Sweat away in The Welly once more. Coming on stage without a shirt on is always a bold move for a gig closer to Christmas than summer, but even The Hunna notes how sweltering a temperature can be found on the bottom floor of The Welly. Watford indie rockers taking the stage in Hull and not for the first time, the grassroots tour the band is embarking on is a chance for them to return to their roots. It was what their fourth instalment was about after all, and with a fifth album on the horizon, there is no better time to put to rest some of their best songs. Of course, Bonfire and She’s Casual make an appearance, but The Hunna are keen to display they are much more than their hits.
READ MORE: The Hunna talk getting back to their roots, new material and intimate new tour
That they are, and the atmosphere, as they said in an interview recently, is what makes or breaks their shows. Even if it is just the brief chatter about how warm it is as people in the at-capacity crowd chant “you Hull,” that is still more of an atmosphere than sitting in and listening to their records. A polite yet feral mosh pit just a few feet away and a busted knee preventing some real action, the distance between the true core and heart of The Hunna fanbase and a black eye is a blurred line. But a blurry evening it is, with the respectable ensemble of tracks The Hunna bring to the stage a real treat for those who expect a similarly sleek quality to their recorded efforts. It is here The Hunna bring out the best in themselves. Despite the carnage, which they request for show closer Trash, there is still uniformity and professionalism about them.
Necking the free waters and then holding the ice to your face while you watch on as hundreds throw themselves around the place. Their style is routine and equivalent to the rest of the guitar-heavy bands out there with their style firmly set on being the next loved-up rockers who are appealing to those in the crowd going through the always imitable situationships country-wide. It is what gives The Hunna a perspective to work from and an audience to appeal to. Still, listening in to that and enjoying it wholeheartedly is pretty easy after the first few tracks, regardless of how many words you can remember.
Grumbling about the weather and never feeling quite like going, The Hunna turn a dejected evening into an enjoyable one. Their work on stage will delight those who need a loud rush of energy and a sweaty back to consider their gigging a complete and whole time. They are not a band that can shut up nor play their hits, and their reliance on a back catalogue stretching over the course of a decade, all the way back to their teenage years, is an admirable showcase of what the band stand for. For those who want to see that, those who connect with the imitable styles they bring to the stage, there is no doubt The Hunna is a live band worth witnessing. The staggered walk home, sweating and chatting to someone about how you sort of know Richard Hawley through work, is an irreplicable experience.
