Hurts
Somerset House, London
14/07/2011

As part of a series of nights at Somerset House, tonight is the turn of Saint Saviour and retro synth-pop masters Hurts.

The former is a vision in pink, kicking off with an ethereal cover of Depeche Mode‘s ‘Enjoy The Silence’. Blending fragile sounding vocals with piano, SS is evidently vocally blessed, it’s just when she moves away from behind the keyboard that problems start. Long limbs flail in some frankly bizarre crablike dance moves that lead to the majority of the audience either laughing or looking downright uncomfortable. Kate Bush crossed with Patrick Wolf seems to be order of the day, and while the vocals on the likes of ‘Red Sun Rise’ and ‘This Ain’t No Hymn’ are undeniably beautiful, it is best enjoyed with eyes closed so that the painfully zany attempt at stage presence doesn’t distract.

That said, the sealife-style dancing is far more entertaining that anything Hurts put out tonight. Despite the addition of two blonde faux-ballerinas, an opera singer and an impressive light show, in terms of energy the only outburst we get is an awkward attempt at microphone smashing by Theo midset. Remaining strangely still throughout, the likes of ‘Happiness’ and ‘Wonderful Life’ all hit the right notes vocally but suffer from remaining the same tempo for over an hour. Throwing white roses out into the crowd, the earnest pretension is almost teeth-achingly bad, seguing into a cover of Kylie Minogue‘s ‘Confide In Me’ which provides an unexpected highlight. Disappearing from view, the crazed ballerinas appear again with red ribbons, before ushering Hurts back on for the long-awaited ‘Better Than Love’. The audience finally get going, more roses are thrown and a cloud of red confetti bursts from all directions, but sadly it’s too little, too late.

Jen Thomas