It was made evident to me when I was sitting in the pub with the lead singer of modernlove., Barry Lally, talking about Dublin and how surprised he was at the size of Birmingham over a whiskey and coke, that the reason why I enjoyed their performance so much was because of the band’s infectious charm. The first night of their first headline tour at the Hare and Hounds was a show filled with catchy verses, great energy from the band themselves with a particularly impressive vocal performance from Barry. The 1975-style instrumentals forced you to dance, even if you did not want to.

It felt like the band and audience were working through the first show as a unit, and when modernlove. made mistakes, it only added to their self-effacing stage presence. Coupled with the equally charming support act of Charlie Bennett and his band, modernlove.’s first headline show is a prime reason to support smaller artists.

The night began in suitably fun fashion with the support band Charlie Bennett. The band’s confident vocals provided by Bennett, coupled with the smooth bass and punchy drums, all melded together in harmony. Each got their moment to shine as they effectively brought the crowd in on the fun in certain moments, bringing together sombre ballads such as ‘Is this Falling?’ with faster songs like ‘Baby Blue Ford’, effectively getting the crowd warmed up for the main act. The three young musicians looked like they were having the time of their lives, and set a high bar for modernlove. to carry on the same energy.

The opening keyboards on their first song ‘Us’ began modernlove.’s set with a pacy track that highlighted the band’s strengths in their strong lyrical style and youthful outlook on the themes of their songs. ‘Us’ is all about giving in to young love, and the style of the vocals started the set off with a dream-pop sound that quickly brought up the energy of the crowd. They followed this up with one of my favourites of the night, ‘Oh My Mind’. Featuring a more pronounced emphasis on the guitars, the song relaxed on the dream-pop to deliver a more familiar The 1975-sound that fans of that band will be familiar with. The two opening songs brought a sense of freshness in perspective on young life that felt both sincere and deliberate.

As the set went on, a few slip-ups from the band risked ruining the credibility of the show. Not needing a guitar for one song, trying to find the key to a song, and small things like this would make any other band look unprofessional. However, modernlove.’s ability to laugh at themselves and their mistakes compelled the audience to them even more. The smallness of the venue helped, because whatever the band said we could hear. The casual banter between the band made them feel like four old friends, which they are. They spoke to the audience a lot, but it never felt rehearsed or getting in the way of the flow of the set. One particular moment with an over-active smoke machine was especially funny, but was never too much of an issue as modernlove. powered through, bringing the audience dancing along with them.

The band lost some momentum when they slowed down for songs like ‘come over x’. The middle section of the set felt like a backtrack on the energy that the band had done well to build. The songs were still strong in their lyricism, but the overall sound felt too slow and lost my attention more times than I had hoped. The band acknowledged to the audience that this was the case but did not make it any less true. The Hare and Hounds’ audience had the eagerness to dance the entire set, but the less punchy the songs became, the less engaged the audience seemed to become.

Luckily, the band picked this energy back up towards the end of their set, with the excellent one-two of ‘Liquorice’ and ‘Follow You’, taking the crowd back to the quickness of the start. The softer vocals on ‘Liquorice’ set up the final song ‘Follow You’, with Lally delivering his strongest vocals of the night. It captured modernlove.’s boisterous identity with style.

modernlove. began their first headline tour with a show filled with sheer fun. Never taking themselves seriously meant that the crowd felt just as much a part of the show as the four on stage. You would think that these four had been performing these shows for years. We should all support smaller artists because you might find a hidden gem of a band that will become a new addiction, as they have become so for me.

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