Blood Orange played a solo cover of The Smiths classic ‘How Soon Is Now?’ in Los Angeles this week – check out footage below.
Dev Hynes released ‘Essex Honey’, his fifth album under the Blood Orange moniker, in August via RCA Records, and is currently on a North American tour to support the record.
On Thursday (October 16), he made a stop at the Shrine Auditorium in LA and despite playing most of the set with a full band, he was left alone on stage for a rendition of the vintage 1985 single from the Manchester band.
Watch fan-captured footage of Hynes playing the cover on an electric cello here, along with other excerpts from the LA show:
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Blood Orange played:
‘Look At You’
‘Time Will Tell’
‘Thinking Clean’
‘How Soon Is Now?’ (solo)
‘Saint’
‘Wish’
‘Somewhere In Between’
‘Vivid Light’
‘Jesus Freak Lighter’
‘The Train (King’s Cross)’ (solo)
‘Mind Loaded’
‘Best To You’
‘Countryside’
‘Dagenham Dream’
‘Life’
‘Charcoal Baby’
‘The Last Of England’
‘Champagne Coast’
‘The Field’
‘I Can Go’
‘Essex Honey’ is the first Blood Orange album since 2018’s ‘Negro Swan’ and it features appearances from Hynes’ previous collaborators Lorde, Caroline Polachek, Daniel Caesar, Mustafa, Turnstile’s Brendan Yates and Tariq Al-Sabir, as well as author Zadie Smith, The Durutti Column, Wet’s Kelly Zutrau, Tirzah and actors Naomi Scott and Amandla Stenberg.
NME awarded ‘Essex Honey’ four stars, writing: “Running throughout ‘Essex Honey’ are reflections on British identity and the complexities of being a Black British man from an Essex suburb. This is particularly prominent in ‘The Last of England’ where a soundbite gives way to Hynes singing, “Elizabeth, it travels through… and Ilford is the place that I hold dear amongst / All the things that we had to do, my sister understands just how it feels.” It’s this delicate placing of guest vocals, personal anecdotes and on-the-street soundbites that make ‘Essex Honey’ the most organised sketchbook, one which perfectly encapsulates this particular moment in time.”
After his North American tour wraps, Hynes heads to the UK and Europe for a headline tour, kicking off in Berlin on October 29, with London shows planned for November 8, 9 and 10. See the full list of dates here and find UK tickets here and international tickets here.
