Live Review: Honey Revenge – The ‘Retrovision’ Tour – Camden Assembly, London

What’s better than one show? Two! So when Californian duo, Honey Revenge, were given the opportunity to tour across the UK with The Used I’m sure they jumped at the opportunity, making sure to make the most out of it by laying down their first international headline show. So after tearing up the Kentish Town Forum for the Used the band headed straight down to London’s Camden Assembly for their second show of the night. Here’s what went down.

While the main band of the evening were warming up the crowd a mile down the road, Mouth Culture would entertain the early arrivals into the venue. The band put on a great set, making the important choice between playing ‘Sunny’ or ‘Honey’ (Of course choosing the latter for this show). While their sound is way less poppy than Honey Revenge, they did a great job getting through to the crowd, who made sure they were warmly applauded when they’d finished their set.

happydaze followed. The Edinburgh based pop-punkers are no strangers to London crowds, having previously supported bands such as Neck Deep in the UK capital. The band expertly played through their energetic and sweaty set, leading to an entertaining moment where frontman, Luke, started to have a rant about his hair, with a member of the loving Honey Revenge crowd offering him a hair tie, which he put around his wrist saying that “its doesn’t look as cool if I do that” but that he’d “use it after the set”.

As soon as Honey Revenge took to the stage you could tell it was going to be an incredibly special set. Kicking off the night with ‘Seeing negative (Disappointment)’, instantly getting the room bouncing along. Showing who was running the show tonight, Devin Papadol invited in some “crowd participation” like I’ve never seen before… Asking the frontrow to tie her shoelace, following which the band’s bassist jokingly undid the lace on the other shoe. A truly great and unique way to make the show feel interactive and intimate.

This joking around, and telling stories, continued throughout the set, seeming genuinely happy and grateful to be playing in London (Guitarist Donovan was grinning ear to ear throughout), and the fans responded with enthusiasm and applause. Running through the whole of their discography, the band jumped back and forth across the ‘Retrovision’ tracklist. While fan favourites, like ‘Rerun’ and ‘Are You Impressed?’, were obviously and rightly celebrated by the audience, ‘Retrovision’s more unfamiliar tracks were given equally as much love by the room.

The night couldn’t go on forever (Unfortunately), and it seemed like disaster would strike before the penultimate track, with Devin’s mic pack dying. Miraculously the mic pack managed to come back alive shortly after, allowing the band to give the night the proper send off it deserved. Devin asked the room “Where’s my airheads at?” before swiftly moving into ‘Airhead’, followed by ‘Distracted’.

Honey Revenge proved that they are a band to watch out for, from their catchy paramore-adjacent hits, to their incredible engaging and colourful stage presence, the band undoubtedly blew away the expectations of the London crowd, and created a uniquely fresh and safe space for their fans. They are definitely worth seeing live, and I look forward to their next set at Slam Dunk in 2024.