The Hug and Pint is already tightly packed two hours before Honeyblood are due on stage, amplifying the fact that the band are way bigger than this venue, and that Glasgow really loves Honeyblood.
They kick off with ‘Ready for The Magic’, the first single from their upcoming album Babes Never Die, and though full of their trademark ferocity, the band seem to take a couple of songs to warm up to top form.
By the time they get to ‘Choker’, they are very much the Honeyblood we know and love and the crowd is in full swing too.
The duo always sound much more aggressive live than they do on record, where there’s a sweeter, dreamy kind of quality; it’s great to hear both sides but this raw energy really suits them and it’ll be interesting to see how much of that features on the next album.
Cat Myers’ drumming is impressive throughout and is exhausting just to watch, while singer and guitarist Stina Tweeddale’s instantly recognisable voice shows off the band’s uniqueness.
This is only the second time they have played the Babes Never Die album live and though it is a privilege to be one of the first to hear it, at several points the crowd seem eager to hear their old favourites so didn’t always give the new songs their full attention, shame as the new tracks sound great with ‘Walking at Midnight’ featuring an excellent vocal performance and a wonderfully atmospheric feel.
Although perhaps the older songs have been somewhat neglected, as when Myers suggests they would be taking requests the first three were denied, with Tweeddale stating, “Cat doesn’t know those ones!”
She did know ‘Fall Forever’ though, which sounds even better live than on the record and is met with the loudest sing-along of the evening.
The encore gives the fans what they want in the form of ‘Super Rat’ and ‘Killer Bangs’, which send everyone into a frenzy of singing and dancing for the perfect ending to what already feels like a pretty special night.
Seeing the band in such a small venue makes it easy to forget that this is not just a small band playing a casual gig, and that Honeyblood are actually fast-becoming a big deal internationally, with an American headline tour next on their schedule.
Tweeddale announces that they will be playing at Saint Luke’s when the new album comes out, which will hopefully be a great gig once fans have had chance to take the new material to heart.
Words/Photos: Shannon McGarrity
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