Music / Review
Review: Holly Humberstone, O2 Academy – ‘Her set built exquisitely throughout the night’
I’m sure like me, you’ve spent many conversations discussing whether guitar music is dead. With you, your friends, and even the stranger by the bar all furiously discussing the facts as you try and decide whether guitar music has finally seen its curtain call.
Every once in a while, you’ll probably re-start this everlasting debate hot off your latest glimpse of hope. Well, on Tuesday night at the O2 Academy, I found my most recent glimpse of hope.
Holly Humberstone is part of, what I believe to be, the true revolution of real guitar music. Yes, it’s almost certainly pop disguised under a façade of post-punk clothing, but who cares? It’s good music with a band on stage and that’s a far cry closer to the glory days than we were a few years ago.
is needed now More than ever
Now admittedly you might well be reading this with a certain air of scepticism. If so, you’re probably the one in the debate who passionately defends guitar music whilst you reel off a long list of chart-topping artists who play the instrument.
However, Holly Humberstone showed me something completely different. Her crowd was arguably the most diverse in age range I have witnessed proving we may really have a revolution on our hands.
Her set built exquisitely throughout the night with the choice of songs and use of dynamics largely to blame for her crowd’s fanatic enthusiasm.
Her opening song Can You Afford To Lose Me is a brilliant example of what a slow, indie-inspired track can do to a room. With little more than a note played she had the venue in her hands and all eyes were firmly fixed on her.
Then there was The Walls Are Way Too Thin. Considering the O2 is a fairly large venue and, according to Holly herself, it was the first time she had played with the band, the sound really was phenomenal.
The song progressed effortlessly and with such a strong chorus it’s no wonder why she sold out her first night on tour.
So, is guitar music dead? Well, if Tuesday night is anything to go by, certainly not.
Main photo: Will Heason
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