There was a healthy crowd at Holmfirth Picturedrome for Henge, and from the moment the band arrived, it was clear this was an audience more than willing to embrace the journey. They danced enthusiastically, threw themselves into the theatricality of the performance and happily went along with the band’s space-travelling mantra. Above all, everyone seemed to be having a brilliant time.
And there is plenty to enjoy beyond the costumes, characters and cosmic storytelling. Henge are all brilliant musicians, capable of pulling off their complex, Gong-influenced strain of space rock with impressive precision. They move deftly between intricate musical lines and shifting time signatures, while happily leaping between genres and bending those influences into something unmistakably their own.
The set traverses Henge’s recorded output, giving fans plenty to get their teeth into while keeping the momentum high. Slingshot, DNA and Ascending all went down a treat with the audience, provoking some of the night’s most enthusiastic dancing and participation.
That balance between musicianship and sheer spectacle is what makes Henge such an entertaining live proposition. There is a sense that anything could happen next, but underneath the playful presentation is a seriously accomplished band who know exactly how to make their wonderfully strange musical world work.
By the end of the night, the Picturedrome had been transformed into something resembling a particularly lively corner of the cosmos, with humans and extraterrestrials apparently united by the universal language of a good tune and a dance.
If you haven’t yet, you must catch Henge while they stalk this planet
