Rock City is jampacked to the rafters for The Hu’s first headline gig in the region...
The current Black Thunder tour, in support of their sophomore album Rumble of Thunder, has been a total sell out, and every square inch of space has been taken up in Rock City’s main hall tonight. For the uninitiated, The Hu are a Mongolian folk metal band, who exploded onto the scene with the release of the videos for Yuve Yuve Yu and Wolf Totem in 2018.
The Hu have been supported on this tour by Sheffield indie rockers, King Nun, who are a very different prospect to the headliners but are a very welcome one. The four-piece, led by singer Theo Polyzoides, are on top form tonight. Songs like Golden Age, Lightning to Fly and Chinese Medicine are belted out with the usual vigour and seem to go down well with the assembled crowd. The Nottingham gig has started earlier than most of the other nights on the tour, with King Nun taking to the stage at 6:45pm. However the early doors didn’t hamper the band from rocking the already sizeable crowd.
The Hu took to the stage at bang on 8pm, kicking straight into Shihi Hutu from the band’s new album Rumble of Thunder. The crowd was REALLY into the band, giving a mighty roar as the first song ended. The Hu’s stage show is simple but none the less effective; the four main members of the group - Gala, Jaya, Enkush, and Temka - span the stage while drummer Odko, percussionist Ono, guitarist Jamba and bass player Davaa provide a mighty wall of noise from behind.
The band’s thirteen song setlist covers both 2019’s debut The Gereg and their new LP, including favourites Shoog Shoog, The Great Chinggis Khan, Black Thunder and a storming rendition of their now classic debut Wolf Totem. The Hu are really like nothing you have ever seen before, a fantastic mix of heavy metal and traditional Mongolian folk and instruments. Morin khuur (horsehead fiddle), tsuur (Mongolian flute) and tovshuur (three stringed lute) play alongside drums, bass, and electric guitars to create a most unique sound.
The band sing entirely in their native Mongolian, and only know a handful of English words. However, this does not hinder the message of The Hu. Jaya screams at the crowd in Mongolian after every song and is met with a massive roar in response. It is doubtful anyone knows what the heck he was saying, but we could not care less - The Hu are here, and we love them.
The band finish their set with This is Mongol before leaving the stage for a couple of minutes, before returning for an encore cover of Metallica’s Sad but True. The band bask in their well-earned adulation and leave the Nottingham crowd enraptured.
Here’s hoping it’s not too long before The Hu come to our shores again.
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