Venue: Capitol Theatre, Singapore
Date: 11th March 2019
Promoter: Moonbeats Asia
Review by: JW Lee
On this rare rainy night, HONNE added warmth to Capitol Theatre with groove-centric anthems that drove audiences to their feet, as they danced along to each ground-hitting beat.
Following their successful debut sell-out show in Singapore two years ago at Esplanade Annexe Studio, the British electro R&B duo hailed a bigger crowd this time round with another two sold out nights once again for their sophomore album Love Me / Love Me Not Asia tour, which was released last year.
Indisputably, the highly anticipated performance was satisfied with honest sharing of raw emotions – both the struggles and happiness in every love story – which the two has swimmingly infused into every pulsing beats and waves of synth tunes.
While not forgetting to perform their all-time favourites “Good Together” and “Warm On A Cold Night” from their debut album, HONNE did not fail to impress the crowd with their new reinvented hip-hop influenced sounds that still reflects the deeply-rooted identity of all their songs – romance.
Kicking off the night with the hopeful “Me & You”, Andy Clutterbuck and James Hatcher made their appearance vocals-first after the instrumental prelude. However, Andy’s soulful voice was drowned in the cheers from the full-house audience, sounding a tad bit worn out – though unsurprising, knowing that Singapore is the last pit stop of their back-to-back Asia tour.
Yet, the crowd was unperturbed as the hall was eventually hyped up with the fourth song of the night, “Location Unknown” – this is by far their most upbeat track that deviates from all the other melancholic songs they’ve written so far. Replacing Georgia for this song is BEKA, who has hopped on board for their tour.
BEKA wowed the hall with her powerful vocals when she took the front stage with “Crying Over You”. Described by Andy as an incomplete track until they included her in, I got to witnessed this additional impact – BEKA’s angelic vocals deftly weaved in the ache of couples yearning to meet each other again, painting the image of the struggles of a love story that is mostly spent apart.
The night reached its climax when “Warm On A Cold Night” came on. Andy unleashed his charisma by bringing his various groups of fans to join him on the chorus numerous time – from his standing crowds, to his seated audiences, to just the men in the hall, to the smitten ladies and finally the entire theatre. Intercepting these repeated melodies was him giving two lucky audiences a chance to sing a line of the chorus – though out of tune, causing him to cry “Jesus”, it sure made everyone roar with delight.
As the night was reaching an end, the duo decided to sing their Valentine’s Day gift to their fans three years back – “Woman”. The romantic tender-hearted song was written in appreciation of their loyal fans, which was reciprocated with a hall of flashlight that swayed with the strums of every chord and the reverberation of Andy’s voice. With his husky voice, Andy stopped before the last chorus to request for everyone in the room to put their arms around the people beside them and join him as he completes this song.
As punny as it is, HONNE ended their first show in Singapore with “Day 1” with the line “thankful you’re my Day 1”, leaving us in awe as we reminisce this magical night that ties our heart so close to this well-curated gallery of human emotions.