Live Review: The Hara - O2 Islington Academy2, London 10/10/2021
Having seen The Hara at Slam Dunk 2021, more than a month before their (bar one or two dates) entirely sold out tour, we just knew we had to see them again, and fast. Enter, O2 Academy2 Islington.
After a mad dash to Islington after finding out that it was an afternoon show, we were greeted with Kid Brunswick’s unique brand of rhythm and grunge as he took to the stage of the tiny O2 Islington2 venue. Screaming over a bass heavy drum beat, with a flashing red X his only accompaniment on stage, his performance — which was thunderous enough to be clearly audible to anyone located even vaguely close by — was intensely, almost painfully good. Standing on corner blocks to see over the crowd, and even just to be seen himself, his guttural screams intertwined themselves with his distorted vocals, all over a harmony-providing backing track that rocked the hundreds-strong crowd. With a mix of songs old and new, and his appearance coming just four days after his first ever headline show at The Courtyard — sold out too, I might add — the strength and passion in Harry’s visceral voice lends itself to the emotive, brutally honest tracks. Yet the just-turned-23 year old’s electric set seemed brutally confined in such a tiny room — his supporting slot with Don Broco on their massive UK tour at the end of October/ early November, featuring two nights at O2 Academy Brixton, seems more appropriate! A brilliant artist and an insanely good start to the afternoon.
After a brief interlude between the two acts, featuring some classic modern rock — some Linkin Park, some Muse, a bit of Rage Against The Machine; all bands perfectly chosen to keep the energy high — came The Hara. First came Jack and Zack, strolling on stage to thunderous applause before breaking into the opening beats of 2019’s Tramp Brain, as frontman Josh emerged in a sparkly fishnet top. The heavily female crowd lapped it up; screams of “you hate me/ you love me” arose from the hundreds of eager fans packed into the tiny room, while the almost call-to-arms ending of second track The Circus saw a crowd wide chant of ‘STOP F*CKING WITH MY EMOTIONS’ as Josh staggered around the corpse, arms outstretched like a living corpse.
After the chaotic Off The Edge, with Josh almost cartoonishly miming falling off of the speakers, came the first moment of relative peace. “Fuck man, it’s been two years since we were last in London. A lot has happened to us since then. We’ve played some festivals” — not least of all the Download Pilot back in June, as well as the main stage at Reading and Leeds — “and we finally got a song on Radio One”. Here, the now prophetic Blue Tick Souvenir, reflecting a band that writes pop songs to be featured on Radio One, precedes the more pop-oriented Fool and the Thief, the track with which the band made their Radio One debut. This moment of perfect tongue-in-cheek joy reflects a band simply enjoying themselves, and seems to show what the band is all about — a hearty blend of barely contained chaos and adoring showmanship, including Josh wandering off stage and onto the bar. “This stage is too fucking small”, he announces, almost lazily; in that I think we can all agree.
As the band reach the midpoint of the set, it’s time for a moment of introspection. “This next song is so important”, Josh informs us. “It’s about being vulnerable and what that means”. After a mental-health-destroying pandemic, the song Afterlife takes on its own poignancy. Here, the glitzy theatrics are swapped for simple honesty. Desperation-tinged cries of “help me” rising from the crowd during the chorus make it brutally relatable, while understated instrumentals left Josh’s vocals openly exposed, laid-bare. The seconds after it ended, electric with anticipation yet tinged ever-so-slightly with a melancholic sadness, hung heavy in the air.
The quick shift into the Enter Shikari-esque Bite Down and the Royal Blood tinged Black Stone Ceremony, then, seems a little abrupt, though following such an important song can never be easy. As it is, they simply serve to show a band that seem to be almost paying homage to some of the modern Rock greats that came before them — the almost spat rap verses of the former have that same feel of 2015’s The Mindsweep, while the piercing guitar riffs of the latter bring to mind early Mike Kerr — while undeniably being themselves.
Strangely, though, the drum solo that they in turn give way to seemed even more part of the set than many of the songs. Typically, a drum solo would give leave for Josh and Zack to catch their breath — instead, the two lead the crowd in an all-encompassing mosh pit.
The energy on display here, from both the crowd and the band, was unreal, and it only grew in All Worked Out. The mania displayed here by Josh, as he threw punches and kicks into the ether around him, strangely seemed to resemble Jack Black — that same sort of wide eyed joy and childish excitement, as if a sugar rush was simply exploding out of him.
That wide-eyed joy continued with the crowd-participation of Until It Happens, as Zack made the show seem almost like a rock pantomime; thrusting his guitar over the crowd, encouraging everyone to play it and be part of the sold-out show, and laughing at the discordant sounds produced. Meanwhile, the chaotic FYI saw Josh as a virtuoso, conducting the crowd in their cheers and head-banging, while the angsty Until It Happens, about being stuck and playing dead in a crazy world, seems like it couldn’t be further from the truth for the packed out room.
Here, sadly, is the band’s first and only misstep. Teasing the crowd with mentions of a new song — Die In The City, out 22nd of October, a track which has had snippets plastered over their social media — the band seemed strangely shocked at the furious cries of ‘play it’, and seemed genuinely, contritely penitent that they couldn’t. I’m not sure what they expected, talking about a new song mid set that’s out in a few weeks; it would have been better to save the announcement until the end.
Luckily, they had an easy out as they broke into the opening cries of the raucous crowd-favourite Friends, with the crowd erupting in cheers.
After, came the final song of the set, but not before a little goal setting. “We’ve sold out this room”, Josh reminds us; “now the next goal is to sell out the other one!” I can’t imagine it’ll be too tricky, if the band’s current trajectory stays on course.
But, finally, Josh is ready to end. “I’ve got two words left for you London”, he utters, — “MOSH PIT”. And here, the band break into the opening strums of Animals.
I remember thinking, the first time that I heard this song, just how stupidly packed it is. Trumpets accompany a brutal beat and malicious riffs, with moments of vocal distortion and outraged screams sprinkled throughout, in a distinctly vaudeville-esque three minutes. But, unsurprisingly, the band pull it off perfectly; and in the usual over-the-top fashion, as Josh crowd surfs, shrieks and sings in glorious fashion.
And then it ends, as suddenly as it began, and the band simply start packing up — as odd a part of the afternoon as any other, I suppose. But with that oddness came a loyal adoration from the crowd, and a warm fondness to their wonderful quirks.
Two fantastic sets from two incredible bands that are only going to get better.
Words by James O’Sullivan
Photography by Kevin O’Sullivan