Live: The Hu in Des Moines

The crowd at Wooly’s in Des Moines, Iowa was hot, tired and ready to rock with The Hu after The Haunt wrapped up their set and the sold out crowd’s chants of “HU! HU! HU!” echoed through the building.

The Haunt did exactly what they needed to do, getting the crowd warmed up and hyped up, but when they were done, it didn’t take long for the capacity crowd to start clamoring for The Hu to take the stage and get the party really started.

The Hu have an interesting situation because they released their debut record- The Gereg in late 2019, but didn’t get a chance to tour in support of the record much before COVID shut the music industry down in 2020. However, 2020 was the year they really blew up and they were primed to play every major rock festival in North America.

This may have worked to their advantage, though, because more people found their music and, by the time the band was able to hit the road in 2021, their fanbase had exploded and The Hu has been selling venues out across the country ever since.

The lights went down, the crowd erupted and the party was on. They opened with “Shoog Shoog” and the fans were dancing, moshing, crowd surfing, chanting, fist pumping and more; it was an environment you only hear about and can only appreciate it if you see it and experience it in person.

The band didn’t have to say much to the crowd but they made sure to interact with the fans as best they could but the fans weren’t there to talk- they were there to see the unique musical approach of traditional Mongolian folk instruments mixed with modern rock and roll and the fans got more than they bargained for with the band playing an impressive 15-song set and made sure the crowd got everything they expected, wanted, asked for and more.

If you haven’t seen The Hu live yet, make sure you go as it’s an experience you will never get anywhere else and no other band can give you. They’re blowing up for a reason.

-Reggie Edwards