Photo: Fraser Kerr

Live Review: Electric Callboy – Hypa Hypa Tour 2022 – Electric Ballroom

Unless you’ve been living under a rock over the past few years, you’ve probably heard of the europop-metalcore infusion that is Electric Callboy (formally Eskimo Callboy), with their mega-hit Hypa Hypa garnering over 37 Million streams on Spotify alone. It’s clear to see their viral success has pushed them to great heights, culminating in their 2022 Hypa Hypa European Tour which has seen them sell out 23 of their 25 run of shows (even having to upgrade venues for a few of the nights). I was lucky enough to catch them at their upgraded, and only UK date, at London’s Electric Ballroom.

Photo: Fraser Kerr

Finnish metalcore outfit One Morning Left started off the night, wasting little time in getting the crowd moving. Opening the night is never easy, but One Morning Left didn’t let that hurt their set, coming out with loads of energy, and giving the fans a lot of reasons to get moving. Not being the only Finnish band on the bill, Blind Channel followed. The band previously got Finland to No.6 at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, and it was clear from their set why.

The band had an amazing stage presence, constantly interacting with their diehard fans at the barrier, as they played through both originals and covers. Notably doing a fantastic cover of Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’. The set ended with their Eurovision entry ‘Dark Side’ to a lot of movement from the crowd. I’m excited to see what this band goes on to do.

After several rounds of Warrant’s ‘Cherry Pie’ from the sound desk. It was time for the main attraction of the night. With a huge ‘Hypa Hypa’ banner covering the stage the anticipation in the room had built to momentous levels. Once the house lights went off and the banner dropped, the band got the room pumping straight away with the single ‘Pump It’. Coming out dressed in full Pump It attire (Wigs and all), it was clear the night was gonna be an entertaining one.

Keeping the energy high, fans were then treated to ‘My Own Summer’ followed by ‘Hate/Love’. As the set progressed, it’s clear that only the diehard Callboy fans were in the house as they sang, danced, and moshed through the entire set of bangers.

The band did have a pause in energy mid-set to play an acoustic rendition of ‘Prism’, but not to keep the energy low for too long, the band quickly balanced this out with ‘Crystals’. Keeping the evening lighthearted the band kept the jokes coming between songs, at one point joking that they had to change the name of the band because “they were playing this venue”.

As the night grew old, and while fans still gave lots of energy as the band played through hit after hit with the likes of ‘Spaceman’, ‘MC Thunder II (Dancing Like a Ninja)’, and ‘We Got the Moves’. The anticipation only grew through the first song of the encore ‘MC Thunder’ for the final song ‘Hypa Hypa’ (which they played in their ‘Hypa Hypa’ 80’s esc costumes). And this is where both fans and the band put their final push of energy out, rocking harder than ever to send the night out.

Electric Callboy put on one hell of a show, with great support from Blind Channel and One Morning left. Next time the band are in your town I highly recommend checking out their entertaining set for an enjoyable evening. The band will be back in the UK later this year for Slam Dunk Festival, which I highly recommend checking them out at.

Photo: Fraser Kerr