All hail Hallan. Last week, the homegrown genre-blending foursome kicked off their latest UK tour at Southsea’s Wedgewood Rooms and I was lucky enough to be there.

Merging 80s-sounding synths with post-punk indie, the music of Portsmouth band Hallan is hard to pin down, but all the more interesting for it. Firm fixtures on BBC6 Music, their star is continuing to rise.  With their razor-sharp lyrics that eviscerate societal hypocrisy every chance they get and an exhilarating take on a retro sound, it’s not hard to see why.

They’ve amassed a loyal cohort of local fans and the Wedge was full of them, all eager to experience the first night of the tour. The boys (front man Conor, bassist Joshua T, guitarist Joshua R and drummer Adam) opened the show strong, with new material presumably from their upcoming debut album, expected later this year. These first two songs were classic Hallan – pounding bass, punchy riffs and sardonic lyrics delivered with Conor’s signature frenetic energy. It was hard to take my eyes off him as he bobbed and whirled around the stage between verses, his stage presence is magnetic.

They then launched into Sich Übergeben, with its rippling synth intro and squealing guitar. The title is German for ‘to vomit’ and its a biting indictment on Brits abroad, but even without the translation, it’s a bloody great song to bop around to. The band followed this with another new song, Conor pounding a tambourine against his chest, and I spotted one punter in the crowd nodding along reverently with closed eyes.

The tambourine stayed out for 2020 hit Modern England, which the boys slowed down with a brilliantly moody intro and build up. By the time they kicked the song into high gear, the crowd were right there with them. Between songs, chants of ‘Hallan, Hallan…’ took up around the room and I remembered how great it is to watch a band on their home turf. Conor chatted about gigs in Portsmouth in days gone by, and a good portion of the audience whooped to let him know they’d been there.

During the next new song, Conor put a framed photo up on top of the speakers on the stage. We were pretty close to the front but it was hard to make out what the picture was, although we were definitely curious. Then Hallan played current single, Lilian’s Regret which, despite its bouncy indie sound, was inspired by a prisoner in a Moldovan prison on an episode of the show, World’s Toughest Prisons. Like a lot of Hallan’s songs, the lyrics offer real food for thought and an insightful commentary on some of life’s biggest issues.

Next up was The Colline Gate, which always reminds me of darker Blue Monday by New Order. It’s a massive song, and led nicely into a couple more new tracks. Before they closed the show, Conor told us his parents were in the crowd and the photo on the speaker was of the family cat, Nik Nak, who they’d just lost, which was the cutest (and only) pet dedication I’ve ever seen at a gig.

The last song was a feature-length version of Money Talks, complete with Conor on cow bell and another long intro that built to an electrifying finale. Tour well and truly kicked off.

Facebook: facebook.com/HallanUK
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