Hovvdy, Christian Lee Hutson
First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut St.
Philadelphia
Nov. 3, 2026
BIG NIGHT FOR TEXAS.
“We’re called Hovvdy… and it’s spelled funny… and we’re from Texas… and don’t mess with it…” Will Taylor drawled out, pausing for laughs and reactions, near the end of a sweaty, fun headlining set from his band Hovvdy last night. I haven’t seen Hovvdy since pre-Covid – incidentally, also at First Unitarian – and having the boys back in town with all their feel-good, specifically-Texan energy felt right last night.
They kicked things off in anthemic, classic-rock territory – the kick drum sounding massive, the whole band sounding stadium-ready, but nice and loose with it throughout their set, which ran the stylistic gamut. I know if you’re young enough it’s no big deal and even kind of expected to see bands shift from twangy rockers to shoegaze-y blankets of noise to heavily-autotuned pop music and back, but for me, it’s still really cool and special to see, especially when the band in question pulls it all off so expertly. The songwriting-and-lead-singing duo of Charlie Martin and Will Taylor took turns in their respectively distinct but complimentary styles, Martin leading the autotuned tracks like “Bubba,” a song which works just as well as an acoustic strummer – a big part of the pleasure of a Hovvdy set is seeing how they’ll arrange the songs, knowing a laconic rocker might get blown out and amped up, that the loud songs will be truly explosive, that a simple guitar song might get outfitted with keys, Roland SPD and Martin’s TC-Helicon’d croons. If you came for the hits, you got ‘em: “True Love”’s coda mantra “Do you believe what I say / that I’m the man I say I am?” was a full-tilt break-down singalong, not breezy like the studio version but bursting with feeling. I especially perked up early in the set when Martin said, “We’ve got an old one for you,” before launching into a classic from their slowcore era, “Problem” – one of those songs that always threatens to bloom into fully ecstatic ear-drum-bursting noise but instead rides the line of warmth and coziness, like being the exact right distance from a bonfire. They encore’d with “Wannabe (Radio Queen)” from their new album Big World, a fist-pumping barreling rocker that feels like something Alex G would think up, with Taylor going fully demented on the mic. (Taylor was in funny, hammy mode all night, at one point playing a banana shaker like his life depended on it. It’s a joy watching a band have this much fun – a reminder that it can easily be that way – and it translates: I can’t remember the last time I saw this many people in a crowd beaming, singing along and goofily hugging each other. Also, yes: lots of baseball caps.)
Christian Lee Hutson kicked things off in decidedly more low-key fashion, performing solo with just his guitar and harmonica, but the sheer intricacy of his guitar-playing and the wordiness of his songs kept momentum high and rewarded close attention. His open-tuned, thumb-wraparound chords and contrapuntal arrangements were the mark of a serious, thoughtful musician, and songs like “Lose This Number” have a heavy, world-weary feel, but his banter showed a goofy streak: asking if anyone had requests, I jokingly called out for an Aerosmith cover (I swear, it was a callback to something he’d brought up earlier) and he obliged with as much of the Armageddon song as he could remember. An older guy kept mumbling to himself after each song – including the new, unreleased ones Hutson admitted some sheepishness about attempting – “That one was good.” I thought so, too.
