LIVE FROM THE PIT: Hyphen, Native James and Eva Kiss

Oporto was put through its paces on the Leeds leg of Hyphen’s 2025 tour with Native James and Eva Kiss on Tuesday. The energy was high and vibes immaculate in what became an intimate community between fans and artist over the three hours spent in the wood panelled rectangle hiding around the corner from Leeds corn exchange. 

When doors opened at 7:30 the energy was chilled out, with our headliner for the evening lulling in the back of the room selling t-shirts and conversing with those that turned out early, while the last of pints and final cigarettes were enjoyed in the sun on the last warm night of the heatwave. The crowd trickled into the mostly sold room as 7:45 approached and local opener Eva Kiss set up to begin. Kiss was a siren in more ways than one: dusty blonde with a pinstripe shirt/waistcoat/bloomer skirt set complimenting silky smooth vocals made for closed eyes and becoming swept up in her thoughtful grunge soundscape.

Despite being a member down and some wiring issues making the sound glitch out their set was as seamless as it was heartwarming: from the track dedicated to Kiss’ beaming girlfriend in the crowd and the loving gay uncle energy emanating from the band, or her catching and thanking two at the front for remarking that a song from the next project in the works slapped, the happiness to be there matched with the quality of their 20 minute set eased Oporto into an evening of stellar rock. Even when sorting the technical issues the calming energy of Eva Kiss had filled the room, with the time spent ironing out these problems used to play lift-music inspired melodies and a perfect opportunity to plug a gig for the quartet in Fenton, Leeds on May 21st; definitely worth going if grunge is your jam and your in the area, with the promise that this set will be 100% of Eva Kiss and dialled up on the energy.When the set closed with drummer Seb hand drumming before the big final breakdown, some of Oporto will absolutely see them there. 

Where Eva Kiss had lulled the crowd into the evening, Native James ignited the energy. First arriving on stage in a fetching jumper quickly discarded as the broken Gregorian chant morphed into the beginning of Mungen Train as the reserved personality that had been wandering around Oporto transformed into the high energy punk powerhouse that is Native James’ stage presence. His crowd work was great from the beginning and only got better, with the promise that the crowd would be moshing feeling like a hard sell to an otherwise chilled out room of older gen Zs and younger millennials but would come to fruition by the end. As Hammer turned into Power James’ band started to get into it, with his bass player in particular serving facials as he kneeled and moshed with the frontman when the set was hitting its stride; the only wrinkles were the first attempt to open the pit during hammer resulted in the crowd parting for no one to partake, though this was fixed quickly during field, and an attempt to introduce the band fettered by the forgetting of his new drummer’s name having only rehearsed with him that day - the fact that a standout set like this had only came together that morning only made it better.

The main sell for Native James was the infectious energy: climbing onto the amps and headbanging with the crowd while he spat transferring into a room that gradually woke up and got down with him by penultimate track Block - recorded with Professor Green but bodied still by James on his own, then by the closing number he had convinced the crowd to all get down for a final jump and mosh where the pit got started all on its own. Native James was the personal highlight of the evening - from his intoxicating stage presence, the quality of the live mixes and his genuine kind man energy we cannot wait to see him start headlining tours of his own and hope we’ll be there when it happens.  

After a well deserved half hour to cool off, Hyphen’s drummer started to drum up the energy by asking everyone who they were here to see, parting the crowd once more as the guitarist and himself played a punked up version of Backstreet’s back for Hyphen to run through the crowd before starting the show with almost-latest single This Might Be It, then keeping the energy through actual-latest single The Bear. The attempt to deliver his mission statement after this seemed to have exposed a growing pain for an artist who has come into his own over the last year; the first time losing his voice in the middle of a headline tour. After a few big swigs of water and failed attempts he handed the mission statement over to his guitarist, introducing himself as “the other brown guy” to thunderous applause before explaining how his frontman’s surgeon/teacher parents have shouldered a mountain of racist rhetoric - a knife turned by their natural kindness as individuals. After a boo once he asked about how the crowd felt about Great Britain, Hyphen would once again take the mic for Dystopian Peter Crouch. 

Describe Hypen’s presence in four words? Allergic to the stage. From go and throughout he was running through the middle of the crowd, jumping on the amps to get his crowd to shout back at him, or grabbing fans and embracing them while getting them to finish the lines to the songs with him it was as clear as it was refreshing at Hyphen is doing this to fill a room with energy and community. On the latter point he shouted out the pair he was hugging specifically for knowing every word to all of the policial songs - right at the front with bent knees and screaming from the chest for most of the set, feeding his energy as they jumped around together throughout the set. On the former, one of the best examples was once Hate Yachts not Dinghies came up on the setlist; one of the best of the night with the frontman squatting on the right side amp, trading the title phrase with the screaming crowd while the whole room jumped along and grinned. 

It was after this that Hyphen stripped back his set a little to talk about the mental health perspective of his musical mission statement, telling Oporto about the dark place he was in at 23 and that he couldn’t have imagined his 31 year old self prepping to get married and able to tour as a punk artist, blending this into brown-positivity anthem cocoa butter to mark the chilled out portion of the set. This area marked the only hiccup of the Hyphen set, being that because of his voice he’s had to re-arrange the setlist to fit with when he’s able to scream; not to worry, this had zero impact on how good the final product was. After Cocoa Butter came Confidence, another track where he embraced groups within the crowd and jumped along with them in a move that felt like a core memory. 

For the last portion of the evening there was cheeky anti-work culture anthem Deskjob, another call to action for protesting and a final lull as he went back to the dark place he was in at 23 in the form of Futuristic; a manifesto of hurt backed only by the electronic track as a silent crowd and darkened room watch him fold into the microphone. Before beginning he asked the crowd to contrast this performance with his closers - 3 Pints and breakout single Marching Powder - the contrast was wonderful to see, we’ll get there in a moment. 

For these last two tracks the standout moments were the guy standing next to him when on the amp timing his repeating of “get back to where you came from” when the lyric came up in 3 pound pints, and then in closer Marching Powder where Hyphen first thanked the crowd for coming during the weeks, feeling their pain as they all had day jobs - free his guitarist from the Taylor Swift cover band - then embodied the theme of the song by leaping from the amps over the chairs and onto the bar for the first verse, getting the crowd to scream the hook as he lost himself in said crowd for the remainder of the song. 

The word to use for the Leeds leg of Hyphen’s tour would be immaculate. Each artist was both phenomenal and grounded, giving the satisfying feeling of being able to support artists who are kind among a crowd of lovely punks. Hyphen’s messages of pro immigration rights, pro trans rights and pro palestinian rights alongside his mental health advocacy were as relevant as they were moving; his calls for community felt heard in a room filled with laughter to make one of the best live shows we’ve had the joy of covering in a while. Listening to Hypen’s discussions of where he was ten years ago to now were motivating and resonant - it is never too late to jump head first into doing what you love, so to Hyphen enjoy every second of your come up, it is well deserved.

Words: Julia Brunton