Hurts take the pain away
With their distinguished sound and sleek styling, Hurts' debut album Happiness was one of the most keenly anticipated and possibly one of the best albums of last year. On May 11, Manchester duo Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson brought their impressive act to Hong Kong's Kitec Rotunda 3.
The twosome won the crowd's favour early on, coming on stage with a bouquet of white roses, and tossed the flowers into the crowd throughout the performance, to the delight of the many females. Smooth and sophisticated, the handsome pair gave the crowd what they wanted - drama, big vocals and a brilliant atmosphere.
Opening with the first Hurts' song ever written, Unspoken set the tone for what was to follow; the concert proved a considerable success.
The set list was well paced, the slow opener quickly followed by Silver Lining and Wonderful Life, which got the crowd dancing and singing along with gusto.
Vocalist Hutchcraft's impressive control and range contradict the popular belief that modern artists' vocals are mostly embellished with Auto-Tune. The only adornment was the amazing backing singer, opera-style tenor-soloist Richard Sidaway, who stunned in Verona. Sidaway previously had the leads in Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables, among other shows, before collaborating with Hurts.
Anderson had the chance to showcase his skills soon after, in Devotion, a track which, on the album, features Australian artist Kylie Minogue.
The band often sounded even better than on the recordings, an uncommon feat these days. Their flawless performance closed with hit singles Illuminated and Stay, which Hutchcraft introduced by saying: 'If we only have one more song, let's at least make it something you can sing along to'. Praise must go to the sound crew, who managed to prevent the thousands of screaming fans from drowning out the singer.
Hurts provided all they promised in a classy performance that leaves us eagerly awaiting their next album.
