CONCERT PHOTOGRAPHY & REVIEW: Mongolian metal band The Hu recently played the Park West Theater in Chicago, IL and Evan J. Thomas was there to capture the spectacle - SEE IT ALL HERE

Another highly anticipated show for me in 2021 was here and this time it was the buzz around the Mongolian metal band The Hu.  Using traditional Mongolian instrumentation including the Morin khuur, the Tovshuur and Mongolian throat singing the band calls their style of music "hunnu rock", hu inspired by the Hunnu, an ancient Mongol/Turkic empire, known as Xiongnu in Mongolia.  Some of the band's lyrics include old Mongolian war cries and poetry.  Thank you Wikipedia for that info!  

With a band like The Hu and their eclectic sound, it was only fitting for the crowd to be as diverse in nature for as many shows I have been to in recent years.  Now lets talk about the show.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to photograph the show from the photo pit since there apparently wasn't one so I had to photograph from the crowd so I wandered around the Park West trying to get the best angle as i'm rocking out to the bands set.  The Hu moved the masses kicking off the show with "Shoog shoog", and bringing us their cross over favorites "Yuve Yuve Yu" and my personal favorite "Wolf Totem".  The Hu finished their set and walked off the stage to thundering applause for an encore and the band didn't hesitate to come back and go all out with their rendition of the Metallica classic "Sad But True". 

I love the whole aura of what the band brings, I think they have 9 members in the band including 2 drummers.  The various traditional Mongolian instruments and the throat singing is something I have never experienced before and it was a bad ass change of pace.  Great band, great energy!  Rock On!