Wu-Lu – The White Hotel, Manchester – 5th September 2022

The cross-genre musician heads out on a short UK tour, in support of his debut album, Loggerhead.

After the opening night of his UK tour at the legendary King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Wu-Lu (aka Miles Romans-Hopcraft) heads back through the country towards his native London with a stop at The White Hotel; technically in Salford but right on the border with Manchester.

This is my first time at The White Hotel. Confession. I didn’t even know of the venue until arranging this concert  and it is the perfect location for the South London singer to showcase material from his breakthrough album, Loggerhead. You would be forgiven for thinking that the venue is an MOT garage, because having been converted from one it still appears as such both inside and out.

First up is a short support set from Halina, in support of her debut album released on 9th September. Standing behind the keyboards, Halina works through a range of songs and is joined on stage for a while by a dancer wearing black wings with an enormous replica old-school mobile phone. An acapella version of Where Is The Sun? closes the set.

On to the headline act and after casually milling around the tiny venue for most of the evening, Wu-Lu and his band take to the tiny stage in the corner of the incredibly dark, and warm, venue. The set starts off soulful, before progressively intertwining more and heavier guitar jams, with hip-hop and drums and bass (with some other genres, like punk, thrown in for good measure).

Towards the end of the impressive and eclectic show the audience in front of the stage has gone from quiet and appreciative head-nodding to a full-on mosh pit, and we are even treated to a small stage dive from the guitarist.

With genuine humility, Wu-Lu thanks the crowd for attending and takes time to hang around after the show to chat and take selfies with some fans, as others disperse from a memorable night in a converted MOT garage into a torrential Salford downpour.

Wu-Lu online: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bandcamp / Soundcloud

All images by Steven Boon

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