Scottish musical duo Honeyblood performed at the Crescent Community Venue, York on the 24th April 2017.

Review by Katie Manning

Photography by Andy Argyle

On the 24^th April, Honeyblood performed at the Crescent Community Venue. The evening began as York locals The Televangelists took to the stage, not holding back in telling the dispersed crowd to get into the middle. The young band pull off a confident set, full of spiky guitar led indie rock. They took a break from their original material to cover Bill Ryder-Jones’ Two to Birkenhead, an artist that has no doubt inspired their sound, before finishing with a clash of big guitar and drum solos.

Next came newcomers to Honeyblood’s tour, Doe – a London based 3-piece indie punk band, who exploded into action by filling the room with hard guitar and roaring vocals to match. The groups fun-loving character was evident in between set-ups, with tales of adventures to takeaway shop Mr Happy (who wasn’t in fact very happy noted lead, Nicola), and a shout out to what a great community venue The Crescent is, which was met with proud cheers. That personality carried through into the band’s energetic performance, as they stormed through a varied set of disdainful, mellow songs followed by big punchy punk tunes with a signature, articulated twang to the lead vocal. Every member of this fiery band was captivating to watch, with a provocative mishmash of hard and soft in their songs, that somehow holds together for a great sound.

Finally, Honeyblood made their way onto the stage and began to set-up; then without warning opened with Justine, Misery Queen, to a somewhat subdued crowd. But as the intro for the fast-paced Ready for the Magic burst out, the energy in the room was ignited, and signs of life in the audience appeared as they clapped along – as Tweeddale pointed out, it appeared that Monday was the new weekend.  Excitement in the room built with every song the band performed, and a symbiosis developed between the duo and the crowd – as they got more and more ferocious, so did a dedicated communion of fans nearer the front. Because of this, the compact venue became a sweaty affair, but this only strengthened the relationship between the band and the crowd as a “we’re all in this together” pact occurred, before a man with a fan saved the day. Then the pace was calmed down with the bands slower songs such as Cruel, Gangs, and Hey Stellar – with the last being aptly dedicated to York’s forgone venue where Honeyblood last performed, The Duchess. Afterwards, Myers reached out to the crowd for a favour, and an impromptu rendition of Happy Birthday was filmed and sent out to her cousin. Killer Bangs was the perfect crescendo to a great evening, and cemented the scornful punch of the band. Honeyblood exuded a pure punk spirit, drum stick swivels and drink downing included, and they’re certainly a girl band with balls.