Review | Hard-Fi at Portsmouth Guildhall: 'As vibrant and vital as ever'
It can be hard to recall now nearly two decades down the line just how ubiquitous Hard-Fi were at their noughties peak.
Their first two albums went to number one – debut Stars of CCTV went double-platinum and spawned five top 20 singles. Their songs were used as backing tracks and montages all over TV, as well as in several ad campaigns.
These were anthems for the working class and disaffected youth – us against the world – and they found a huge audience. Their hard-edged indie-rock also touched on elements of ska and electronic music, raising them above the ‘landfill indie’ that clogged up the era. Having split up in 2014 after a third album and ‘best of’, they returned in 2022.
The set draws heavily on their debut – in fact by the end, only one song (Feltham is Singing Out) remains unplayed, even if an impromptu first-half of Unnecessary Trouble is only added to please some die-hard fans near the front.
Third album single Good For Nothing is a swaggering two-fingers to whoever, coming on like a heavier Happy Mondays, and their second album’s sole representative tonight, Suburban Knights gets some serious audience participation going. One thing the band were never short on was a ‘woah-oh,’ or ‘na-nah’ for their audience to sing along with.
Midway through the set frontman Richard Archer announces that they’re going to play the songs off their newly released EP – and jokes that they’ve shut the bars to make us stay and listen. Playing three new songs back-to-back is a bold move, but what they lack in familiarity they make up for in immediacy. They may not have that spikiness of their youth, but there are still hints of the old belligerence – particularly on the rush of Don’t Go Making Plans.
Almost as if rewarding the faithful for their patience they come out of this section with one of their best-known singles, Cash Machine.
The band appear energised throughout – Archer is chatty and engaging, prowling the stage when he’s not also playing guitar, while guitarist Ross Phillips whips out some mean solos.
For their encores, Archer initially returns alone for a surprisingly affecting solo run through of Stars… song Move on Now. But they were never going to leave us like that – finishing with the walloping one-two of Stars...’ title track and Living For The Weekend. The latter is as vibrant and vital as it ever was – and its sentiment all too timeless, even on a Tuesday evening.
It would be all too easy for the band to trade purely on past glories, and all credit to them for coming back with new material.
The 80 minute-set flies past in no time, and the audience is well up for them returning to the stage again.
Still, always best to leave them wanting more – and it definitely feels like there’s unfinished business here for Hard-Fi.