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Nov 20, 2025 By Faye Stacey Photography by Faye Stacey Web Exclusive

It’s been a tough few years for Hard Life and many people (me included) were worried they wouldn’t return. It can’t be easy being sued by Easy Jet, but they are back with a new name, new album and sounded great.

“It’s a hard life, I can’t lie it’s been a rush”; these are the first words sung to the room from “Tears”. The band play a blinding 20 song set and they are on top form. Murray (Matravers, vocals/keys) enjoys chatting to the audience and Oliver (Cassidy, drums) enjoys stepping out from his drumkit several times, to chat, to crowd surfing and is obviously having a great night

After “Daydreams” Murray brings out their Tour Manager, Raj. It’s his birthday, so it’s only right that we all sing “Happy Birthday” to him.

Later in the set, Murray takes the time to thank the crowd for buying a ticket for tonight “You guys are all our extended fucking family, for real. There was a long time we thought this wasn’t possible, so thank you,”

Clearly emotional, Murray continues “I’ve been doing this for the whole tour” before he then hugs Lewis and the crowd cheers, “So just before we started the tour Lewis (Berry, guitar/bass) lost his dad to cancer and we fucking love Lewis, right,” which then gets even more cheers. “Every night we’ve spoken about the hospice his dad Andrew spent his last few months in. A place called Loros in Leicester. We have donation buckets at the merch stand if you can give anything. Every night we’ve dedicated this to Andrew, but tonight we need to dedicate this to Lewis, because every night he has turned up and smashed it.” The crowd gives Lewis a massive round of applause. “People say we are resilient as a band for coming back but I’m so fucking proud of this man, he’s a fucking legend. Thank you so much Lewis. We are all so proud of you mate!” There’s even more applause while Murray hugs Lewis. “One more time for Lewis. This one goes out to Lewis and his incredible dad Andrew” before the band then plays “Dear Miss Holloway.”

It’s great to see how the band blends the older fan favourites with the new tracks from Onion, the first album recorded as Hard Life. The new songs are described as introspective, honest, and exploratory.

Closing the set with “Nightmares”, the last words sang to the crowd are “No one gives a fuck about my nightmares, but it’s nothing you should worry yourself about.”

Setlist :-

Tears

Sunday

Sangria

Daydreams

Happy Birthday to You (Sung to tour manager Raj)

Y3llow Bike

Peanut Butter

Petty Crime

Silverado

OCTOpus

OIPL

Crickets!!!

Othello

Dead Celebrities

BEESWAX

Dear Miss Holloway (Dedicated to Lewis and his dad)

Pockets

Skeletons

Ogre

Ocean View

Nightmares

Encore :-

End Credits