Sing-alongs and standing ovations: How HONNE took over Lotte Concert Hall

Two thousand people rose to their feet inside a classical concert hall. Lotte Concert Hall — built for orchestras — became a cathedral of communal singing during British pop duo HONNE's 10th-anniversary shows.

"Spend the night and we will make it worth the while" — from "The Night"

The show opened with "The Night," the first track from HONNE's debut album "Warm On A Cold Night." In HONNE's music, night is more than a time of day — it is the moment when the most private emotions begin. The stage was framed by floor-standing lamps strung with some 30 bare bulbs, forming a small, intimate room. Inside Lotte Concert Hall's deep reverberation, the audience stepped into HONNE's night and found music meant to be truly heard.

HONNE — the British alternative pop duo of vocalist Andy Clutterbuck and synthesizer player James Hatcher — came to Korea as part of a global tour marking their 10th anniversary. Timed to the release of their compilation album "HONNE-10," they met Korean fans at Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul from July 16 through July 18. The run was originally planned as three shows, but sold out across every seat and every date, prompting the addition of a fourth performance.

"I love this sound."

HONNE repeated the phrase throughout the night — when the audience applauded, when the crowd sang back every word, when cheers washed across the hall like watercolor spreading on paper. "Fantastic sound," they said again. That, in essence, was why they chose Lotte Concert Hall for their anniversary shows.

On previous visits to Korea, HONNE had played mainstream pop venues. Their first visit in 2016 was at YES24 Hall, followed by Blue Square in 2019 and KBS Arena in 2023, with appearances at various domestic festivals and outdoor stages along the way.

This time, they chose Lotte Concert Hall — one of Korea's premier classical venues, alongside Seoul Arts Center — as the stage for their 10th-anniversary shows.

Korean artists have occasionally performed at Lotte Concert Hall, but this marked the first time a foreign pop act had taken the stage there. Concert promoter Private Curve said the duo had been looking for a quieter, more intimate setting where they could connect with the audience up close. "When deciding on an artist and a venue, we discuss many factors — seating capacity, location and the condition of the hall," the company said. "HONNE wanted a calm atmosphere and a concert hall where they could meet fans at closer range." Central to that search was the ability to deliver acoustic sound.

The appeal of Lotte Concert Hall to pop musicians mirrors HONNE's own reasoning. A hall official said incorporating classical elements — orchestral collaborations, acoustic arrangements — has become a growing trend in popular music. "Artists who want to try something new musically are choosing this venue because its outstanding acoustics make it ideal for creating a stage that stands apart from a conventional tour," the official said.

The hall's vineyard-style seating, modeled on the shape of a broad vineyard, offers clear sightlines from every seat while keeping the stage visually present at all times. The 2,000-seat auditorium is divided into 37 sections — ranging from as few as 8 seats in the second-floor side zones to as many as 160 in the second-floor center zone — all arranged to minimize the distance to the stage. Where a typical classical hall raises the stage 80 to 90 centimeters above floor level, Lotte Concert Hall's stage sits at just 60 centimeters — close enough that first-floor audience members can almost sense the breath of the performers.

HONNE used the space brilliantly. The stage spans roughly 330 square meters, yet they occupied only half of it. There was no giant LED screen, no elaborate video display. Speakers flanked the entrance, but the rest of the stage was left deliberately spare — 30 to 40 floor-standing lamps arranged in a fan shape at center stage carved out one small, self-contained space. Inside it stood HONNE, female vocalist Becca, a drummer, a grand piano and an electronic keyboard.

A stage within a stage: a small room. HONNE's music — often called "bedroom pop" — shines brightest in the most private of spaces. Songs once heard late at night through earphones had migrated to the middle of a classical hall, transformed into something as warm and close as a living room.

The show captured both HONNE's beginnings and the duo at their peak. It was not a straightforward chronological retelling from the 2016 debut album onward. Instead, HONNE wove together a decade's worth of emotions into a single arc — falling in love, drifting apart, and finding comfort in each other again.

Opening with "The Night," the set moved through "3AM," "Me & You," "Location Unknown," "free love," "no song without you" and "Good Together."

What made the night remarkable was the sound HONNE drew from the room. Lotte Concert Hall's long reverberation divides even classical music lovers — visiting conductors have sometimes complained that the acoustics overwhelm rather than serve the music.

HONNE's music, which has always carried a sense of open space within it, was a natural fit. Synth pads, layered harmonies, arrangements built on breathing room, and vocals that are firm without being overwrought — none of it fought the hall's long decay. It absorbed it. According to the concert promoter, HONNE ran multiple sound checks before each show. Rather than suppressing the hall's resonance, they drew it into the music. The venue was no longer a container for sound; it had become an instrument.

Specific moments of sonic staging stood out. During "306," the sound design wove in the chirping of insects; during "Coastal Love," blue stage lighting was paired with the sound of ocean waves. HONNE's acoustically arranged songs shed their polished urban sheen and took on something closer to nature.

Throughout the night, what held the eye was how HONNE communicated with the crowd. The vineyard hall's layout and the minimal distance between stage and seats dissolved any psychological barrier between performer and audience. After one song, HONNE spotted a couple seated in the center of the first floor and asked them to repeat a gesture they had made earlier. When the couple raised their arms and formed a heart, HONNE made a finger-heart back at them — and within moments, finger-hearts rippled through the hall in a wave.

"The vineyard hall's close proximity between stage and audience provides outstanding sightlines and a sense of immersion from every seat," a Lotte Concert Hall official said. "The venue's distinctive spatial character offers an experience unlike a conventional concert hall, and that is why pop acts keep coming back."

Even a standing performance — something no one had imagined happening in a classical hall — came to pass. When HONNE asked whether the audience could stand, not a single person hesitated. Two thousand people rose, swayed and gave themselves over to the music. The emotional peak came with the encore: "Warm On A Cold Night" and "Day 1."

"Warm On A Cold Night" is widely known in Korea through a mattress advertisement, and it remains the song that best defines HONNE as a group. The small warmth that heats a cold night is where the duo's music of closeness and quiet feeling begins. A song that well known demanded a full crowd sing-along — and HONNE delivered, dividing the vineyard hall into two or three sections and staging a sing-along competition between them. The audience responded with voices clearer and more full-throated than at any other point in the night. The closing number, "Day 1," expressed a desire to return to the very beginning on the occasion of their 10th anniversary — and the fans, as if they understood exactly what that meant, shared the feeling back in song.

Korea is the first country where HONNE ever sold out a show. The duo referenced the English idiom "take under one's wing" — to look after someone — and said Korea was the place that had done that for them. They repeated "한국 사랑해" ("I love Korea") and "감사합니다" ("thank you") in Korean several times, expressing their gratitude to fans who had been with them from the start.