The electric indie-alternative band HUNNY stopped in Los Angeles this Friday, February 21st to bring their headlining tour to the iconic El Rey Theatre. They brought along the alternative band Bay Faction as well as their friend Michi to open the show and create a bill stacked with talent. Fans lined the venue ranging anywhere from 12 to 60 years old, all ready for a night filled with great music. There is no better feeling than walking into the El Rey on a Friday night to experience a HUNNY show, and everyone inside the venue was feeling the same excitement as I was.
Michi came on around 8:35pm filling the room with indie-pop vibes and her unique sounding vocals. After her first song of the night she introduced herself to the crowd who welcomed her warmly to the El Rey stage with a cheer. She then proceeded to debut her newest single, “Night Moves”, that came out this week that the crowd had an incredibly good reaction to. Everyone in the crowd was swaying to her lounge-like music. She brought up the tempo in the middle of her set to perform a sultry cover of the hit “Sex and Candy” originally by Marcy Playground that the audience absolutely loved. Everyone’s phones were in the air to record the cover to be able to come back and watch it and relive the moment over and over. Before exiting the stage, Michi performed her last song, highly-acclaimed single, “Catch a Feeling”. Although this was Michi’s only stop on the tour, she performed with such raw talent on stage and chemistry with the crowd you would have thought she’s been on tour for months. Her performance is something I, and the rest of the crowd won’t soon be forgetting and she definitely has a new slew of fans after that set.
Bay Faction came on right after Michi’s set, immediately capitalizing on the crowd’s already great mood. Lead singer, James McDermott, began the show with only himself and his Fender Jaguar, strumming and singing alone before the rest of the band began to play along with him. The crowd were big fans of the alternative band, with two girls behind me making a comment on how they were hypnotized as Bay Faction performed their song “Soppping”. McDermott went on to thank everyone between every song, and expressed his gratitude towards HUNNY for having them on the tour. Bay Faction then went on to perform a new song as well as some of their fan-favorites, including “Florida Guilt” and “Are You in the Mood?”. Bay Faction definitely got the crown in the mood to see HUNNY, making sure to get everyone hyped for the headliners before they concluded their set.
HUNNY took the stage at 10:15pm, and from the second the first beat of the first song “Saturday Night” began to play the crowd was dancing and moving. The band came out with a bang and followed along with their fans, dancing and jumping on stage to the upbeat song. HUNNY went right into their second and third songs,”Cry For Me” and “Change Your Mind”, which is right when the crowd surfing and shoulder riding began. Once out of the photo pit I watched as fans were passed throughout the top of the crowd to the barricade, crying happy tears to be close enough to their favorite band to reach out and touch them. Before the 5th song though lead singer, Jason Yarger took a quick moment to slow things down for a second and hold up a Kobe Bryant jersey, to pay his respects to the Los Angeles legend before picking the tempo right back up without missing a beat. HUNNY jumped and thrashed around on stage like I hadn’t seen in quite some time, and their fans did the same on the floor opening up the occasional mosh pit. Amidst all the madness guitar player Jake Goldstein made sure Yarger was well hydrated, pouring a whole bottle of water into his mouth mid-set. HUNNY then thanked the crowd profusely for coming out, reveling in the fact they had sold out their hometown show. Bass player Kevin Grimmett also made mention that this was his Grandfather’s first time ever seeing him perform. After expressing their gratitude they performed “July” and “Halloween”, with Jason Yarger collecting flowers from the girls on the barricade who had been armed and ready with them all night to give to the band. He then tried to toss the flowers into each band member’s mouth whilst still performing. To close out the night HUNNY performed their most popular songs “Vowels”, “Televised”, and ending the show with “Lula, I’m Not Mad” off of their debut album Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
HUNNY’s ability to keep the crowd’s tempo at 110% while simultaneously giving their all on stage showed off their unmatched showmanship impeccably. Myself and others found ourselves wishing their set would go on all night when they finally announced they were about to play their last three songs. Thus, between the stacked bill, fan interactions, and raging energy throughout the entire night, when the show came to a conclusion everyone left the venue completely over-the-moon. I’ve seen a lot of shows at the El Rey Theatre, but this one will definitely go down as one of my favorites. Go catch HUNNY on one of their remaining 15 dates!
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By: Aubree Estrella | Exclusively for @Music, Why Not!
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