated the classic rock. Nokoa killed it on lead vocals for Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams, and the band continued to show real depth, including some solid guitar work from Johnson at several points in that one.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World was a nice era shift and the move into a little more prog rock was a good one. Nokoa nailed the vocal mode on That’s All and had that great synth heavy keys as well and there was a fab drum close from Smith. Hitting Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now was an energetic high point and we even had a few dancers starting to appear in the crowd. Working back to Whole Lotta Love gave Smith and bassist Purcivall a chance to shine musically and they certainly took it. Jumping squarely to the 80’s for a stretch was tremendous and Nokoa was a vocal shapeshifter, playing both Annie Lennox and David Bowie quite impressively. We got another instrumental focused song with a Pink Floyd song, but they came back to the 80’s with a great rendition of Modern English’s I Melt with You, bringing all the joy to that one. Johnson thanked the full crowd one more time, and closing on Twist and Shout had the crowd bellowing the “ahhs” with the band and The Brit Pack had left the Rehoboth Bandstand with a great evening and a new set of fans who swarmed the merch table to buy shirts and take selfies.