The Hunna, Judas, Airways: Olympia, Liverpool

The Hunna

The Hunna got Getintothis’ Lucy McLachlan all sweaty and singing along to their Olympia gig and looking for emojis.

So we went to see The Hunna, (insert wide eyed face emoji here).

We went in blind, not knowing much about the band. We checked the stage the times on Twitter beforehand and the madness ensued from there. Their new album Dare was released yesterday, it seems to pop star proportions, we didn’t realise they had built up such a following.

Scroll after scroll of teenagers ordering their signed copies. It turns out this album was supposed to have been released months ago but was delayed so their fans could finish school exams before getting giddy at the prospect of a brand new The Hunna album and tour. That would have been one hell of a distraction.

They even did a signing at HMV in Liverpool ONE today. We had no idea The Hunna had such a high profile, but then we also had no idea HMV were still doing artist signings – the last one this writer went to was back in 2006 (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club if anyone is bothered). So we’re learning a lot today. Tonight’s show seems to be an album launch of sorts and we hear that the whole album was played through.

So we turned up in time to see Judas, we’ve seen them before at Sound City for two years running. Your typical lad rock, big guitars and loud drums, it’s the perfect lads lads lads warm up for what’s to come.

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The Hunna appear on stage.

The first thing we notice is the red wife beater and striped pyjama bottoms look…ok so today has been a little warm again and we’re writing this in the middle of a heat wave wearing black, so yes we guess the nipple showing vest could be deemed appropriate.

Another thing to note straight away is the arena sound they have. For just four blokes on the vast Olympia stage they have a big stage presence, but that might just have something to do with the sheer loudness their music creates.

Olympia is a huge space, there is Gods seating and the sound filled the whole venue. The band have the big guitar and drum sound that would go well echoing around an arena with the whole crowd waving their phones in the air, seemingly knowing all the words to every song from an album that was released just the day before.

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We can only imagine a festival setting in the afternoon/evening after a few ciders as the sun is going down would be the perfect way to see them, if you were into that kind of thing. Maybe if we had had a few ciders instead of water, we’d be in the middle of the crowd bouncing away and pretending we know all the words instead of cooly leaning against a wall.

So the singer is pacing around the stage like he’s warming up for a fight, each song is belted out to the crowd and it felt like a good proportion of the crowd were belting out the songs back at him.

It was the kind of show where we were expecting £4 beers to be launched through the air and a row of lads on mates shoulders singing passionately with their arms outstretched. Somehow, it felt like we didn’t quite get there.

It’s the type of gig that would definitely be more enjoyable to be in the crowd when you can sing along to every song at the top of your lungs, but the crowd did feel a little subdued for the ambush of rowdy boys we were gearing ourselves up to see. Hearing a number of audience members on the way out say the band were amazing but the crowd was dead does sometimes seem to be a bit of a thing. Come on Liverpool, you can do better than that!

Maybe we’ll go home and give the brand new album a go, learn all the words so next time we can join in and sing along…maybe. With an obvious growing fan base, that could easily get to The 1975 hysteria type scale, we can’t help but wonder how long it will be before they are coming over to the Echo Arena instead. Maybe there is some hope for new pop guitar music after all.

Images by Getintothis’ Warren Millar