Honne at Showbox SoDo
If I had one word to describe what being at a Honne show is like, I would absolutely choose heartwarming. After a few shows of bumping and squeezing, a Honne show allows for a sense of bliss and relaxation. From opening to close your heart feels full. While you don’t feel squished, you still feel connected to yourself and those around you. Honne is a duo consisting of members James Hatcher and Andy Clutterbuck.
Opening Honne’s show on this tour was Liang Lawrence. Her music and lyrics felt like listening to someone bare their journaled feelings directly from the page itself. She talked of past love, previous breakups, and all the complex emotions that come along with both. Her song “Eulogy” speaks of running into an ex outside of Tesco, a British grocery chain. Another song talks about a mutual breakup discussing the ideal scenario of realizing you’re both happy, but maybe not getting what you both want out of it, so you acknowledge those feelings and end the relationship when it’s at its best.
Lawrence’s music coupled with her very British humor made for a wonderful start to the night. After a joke about comparing a visit to the Space Needle in Seattle to a visit to Buckingham Palace in London, she asked the crowd outright to laugh AT her. She made a nice compliment to whichever barista had made her coffee in the morning and talked about how the whole night felt very weather appropriate for a rainy night in Seattle.
After roughly two and a half years, Honne takes center stage at Showbox SoDo once more. Having been at their last show at the same location, it was a treat to be front and center to experience their return. If you’ve kept your eye on Honne, you might be aware of the adorable characters that they’ve introduced to their band’s image through art and music videos. While their character Goo was the center of the previous album, no song without you, the newest addition comes from their latest album OUCH. A giant blow-up version of Poco with his bright red turtleneck, perfectly matching round red glasses, and cozy yellow beanie fills out the central rear of the stage amidst glowing, white fluffy clouds. As the lights dim to start Honne’s act, a large-headed Poco runs across the stage in a frantic manner to the cheers of the audience as the rest of the band enters.
Honne’s music has a wonderful range from upbeat positive electronic-focused love tunes to more emotional acoustic piano-focused duets. A few songs into the show we’re treated to one of Honne’s songs originally featuring the artist Georgia called “Location Unknown.” Covering Georgia’s vocals was our opener, Liang Lawrence, who ended up being a backup vocal for the whole show as well as covering other duet parts for songs like Back On Top feat. Griff, Crying Over You feat. BEKA, and Someone That Loves You feat. Izzy Bizu.
Poco the mascot makes another appearance midway through the set by attacking and dragging Clutterbuck off stage and then takes over the guitar and comes out to perform a Slash-like guitar solo performance. Post-solo, Poco leaves the stage, and Clutterbuck comes back disheveled and explains that Poco has been attacking him every other night. Underwear theft included.
One thing that my group of friends and I all complimented was the band’s touring drummer. This man was a performance in his own right. The energy he exuded and jazz-like additions to every Honne song elevated each song with a new energy that made seeing this show such a unique musical experience for us. Backed by one of the glowing clouds, he was doin’ fine up on cloud nine.
A few more singalongs, a beautiful moment of encouraging folks to hold their partners or someone next to them, and an encore of 3 more of Honne’s top hits closed out this amazing night. Honne promises they’ll be back to Seattle soon, which means you’ll see me there at the next one.
