Manchester’s Hot Milk have barely paused for breath since releasing their second album, Corporation P.O.P, in June. In fact, it’s been a whirlwind couple of years for the relatively new band, and 2025 has only ramped things up. Between promo shows and festival runs in the UK and abroad, Hannah ‘Han’ Mee and Jim Shaw have been building toward their biggest headline shows yet. London marked the second night of their tour, with a homecoming in Manchester still to come, but it was clear that ticking off the iconic Roundhouse already felt like a milestone.
It was only fitting that the set opened with ‘Hell Is on Its Way’, an apt tribute to the night ahead, which would lean into their unfiltered, tongue-in-cheek chaos that’s become a signature of their shows. And the antics were only just getting started. For fans seeing them for the first time they were in for a treat; and for those used to seeing them in smaller venues, it was a taste of bigger, better things to come.
Han wasted no time tapping into her usual sharp humour. Before the opening song had even finished, she yelled, “Where is my big fat gaping hole?” to a crowd more than ready to match her energy. Then as they launched into the feverish ‘Swallow This’, she went one better pouring a beer over her own head, perfectly capturing the band’s fun and unserious energy.
‘I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I’M DEAD’ kept the momentum going as crowdsurfers started to make their way to the front without encouragement, past a barrier of security guards who seemed to be having just as much fun as they were.
While the security leaned into the crowd’s quirks, the band did too. “You are Lord of the pit tonight,” Han shouted, pointing to a man dressed as Where’s Wally, already splitting the crowd before the next drop. “Don’t let that s*** die,” she urged. “Are you ready, London?”
Throughout the night, the band tore through their setlist with relentless energy. While some transitions weren’t as smooth as they could have been, it was a reminder that the band are still adjusting to bigger stages, all while holding onto the scrappy charm that defines them, and ultimately, in Hot Milk’s world there’s no real rules beyond keeping things fun.
When they reached their introspective track ‘Insubordinate Ingerland’, Han took the opportunity to tap into the political streak at the heart of Corporation P.O.P. “England till I die,” she shouted, after taking a moment to call out far-right groups who have co-opted the St George’s flag to protest things Han says “they don’t understand.”
It was a reminder that, beyond their boundless energy, Hot Milk are well and truly tuned in to the world around them and can deliver songs with both punch and lyrical power, something their ever-growing fanbase clearly relates to, and a big part of what’s brought them to a stage like the Roundhouse.
And while the size of the venue proved just how much the band had scaled up, the reworked version of their 2019 track ‘Candy Coated Lie$’ showed how far they’d come musically. Admitting they’d ‘fallen out of love’ with the track, which is among one of their earlier hits, they reworked it into a heavier, more urgent ‘nightmare version’ that reflected where they are now, while still giving the fans what they want.
From there, the band seemed to fully lock in, more confident and comfortable than before. Any nerves from earlier in the night had disappeared and the set found its natural rhythm, the crowd jumping in sync as Jim yelled, “Wakey wakey! show me what you’re made of!”
The encore of ‘Sympathy Symphony’, ‘PARTY ON MY DEATHBED’ and ‘Chase the Dragon’ finished the night with the same fire, humour, and rough-edged charm that got Hot Milk here in the first place. While the significance of playing a venue as iconic as the Roundhouse definitely wasn’t lost on them.
Midway through the set, during a brief respite, Han had paused to take it all in. “Light these people up, Freddie,” she said, while trying not to choke up. “We made it,” she added, looking around the room. “You’ve made four people’s dreams come true.” As they step into bigger venues, committed to who they are, the band is more than ready to take on whatever comes next.
