Words: Josh Parsonage
There is a collection of rockstars who have within them the ability to completely take ownership of a room, and when The Last Dinner Party performed ‘Beautiful Boy’ in Glasgow, Abigail Morris put herself amongst them.
As a mirrorball illuminated the former theatre, its starstruck attendees collapsed into a collective silence. Morris, standing tall, appeared as if she could’ve been commanding the lightworks into motion as she flawlessly delivered the type of musical sermon which has you tilt your head and open your mouth in awe. The raw emotional energy the band were able push through into the track radiated around the room, with not a single face left expressionless.
In the most beautiful way, the rest of the gig felt as though it took place surrounding that moment. From the minutes before the band took to stage the feeling of an electric atmosphere was already in the air, and that energy was immediately harnessed in ‘Burn Alive’. The track’s slow build up worked to settle the crowd and suck in their attention, before the kickass vocals and equally as emphatic stage-usage throughout the chorus cast them back into
mayhem.
The well-crafted ‘Caesar on a TV Screen’ and the bouncy ‘Portrait of a Dead Girl’ played similar roles in facilitating the good-vibes atmosphere inherent within the Glasgow crowd, which the band were more than praiseful of. However, the moments of awe were not exclusive to Abigail Morris and ‘Beautiful Boy’. Aurora Nishevci lead The Last Dinner Party’s most personal, and most emotional account: ‘Ghuja’. The track made for another stunning live rendition, with the story of Nishevci’s shame in her lack of knowledge of her mother tongue, Albanian, touching upon the desire for belonging in all of us.
‘Ghuja’ is a perfect example of how flawlessly the band play off one another, with harmonies that could have bounced around the venue walls for hours. A brilliant cover of Blondie’s ‘Call Me’, two new tracks ‘The Killer and ‘Big Dog’, as well as the up-beat sophomore single ‘Sinner’ all being further cases of this. Such a level of cohesion makes the London rockers not just great to listen to, but an encapsulating watch.
The show, of course, ended on the hit debut single ‘Nothing Matters’. Morris didn’t have to be joking when she claimed not to be needed anymore, because the Scottish crowd echoed the lyrics in an unbreakable chorus and brought the concert to a close in a way that left you feeling like you’d gotten to know everyone in the room, and the band themselves.
The Last Dinner Party’s have impressively sold out their twenty-plus date debut album tour, with venue sizes hitting capacities of 5000. The level of hype and speed of growth of the group who only embarked on their first ever tour last year is akin to that of greats, and with the tasters of new music seeming to carry the band into a new direction, with that same core sound behind it, there is no sign of slowing.
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