Brum Shots

Hot Milk brought a surge of energy to the o2 Institute Birmingham earlier this week, opening with a powerful rendition of ‘I Just Wanna Know What Happens When I’m Dead’. Hannah Mee’s vocals cut straight through the room, and with mosh pits breaking out almost immediately, a “pit boy” was appointed early on to help keep the chaos at least somewhat organised.

The excitement spiked the moment ‘Bad Influence’ began, and the crowd happily embraced tracks from the band’s debut album, ‘Corporation P.O.P’ , released earlier this year. At times it was almost impossible to see the stage without craning your neck, thanks to the steady stream of crowd-surfers drifting overhead.

‘Candy Coated Lies’ arrived in yet another new form—this time with a synth-heavy backing track that weirdly worked perfectly with Mee’s harsher vocals. Setting up an emotional ‘Breathing Underwater,’ Mee asked the crowd, “Is everyone sufficiently sweaty? Maybe it’s time to sweat from our eyes… also known as crying.” It started soft but ended in a massive, euphoric singalong.

When ‘A Call To The Void’ hit ‘Bloodstream’ rolled around, Mee yelled, “Birmingham, are you ready to jump right now?” The room didn’t just jump—it took flight.

They wrapped up the main set with ‘Glass Spiders’ from 2020, bringing us back to their early years, before returning for an encore where Jim Shaw took centre stage for his moment in the spotlight during ‘Sympathy Sympathy’. A perfect, sweaty, slightly unhinged ending to a night that was pure Hot Milk chaos.