I had the absolute privilege of seeing The HU when they last played Belfast back in February of 2020 around the corner at the Limelight, during the ‘Gereg’ tour and was completely blown away by just how talented the band really were and how great they sounded on the night. Was I to be just as impressed this time around? Let’s find out!
But first, let’s get to the opening act for this evening. Tau And The Drones of Praise are a very experimental collective. Their sound is Celtic, but also has Irish folk textures, as well as a very psychedelic and Eastern vibe to it. They are what I could best describe as a very unique and almost trance-like inducing band that consists of many layers.
Their set lasted around 30 minutes and received a very positive response to those in attendance.
Headlining act The HU were up next to deliver their unique brand of Mongolian folk metal, also known as Hunnu Rock, a name taken from an ancient Mongolian empire of people known as The Huns.
The band primarily plays traditional Mongolian instruments mixed with Mongolian throat singing to songs with very deep and meaningful lyrics which, at times, implement old Mongolian poetry and battle cries.
Their set opened with ‘Shihi Hutu’, which is taken from their new album, ‘Rumble Of Thunder‘, followed by ‘Shoog Shoog’. During the performance of ‘Shireg Shireg’, the band were confronted with a technical issue in the form of a power cut. Fortunately this was brief and certainly didn’t put any dampeners on the evening’s performance as the band shrugged it off and were up and running again moments later.
‘Yuve Yuve Yu’, ‘Wolf Totem’, ‘The Great Chinggis Khan’ and ‘This Is Mongol’ were some of the other offerings during the 14 song set played to a very appreciative and happy crowd. Throughout the evening multiple chants of “Hu, Hu, Hu” could be heard rumbling through the crowd in attendance in appreciation of the band, their talent and amazing performance.
The HU finished the evening off performing Metallica’s ‘Sad But True’in their own unique way to a very satisfied crowd.
So did The HU impress me this time around as much as last time? They very much did and then some. The sound within the hollowed walls of the Ulster Hall was just amazing and the band, even with a brief power cut, which was no fault of theirs, were on top form and never put a foot wrong all evening. The audience were electric and I don’t think a single person went home feeling like they didn’t just witness one of the best shows put on in Belfast this year.
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