Words and Pictures: Louise Phillips / (C) Louise Phillips Photography
From the onset, it was one hell of a great night as Manchester’s finest, The Hara were in town! With support from dark emo duo Hell Hotel and brat metal band Eville who both hail from Brighton, the night got off to a storming start! Hell Hotel took to the stage in near total darkness and were ironically as hot as hell, with driving drums and ingeniously blended vocals. Their songs were emo and catchy, and they went down a storm with the already packed crowd.
Eville were the second band of the night. They were edgy and cool, their vocals were candid and emotionally driven. Vocalist Eva Sheldrake is a woman who’s not afraid to say it like it is and the crowd absolutely loved her! Like Barbie with a machine gun, she took no prisoners and stormed right in where angels fear to tread with x-rated lyrics and roaring vocals as she urged the crowd to “fuck the system”! Like a modern-day Lily Allen on acid!
Hell Hotel & Eville
The Hara
In what seemed like no time at all, the venue descended into total darkness and the anticipation hit fever pitch! As The Hara took to the stage and launched into their hypnotic opening track ‘Until It Happens’, strobe lights burst out from the stage and the screams from their adoring fans were so loud they nearly eclipsed the band! Vocalist Josh Taylor, bare chested except for a black faux fur coat was absolutely captivating, with Zack Breen’s flawless guitar sound and Jack Kennedy’s ferocious beats, The Hara were on fire!! As their fans screamed their names, tears rolling down many of their faces, it was clear that we were all witnessing a very special night!
The gig which took place in the edgy Soho venue The Lower Third was sheer perfection in every sense! Dark and moody, emotionally charged but fun and that was even before you took into account the music that has literally taken this band of beautiful boys from near obscurity to catapulting into a world of stardom with a truly evangelical fanbase, many of whom were jostling for pole position to get up close and personal with their idols tonight. And The Hara, never a band to disappoint, were reaching out into the audience, shouting out to their fans making it easy to see why their devoted army love them like they do! At one point Josh even asked the audience to choose between two songs! Picking an ecstatic guy who choose FYI as his song of choice, as they played the opening notes, the guy looked like he was about to explode with happiness!
A few tracks in, when Josh threw off his coat revealing his beautifully tattooed torso, half the audience nearly hit the floor so great was the thrill!
The tracks came thick and fast, each one accompanied by dramatic lighting and a savage mastery that no doubt comes from the 8 years of fierce dedication that they have put into honing their craft. The dynamic between them can only be described as beautiful and must surely be a big part of what their fans love about them! Whilst there were too many great tracks to mention, a shout out has to go the incredible ‘Die in The City’, where the stage was flooded in neon light and the energy was explosive!
Another stunning part of the set was when drummer Jack played the kind of drum solo that could give you a noise bleed during their 2024 track, “Trophy”. It was ferocious, flawless and pure magic on every level!
The Hara are all about the energy and this was never more evident than when on their final track of the night, “The System”, Zack strutted out into the audience and leapt up onto the bar, wielding his guitar like a deadly weapon of mass destruction!
It’s not hard to see why The Hara have become so popular in recent years, they are charismatic, magnificent and utterly thrilling and undoubtedly well on the way to superstardom! They are The Hara!
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