Hurts, renowned across Eastern Europe for their dark, romantic but polished appeal, powerful synth-pop vocals and niche attire, are yet to fulfil their true potential in the UK. Happiness promised, Exile stuttered and after last night’s performance, expect Surrender to finally take the duo to the dizzy heights, which they had previously threatened to exceed.
Now 20 months since their last UK show, Hurts treated an intimate but capacity Scala crowd to an enthralling, exciting and somewhat uncharacteristic performance. After previously revealing to Gigwise that they were ready to push all boundaries, Theo Hutchcraft opened the show with Hurts’ third studio album’s lead single ‘Some Kind Of Heaven’.
Supported by the House Gospel Choir, Hutchcraft‘s passion and cohesion with the group set an upbeat tone, which lasted the duration. Roses were thrown to the crowd as Hutchcraft bellowed: “It’s good to be here London.” This was swiftly followed by what can only be described as Exile’s two trump cards, ‘Miracle’ and ‘Somebody To Die For’.
The removal of the singer’s jacket signified a gear change. A live premier of ‘Rolling Stone’ was met with overwhelming applause and although ‘Evelyn’ altered the tempo, Surrender’s ‘Nothing Will Be Bigger Than Us’ and ‘Weight Of The World’ really did no harm in showcasing Hurts’ new direction. That spelled the end of Surrender, as Hutchcraft instigated a rare alternative of ‘Blood, Tears & Gold’, abandoning all other instruments apart from Adam Anderson’s acoustic guitar. It proved a fitting finale as they treated the crowd to a Happiness throwback. ‘Wonderful Life’ provided the colour, ‘Sunday’, the drama and ‘Better Than Love’ was assisted by a magical mix of on-stage passion and strobe lighting – a new Hurts?
The choir saw out the remainder of ‘Illuminated’, as the pair walked off stage. Feet were stamped, names were chanted and eventually, ‘Stay’ was provided. The encore was a beautiful throwback and reminder, that although an exciting year lies ahead for the Manchester duo, they’ll never stray too far from what made them unique and so adored by their fans.
Hurts played:
Some Kind of Heaven (Live premiere)
Miracle
Somebody to Die For
Rolling Stone (Live premiere)
Evelyn
Nothing Will Be Bigger Than Us (Live premiere)
Weight Of The World (Live premiere)
Blood, Tears & Gold (Acoustic)
Wonderful Life
Sunday
Better Than Love
Illuminated
Encore:
Stay
Watch Hurts perform 'Some Kind Of Heaven' below
Watch Hurts perform 'Rolling Stone' below
Watch Hurts debut another new track below
Hurts will perform at Berlin's Lido on Thursday 18 June, before releasing new album Surrender on 9 October. For more information, visit here.
