Honeyblood have just stolen a march on Jeremy Corbyn. No sooner had the Labour leader announced that were his party to win the next general election they would introduce four new bank holidays, the Scots duo have gone and reconstructed the entire working week. Monday is now officially the new weekend.
It is suddenly Saturday night all over again in The Crescent as the community venue is transformed into one big non-stop party; it is hot, very sticky, and the place has become one sweltering mass of cheerful humanity. And it is all down to Stina Tweeddale and Cat Myers.
Since last seeing Honeyblood almost two years ago now, Tweeddale and Myers have clearly placed their collective foot firmly on the creative and dynamic gas for they are barely recognisable from the unit who appeared in that tent at Deer Shed Festival. In the interim, they may well have released their second album, Babes Never Die – where they jettisoned the low-fi template of its self-titled predecessor for a much tougher, more independent spirit – but it is the huge spurt in their individual and joint belief where the changes are surely felt most.
Launching straight into the friendship-gone-bad karma of ‘Justine, Misery Queen’ and arriving some 13 songs later at the rattling valedictory salute of ‘Killer Bangs’, Honeyblood career through the complexities of human relationships with a smiling defiance smeared across their face and an undeniable strength in their heart.
We get the new record in its entirety. You really don’t want to get far too close to ‘Ready For The Magic’ for fear of catching its highly contagious strain of pop-punk fever. And whilst the dreamy somnambulism of ‘Walking At Midnight’ does offer a chance to draw breath, the rest of this powerful set is peppered with fierce, full-blooded, foot-to-the-floor belters, fit-to-bursting at their melodic little seams. And, hell, if all of that isn’t quite enough, just to add to the celebratory party atmosphere we even get the chance to wish Cat’s cousin Julia a communal ‘Happy Birthday’.
Another Please Please You promotion.
Photos: Simon Godley
More photos from Honeyblood at The Crescent in York can be found right HERE
