Live Review: The Hara - Waterfront, Norwich
6th March 2025
Support: Profiler
Words & Photos: Tom Atkin
Early doors on a week night, even on a Friday, are a great thing! The Waterfront Studio is tonight venue of choice, a small venue which is perfect for intimate gigs, 7pm doors means that people are able to get ready and out early.
Opening band is Profiler, an outfit referred to as a re-awakening of nu-metal. This is a statement that is backed up substantially with tonights performance. From the word go we have ingredients from so many first generation nu-metal bands; vocals that shift effortlessly between haunting and melodic verses that wouldn’t feel out of place on the soundtrack to Queen Of The Damned to excellent screams/shouts that made the Nu Metal genre stand out in the first place.
Profilers live presence is spot on, a great amount of energy and what looks to be a great bond between the members. The band don’t let up, with only a thirty minute set they manage to cram in seven songs, all of which welcomed by the audience.
There was no down points, no parts that feel like a lull in their performance, a great way to get the show warmed up for the night, with majority of the fans already head banging along.
Now it's time for the main attraction, The Hara, a band that is consistently growing in popularity, hitting festivals and tours throughout the UK and America.
Instantly, the band are demanding movement from their fans and they oblige with no protest with the pit stirring before the end of their opening track. This peak level of energy stays at this heightened level throughout the evening, helped by guitarist Zack Breen leaving the stage to open up a circle pit around him. Josh Taylor, brings a crazy amount of confidence to the band, almost arrogance but with enough charm to not come across as some one that feels entitled. As a band they have worked incredibly hard in the nine years since they were formed, and it is now starting to pay off.
For that hour and a half of the set they give everything, mixing in some occasional humour, but all the time being the absolute centre point of attention. It is almost fan service half of the time as it seems they are playing all the songs that the crowd wants to hear, with almost every word being sung back to them. In reality, their fans are just that dedicated to them.
It is hard to place the sound that they create, they mi so many styles together, all of which works perfectly. I am certain they picked their set intentionally to stay on the heavier side of their catalogue to keep the level of energy up. Only slowing the pace for one song.
Playing around twenty songs in to their set, at no point does this feel too long. Tonight it feels very much the opposite, they could have continued for another thirty minutes and it still would only feel like a short set. The energy, atmosphere and diversity of the songs makes time just disappear during The Hara’s show.
Norwich was the first stop on their Southern tour. If you are a slight fan of even just one or two songs get out there and support them. I can guarantee you will enjoy the whole night and come away from it liking a lot more than what you went in liking.
Photo Credit: Tom Atkin
