HAILING from Hertfordshire, four-piece rock band, The Hunna took to the Festival Republic stage at Leeds Festival on Sunday (August 27) and our I was there to see their performance…
It’s been a hectic weekend for The Hunna, playing both Reading and Leeds Festival and releasing ‘100,’ their debut album this August bank holiday.
Not only has it been a hectic weekend, but also it’s almost been a whirlwind of a year for the band.
Since releasing their debut single, ‘Bonfire’ in only October last year, the band have truly taken the UK by storm, which became blatantly obvious given how crowded the tent already was around fifteen minutes before The Hunna were set to arrive on stage.
When seeing the band play live for the first time in May at Manchester’s Dot to Dot festival, the crowd did not seem to interact with the band’s song as well as anticipated.
This made it interesting to see the comparison in the crowd’s reception for The Hunna’s slot at Leeds Festival.
And what a difference it was…
The band opened their set with three songs that had already been released prior to the release of their debut album, which resulted in having the audience in the palm of their hands from the start of the set, even when playing new songs from the album.
An extended introduction of ‘You and Me’ intensified the anticipation for the band to begin their set, resulting in an extremely explosive start from the band.
Messages of positivity and energy spill through the tracks, and this becomes a common theme that can be seen through the lyrics of the band’s songs.
‘Still Got Blood’ encouraged the heavily dominated young audience to clap along to the song, before front man, Ryan Potter, gave messages of inspiration to the crowd.
“F*ck the haters,” he commented, “This one’s for all the people who say you can’t do something,” he announced, before ‘We Could Be’ played next.
By three songs into the set, teens were creating mosh pits at every given opportunity to the lively atmosphere, before the band took the plunge into their new album, playing ‘The World Is Ours.’
Although the album was only released a day prior, it was surprising how many fans were already familiar with the words, and also how lively the crowd were even though not everyone was accustomed to the track.
The lyrics are evocative of the struggle of every band’s rise to fame- through the ups and downs everyone in a band will have related to at some point during their career.
The next two tracks were also recognisable, with the band playing ‘She’s Casual’ and ‘Bonfire’ next, again provoking the hunna-mania and the crowd erupting into frenzy.
The band chose to end their set on another song from their latest album, ‘Bad For You,’ which was a peculiar choice to end the set on given the electric reaction ‘Bonfire’ received in comparison.
Despite this, the audience gave their last ounce of energy in attempt to engage with the unfamiliar track, and it became admirable to finally see The Hunna receiving the reaction they deserve during this set that left the crowd wanting more.
Abigail White 