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There is nothing quite like a hometown show. The energy from the band and the crowd just hits different on so many levels when they play on home turf. And An Evening With: Haken in London’s O2 Kentish Town certainly delivered on that front.
With the show being filmed for future release Haken invited the crowd to dress up as their favourite animal matching the jungle-esque aesthetic of their most recent album ‘Fauna’ and the artwork that goes with it. Looking over the crowd there was a menagerie of creatures slotted between the standard black band shirts, sharks at the barrier, tigers running to the bar, and gorillas singing along in the crowd.
Fans were treated to a double bill of Haken as they played two sets, starting with “Fauna” in full cover-to-cover. Playing an album in full is an underappreciated format for good albums and “Fauna” definitely falls into the category of good albums. The lyrically intense, vocal forward record translated very well to the live show. Considering the first single of the album ‘Nightingale’ was put out in April 2022 with the full album released in March 2023, there has been plenty of time for listeners to learn the lyrics, and they sure did! From the opening of “Taurus”, the crowd were already on side, singing back the words, and thriving in the intimate atmosphere of having a full night with Haken, especially when single band lineups are becoming less common.
Haken took their time as they played through “Fauna” introducing the songs and chatting with the crowd, it was nice to be guided through the show and not feel rushed by the goal of finishing the playthrough. Sing-alongs galore accompanied Ross Jennings’ impressive lead vocals again highlighting how well-received this album was by the fans. On the third track in, ‘The Alphabet of Me’, Haken brought out Miguel Gorodi on trumpet, showing us that brass well and truly has a place in prog-rock when done as well-balanced as that. And through their first set, there were some more touching moments between songs like Jennings encouraging everyone to do “heart hands” for their self-described “heavy metal love song” ‘Lovebite’.
The band stayed remarkably relaxed and were clearly having a lot of fun as they finished up the first act, despite the several hulking cameras and microphones honing in on their every word and movement. A corner of your eye reminder that the night was being filmed in its entirety for DVD. After finishing the album with the light and bouncy ‘Eyes of Ebony’ Haken closed the first of their two sets on the insane sounding ‘Crystallised’, successfully amping the crowd up for the intermission before set two began. We were promised a swift return by Jennings getting ready to leave the stage, “we promised you an evening with Haken, and that's exactly what you're gonna get, this is just the end of part 1”.
With the ‘Fauna’ playthrough a huge success, round two was a chance for the hits and crowd favourites. Launching into ‘Puzzle Box’ which got the crowd moving again Haken basked in the buzz of the audience and played through a nice spread of material from their previous releases. Picking a few songs off of each album to satisfy fans of all eras and tastes, they took the chance to show off the breadth of their chops. From the heavy and operatic ‘Drowning in the Flood’ from “The Mountain” to the faster and simpler ‘The Strain’ from the later album “Virus” - complete with drums and keyboard solo which added some depth to the performance. Part 2 of An Evening With: Haken left everyone very satisfied with the gargantuan musical feast they had just experienced.
But two sets just weren’t enough for Haken or the fans as they came back on stage for the third and final time of the night, Haken brought the evening with them to a close with the delightfully dynamic epic that is ‘Visions’ before heading off stage to prepare for their European leg of this tour.
Writer: Kayleigh Fryer
Photographer: Kayleigh Fryer
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