HALF HAPPY
Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff - 14th December 2024
Support: Em Koko
First a sort-of disclaimer. I used to work with the dad of Half Happy's drummer Zac. So before anyone starts accusing me of bias or favouritism, I'm putting it out there right now. Beside's Zac's dad would tell you I wouldn't say good things if I didn't mean them.
Not that I take pleasure in negative criticism, especially when they are young and Welsh. Which is why I'm sorry to say opening act Em Koko left me cold. I'm not sure how many show's she'd performed up to that point, but she didn't do much to wow the audience. I got bored pretty quickly, if I'm being honest. But then, I've seen bands before who have bored me initially, then thrilled me later, so who knows what the future holds.
The biggest surprise for me was the size of the audience. OK, so this was a hometown show for Half Happy, and they have been getting raved about from all over the place on a national level, but they are still relatively new to the scene with just a 5-song EP under their belts. Yet, here they were, selling out Clwb, with a diverse and enthusiastic audience most bands who have been around a lot longer than they have would die for.
They are dead good though. For this show they performed as an augmented 5-piece which filled the sound out tremendously, but either way, it's the songs that count, and Half Happy have enough good ones at this stage to justify the hype that has been steadily building over the past couple of years.
Not only that, but they play so well together, musically very tight and well-crafted. They may not be doing anything particularly different or ground-breaking, but what they do, they do exceptionally well.
All five songs from the EP were aired along with the early singles, for me the highlight was Well Done, Honey, not just my fave track off the EP, but live too. An extended version is aired which serves to make it bigger and even better than the recorded version. The rest of the set was great though, and proved to be a great advert for the future of the South Wales music scene.
OK, granted, maybe I wouldn't have made the effort to go out so close to Christmas had I not had that, albeit tenuous, connection to the band, but that doesn't matter. Sometimes you have to take a hint and be rewarded.
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