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Gig Review: Black Honey at The Wedgewood Rooms

Black Honey arrived at the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth over half way through their current 20 date UK tour and you can immediately see how much the band are enjoying being back on stage in front of their loyal fan base.

Gig Review: Black Honey at The Wedgewood Rooms

Black Honey arrived at the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth over half way through their current 20 date UK tour and you can immediately see how much the band are enjoying being back on stage in front of their loyal fan base. The band have spent much of 2021 in frustration, being unable to play many gigs to showcase and celebrate their top-10 charting second album ‘Written & Directed’ that was released in March, a handful of festival appearances (including a fantastic set as part of the Victorious Festival line up in August) proceeded this tour and it is evident that live performances are what this band enjoy the most.

The Brighton based four-piece walked on stage to rapturous applause, they were led by drummer Alex Woodward with his arms a loft to incite a baying crowd to make even more noise, to which they duly obliged.

Opening with the powerful stomping directness of ‘I Like The Way You Die’, ripping through ‘All My Pride’ and onto a slightly more groove filled ‘Beaches’ the band are musically tight and it is obvious they mean business!

Black Honey
Black Honey

Lead lady Izzy Bee Phillips is engaging and mesmerising throughout. Greeting the crowd between songs, Izzy took the time to recognise a young fan at the front (Daisy) who had seen Black Honey at Victorious Festival “Daisy, this ones for you” before moving into the slow-burning ‘Corrine’.

The rest of Black Honey’s set included ‘Back To The Bar’, ‘Believer’, ‘I Do It To Myself’ & ‘Disinfect’ from their recent album plus ‘I Only Hurt The Ones I Love’, ‘Hello Today’ & ’Spinning Wheel’ from the bands self title first album, the further into the performance they went, the bigger the mosh pit grew, complete with a surprising crowd surfer!

Black Honey’s performance was powerful, raucous and snarling yet it always felt personal, as if to be a thank you to the loyalty of their fans and a nod to the solidarity of gig goers. Black Honey are a band on top of their game that’s for sure!

The support acts this evening were Brighton based duo Arxx & Manchester based Phoebe Green, both of which drew the crowd in early which is great to see as all bands need the support now more than ever! To quote Hanni from Arxx “We will be outside selling some merch, please buy some as it pays for our petrol”.

Words and photos by Mark Butler


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