Honeyblood
Honeyblood returned to Norwich last night in support of acclaimed second album Babes Never Die. Supported by PINS the stage was set for an entertaining night of music at the Arts Centre.
PINS began the night menacingly with Trouble and it was a menace that filled most of the set. The lighting at the Arts Centre was perfect for PINS' sound - the predominantly dark blue light mixed with the smoke machine bathed the stage in a haunting glow. This atmosphere complimented the music PINS present, in equal measures Joy Division and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and perhaps GOAT too in a strange way. The cover of Joy Division's Dead Souls was an unexpected but hugely enjoyable triumph. PINS aren't a one trick pony though, songs such as Young Girls and Dazed By You are sonically very upbeat and are enhanced greatly by Lois' guitaring. In fact her guitar playing throughout was excellent - both a part of the driving heart of songs and at the same time separate, producing intricate and floating riffs. PINS just exuded cool and confidence and Girls Like US was as strong a statement as I've seen in a song in a long time. Urging the women forward to get involved, it was a triumph and one of the best live song performances I have seen this year. After an extended outro PINS left the stage to appreciative applause. I for one could have done with a lot more songs. Here's hoping for a headlining tour in the future.
The Arts Centre was packed by the time Honeyblood took to the stage. Having only recently 'discovered ' them I was excited to see what all the fuss was about. In essence the set was really one of two halves. The first half, I’m sad to report, rather slipped by unnoticed and with rather minimal highlights. Justine, Misery Queen and Walking at Midnight aside, something really wasn’t clicking. Opener Waiting For The Magic should have been a clarion call to get down to some punk-ish beats but instead it was somewhat muted with lead singer Stina’s vocals a bit lost in the mix. The crowd too were somewhat restrained though not unappreciative. With the new album released a few short weeks ago it was clear to see how keen they were to perform it in its entirety. This is to be commended, but front loading the set with all the ‘slow’ songs meant that there wasn’t much variation and therefore was a tad ponderous at times. For a band with some uproarious tunes this was a shame.
The playing of Sister Wolf mid set finally took the show up a gear and the crowd responded in kind with the first mosh I’d seen all night. Followed by Gangs and Sea Hearts I started to warm to Honeyblood – they were finally cutting loose a little and it felt more of a performance than a highly rehearsed show. To this end, the two improv songs dedicated to merch-person Hazel were actually some of the most warming parts of the night, there was a connection and the crowd at large were into it. As the show entered its end phase Honeyblood finally came into their own. All Dragged Up was loose, melodic and punk light, Babes Never Die - an uplifting declaration of defiance - caused major moshing, Super Rat brought things down a little before Killer Bangs tore the house down. If only their performance had consisted of more of these last few songs - the songs are in existence, but the energy expended in the last four was a marked change from what had come before. The crowd were finally fully engaged by this point, but it left a sense of what could have been. Rejigging the setlist and dare I say cutting it down slightly would definitely have helped with the flow of the show and created a more cohesive performance rather than one with marked sonic waypoints.
This said however, I don't doubt Honeyblood's conviction or sentiment. In a time with many two piece bands, there was enough on show tonight to confirm they are worthy of and inhabit their own space in it.
