One can only imagine the advert Hurts placed looking for backing dancers.

A willingness to solemnly stride on stage wearing hooded robes, with skimpy attire underneath, while waving black flags portentously were presumably key qualifications, given that’s how this show opened. If only the reminder of the performance had been quite as interesting.

As the Manchester duo’s impeccably attired singer Theo Hutchcraft pointed out, Hurts were playing King Tut’s just over a year ago. On that occasion, they effortlessly stole the show and looked stars in the making, a status to which they have ascended. This gig, their last for a while, was rather less flattering, for one very clear reason. As the venues have become larger, so has the group’s sound, but in an unseemly way.

There may have been a string section and guitarist on a crowded stage, but the focus was tilted heavily towards nothing but keyboards and drums. The drums, in particular, were tediously crashed into, bludgeoning any subtlety into a non-stop puddle of noise, and leaving the other players as a decorative presence.

That ensured there was a lack of light and shade throughout, with most tunes inevitably becoming a muddled din, with Hutchcraft’s decent voice wiped out. What made this situation all the more frustrating is that Hurts have a strong collection of songs, with an early triumvirate of the sweeping Blood, Tears and Gold, the driving Evelyn and the infectiously catchy Sunday a sterling run of tunes, and the set-closing Better Than Love a rambunctiously danceable finale.

Better was the toned-down doomed romance of Affair, gloriously different. More of that in the future would be welcome.

HH