Live Review Night 3 of Hello 2022 delivers hits & hedonism from The Umlauts, English Teacher & more 18th January 2022

We’re already three quarters of the way through DIY’s Hello 2022 - a dizzying four-night run through 16 buzzy new artists destined to give you ultimate ‘I was there’ cred in years to come - but the vibes aren’t letting up at London’s Old Blue Last. In fact, tonight, the venue’s live room is packed to capacity before the first band even steps on stage, with a queue steadily snaking through the venue for the rest of the evening.

Not to rub it in for the latecomers left outside, but the night’s line up - from more cerebral beginnings to full on club-ready bangers by the end - is a four-for-four winner that overflows with audible potential. It’s opened by Manchester’s Mewn, who might not be the most bolshy band on the bill but create a more mature kind of confidence - singer Daniel Bluer helming a set that nods to the sweeping, emotional crescendos of Arcade Fire crossed with a sort of earthy Elbow-ness. The likes of twinkling closer ‘I’m Only Talking’ are more likely to waltz you around the floor than create a mosh pit in the middle of it, but Mewn still experiment: not least via their guitarist, who sporadically begins playing her guitar with a screwdriver for optimum tremor.

“Old Blue Last, are you ready to rock?! I’m on top form tonight baby!” declares wild-eyed Keg frontman Albert Haddenham midway through the band’s following set. He may not be humble, but he’s also not wrong: a madcap bunch that come on like Squid channelling the reckless abandon of Sports Team, tonight the Brighton band and their irrepressible leader are utterly magnetic. Contorting and punching his way around the tiny portions of stage not filled by the six other band members, Haddenham spends the next 30 minutes lyrically lambasting Michael McIntyre one moment and seemingly speaking in tongues the next; musically, they’re all yelping, loose-limbed indie-art-punk fun. Keg, you sense, are going to have a very good 2022.