Hurry pays homage to their influences during lively Free at Noon set

The Philadelphia-based power pop band Hurry featured at this week’s Free at Noon live show on Sept. 1st, playing and promoting songs from their sixth studio album Don’t Look Back. Fronted and driven by singer, songwriter, and guitarist Matt Scottoline, Hurry captures and reimagines the lightweight rollock and exuberance of ‘90s pop rock pioneered by acts like Bob Mould’s group Sugar and The Lemonheads.

Hurry kicked off their set with their album opener “Don’t Have To Try,” led by bright, jangly electric guitars and Scottoline’s catchy vocal melodies. Before stepping into their next track “When I’m With You,” Scottoline shared the humorous story of the song being featured in the Netflix series Special. “The show ended… the first chord rang out and then the box of the screen got really small and went down to the corner, it showed a trailer for next week. The trailer ended… and the last chord rang out,” effectively skipping the band’s song. After lodging the song’s extremely catchy hook into the audience’s brains, Hurry went on to play “Parallel Haunting” and “Something More” back to back, as they are on the new album. The band’s lead guitarist Justin Fox delivered a pleasant yet effective guitar solo on the former track, and some ghostly feedback to close the song.

World Cafe Live was comfortably filled with fans for this week’s show. The band appeared as four dudes just jamming, mostly dressed in modest, laid back clothing. Scottoline stood out in a fresh pair of New Balance 1906Rs, a trendy sneaker of 2023 so far. The second half of their set was led off by “Beggin’ For You,” the single that introduced Don’t Look Back in June. Scottoline shared that the album’s engineer Ian Farmer was supposed to provide harmonies for the show, however he was absent due to illness. “He’ll be okay though, don’t worry,” he added. The Slaughter Beach, Dog and former Modern Baseball bassist helped record and produce Don’t Look Back at The Metal Shop in Philadelphia.

As the set wound down, Scottoline told the room that Hurry’s new album title was derived from a Teenage Fanclub song, and declared said band the “greatest rock band of all time,” in his opinion. In homage, they covered TF’s “Don’t Look Back,” and capped their set with “The Punchline,” their new album’s closing track. This song had the energy of a Scooby Doo chase-scene backing track; slightly euphoric and very urgent.

On Tuesday, Sept. 5th, Hurry will be performing at Johnny Brenda’s with Washer and Speedy Ortiz, who recently played their own Free at Noon show. Hurry will return to World Cafe Live on Thursday, Sept. 7th in support of DeVotchKa. Tickets for both are available now through our Concerts and Events page; support Don’t Look Back for Bandcamp Friday here.