Music / Reviews
Review: Hard Life, O2 Academy – ‘Honest, raw and resilient’
“We took a break, but we’re here now. You guys better get used to it!”
You’ve likely heard of the band Hard Life, the Leicester-based quartet boasting genre-mixing soulful sounds blending elements of hip hop, funk and electronic music with their main indie-pop genre.
The band was frequently played on mainstream radio; their first two albums both reached number two on the UK Official Charts, and they consistently performed at some of the biggest festivals across the country.
But things went quiet when, in 2024, easyGroup attempted to sue the band – then known as Easy Life – over their name.
Unable to fight the lengthy legal battle, they made the decision to rebrand as Hard Life, their return to Bristol’s O2 Academy on Wednesday night being one of their first headline shows back.
The loyal fanbase is rewarded with alot of love from the band
The show kicks off with the opener from their latest album onion, tears, a track referencing the events of the past couple of years for the group.
“If I ever get to see you again / It’s a hard life I can’t lie / I would never let you go my friend / But I’m lucky I got friends that I trust,” is a surprisingly poignant first few moments for what promised to be such a chaotic, rowdy show.
From the beginning, it feels like a celebration of how far the band has come and how much they have overcome, their dedicated fanbase remaining loyal throughout everything.
“I love you guys, thank you so much for being Hard Life fans, we fucking love you!” frontman Murray Matravers addresses the crowd mid-show recalling how earlier in the day, when in the pub across the road with the other members, fans kept coming over to tell them about their personal emotional connections to the songs.
The Bristol gig is one of their first headline shows since the band were forced to navigate a tough legal battle which saw them eventually changing their name
You can tell throughout the show how much it authentically means to the band to be back onstage.
And those feelings are reciprocated in the audience; friends scream the words in each other’s faces, there are pints raised towards the band, a mosh-pit opens up in the middle. Someone is even dressed as a banana. Everyone is genuinely having a lovely time.
As for the music, it’s a tour-de-force of upbeat, feel-good sonics from the get-go.
There’s a real mix of songs on the setlist, which pleases the crowd throughout the hour and twenty gig. Tracks such as ojpl are dedicated to the “OG fans”, while more mainstream tracks such as sunday, petty crime, ocean view and sangria are received with a high level of energy, all the words screamed back, including the verse originally sung by Arlo Parks on the latter.
Other highlights include the bouncing sing-along BEESWAX, Dear Miss Holloway, which is one of the more mellow yet tinged with hopefulness songs, and the catchy early EP track Dead Celebrities, reflecting on the pressures of celebrity culture, self-destruction and the desire for respect which may only come after mortality.
Like many of Hard Life’s songs, the latter seamlessly blends lively sonics with more vulnerable, introspective lyricism, offering commentary on societal issues and mental health, resonating with everyone in the room who gives every song their all.
Similarly, newer album tracks see the same levels of enthusiasm, the crowd erupting when the first few notes of songs such as y3llow bike and othello play out.
Only Murray plays for track crickets!!!, explaining how he didn’t want to do it but the band convinced him, as he sat down solo at a keyboard towards the front of the stage.
The rest of the band dance around as hype men, encouraging the crowd to help the frontman out on the song, the entirety of Bristol’s Academy eagerly joining in to chant “crickets” when necessary.
Hard Life are clearly happy to be back
Other fan-favourites tonight include pockets, the band’s debut single, which was featured on the FIFA 19 soundtrack, and Skeletons, the rowdy indie-pop number which sees Murray ask the crowd to split to allow drummer, Oliver Cassidy, to join them in the pit, before he ultimately attempts to crowd surf his way back onto the stage.
Matravers is a master at commanding his audience. From the moment he enters the stage to the very last notes of the set, he has the entire room in the palm of his hand.
Only a slight hand signal is enough to trigger the audience to start waving their arms in delight, or get onto their friends’ shoulders and dance along for the final song before the encore, nightmares.
It’s undoubtedly the perfect welcome back to the live music scene for the band, Murray getting sentimental to explain how when this tour was announced, Bristol was the first city to sell out.
Following nightmares, the lights go down and the band leave, until a chant of “one more song” summons the quartet back for a passionately intense and apt performance of end credits. The lights pulsate as the band continues to jam until the number eventually fades out.
“If this is my end credits / I think it’s alright” are the final words sung tonight.
It really is a relief to have a band as honest, raw, and resilient as Hard Life back on the indie alternative scene.
All images: Katie Hillier
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