For their hometown return show, city standouts Hooton Tennis Club come together with tremendous support for a much-loved affair, our own Jack Cinnamond was there to catch it all.

Tonight’s scene is set at the great Invisible Wind Factory, the still new warehouse space now to much delight getting used in more ways.

First up, the upcoming fuzzy psych-esque rockers Psycho Comedy attempt to open the show with their raw energetic sound and consistent tried-interactions with the audience, that inevitably fell short.

The worst part is, Psycho Comedy are a terrific band that should be seen by many (on a more regular basis too) but tonight the crowd weren’t having none of the band’s inviting chants and antics.

Just around 9:30, pink kink took to the stage, opening with a long guitar intro that sets to fit with their style. After giving us over half an hour of pure fun bliss, it’s not hard to see why pink kink are often the talk-of-the-town, the ability to pick up and drop tempo at a moments notice, along with the insanely great lyrics create a sound like no others.

While this feels to definitely be pink kink‘s best live performance yet, they are still a growing band. While the stage presence and music is there, it often feels like the specific setlist isn’t set out right, with some of pink kink‘s slower, more immersive songs are bunched together leaving “Bubble Butt” and “Eat You Out” to bring the fun at the wrong times.

Finally, to a large applause, Hooton Tennis Club hits the stage opening with “Growing Concerns” off tonight’s tour supporting album Big Box of Chocolates.

They provide over an hour of pure slacker rock n’ roll with all the swagger included, often times more energetic than the records play out to be.

Throughout the setlist, pulling out their greatly created songs such as “Bootcut Jimmy The G”, “Katy Anne-Bellis”, “Jasper” among all the others, proved to be fairy dust in this environment, packed with fans of the much loved Wirral band.

Although their sound doesn’t often fall from the original mark, Hooton Tennis Club knows exactly how to play the game they created and get appreciated by the fans simply for that, their easy stage landings prove to show they’re in control of anywhere they go.

Ending with “P.O.W.E.R.F.U.L P.I.E.R.R.E”, which just finally once again showed why HTC is one of our grateful cities’ most treasured and beloved bands and after two albums in around 18 months, it’s hard to see where the lads will go from here but whatever road they take, it will surely be theirs.

Words by Jack Cinnamond, photography by Jess Sharpe.