Leeds riff-maestros Hawk Eyes may have brought the Yorkshire weather along with them to a previously sunny Y-Not Festival, but all was soon forgiven as they played a blistering set to a healthy crowd. The damp and muddy masses assembled to witness the Kerrang! Award nominees tear up the Giant Squid stage, and they were not disappointed.

Hawk Eyes hit the stage with little fuss but immediately smash the crowd between the eyes by playing far louder than anyone else to grace the Giant Squid by that time on the Saturday. Their allotted thirty minutes went by hopelessly fast, but they managed to cram in a plenty of tunes with little fuss. Most of the set was made up of the many highlights from latest album ‘Ideas’, and why not? It’s a corker!

‘Kiss This’ was as angular and brilliant as on the CD, ‘Witch Hunt’ was almost venomous in delivery and latest single ‘Headstrung’ translates to the live arena perfectly with it’s haunting and slightly demented verse lines. Fans more familiar with the band are treated to a couple of older favourites in the shape of ‘I hate this, Do you like it?’ and the powerful ‘Scorpieau’. Paul uproots the microphone stand and performs a handful of tracks down in the crowd towards the end of the set. He takes his place back alongside the rest of the band for the closing tracks, which allows the fans let out their enthusiasm freely and ‘Bears by the Head’ almost gets a circle pit going.

The end of the set clatters to a stop as abruptly and with as little fanfare as it began. There is no need for bells and whistles here though, the performance spoke for itself. The band effortlessly set the bar for a Saturday night very heavy on noisy British rock bands, and they set it bloody high!

Hawk Eyes managed to wake up the early evening crowd with their fresh and sharp sounding racket. They seem to have that little extra compared to most bands, they are making something a little bit different to the majority. They are not into recycling age old riffs and churning them out until one sticks. Maybe they do borrow the odd riff, but they make sure they flip it on its head, turn it inside out and then play it backwards. 

Whatever they do, it’s frighteningly good!