I reach Mountford Hall at about ten to seven and stare in disbelief at the queue that winds around the building in front of me. I follow it round two corners and finally come to a stop somewhere behind the venue. The next person to join the line raises an eyebrow and mutters “they’ve really taken off this year”.
She’s not wrong. Since the release of their debut album in February, The Last Dinner Party have become… well… if you looked ‘ubiquitous’ up in the dictionary, I’m pretty sure you’d find a picture of the five of them.
Conversation topics in the queue over the next half an hour include but are not limited to: how windy it is (very), whether Erik ten Hag will survive the international break (not a chance), and what the best chocolate in a box of Celebrations is (the Maltesers one, obviously).
I make it inside at around twenty past, not long before the first support walks onto stage. Kaeto, a Scottish singer-songwriter, kicks off the evening with six tracks from her new album, INTRO. Her music is a sort of trip-hop – spacey and upbeat, with Wolf Alice vocals.
Next up are fellow Scotland natives Lucia & The Best Boys. They fill Mountford Hall with their dark electronic pop full of synths and powerful vocals, and the room breaks into applause.
At nine o’clock, The Last Dinner Party make their way onto stage. They walk out to the almost baroque ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’, a fantastic opener for both their set and the album, and run straight into ‘Burn Alive’.
The Kate Bush influences on The Last Dinner Party and their music are inescapable – from wardrobe to vocal style to dramatic flair – but nowhere are they more obvious than on this track. The thundering drums you can hear throughout most of ‘Burn Alive’ really remind me of ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’.
‘Caesar on a TV Screen’ is next. Bold, scathing and theatrical, it was one of my favourites when I first heard the album. The lyric ‘My darling, believe me, I was born to be with you/ But it’ll be me that the world will answer to’ has stuck with me ever since.
At this point, Abigail Morris introduces The Last Dinner Party to the Liverpool crowd and talks about the venue – about how much of a maze Mountford Hall is and how they’re playing in “what looks like a gymnasium”. She also talks about getting lost earlier in the day and finding herself at an open day event of some kind, joking about how she almost joined the women’s rugby team with a sly “see you on the pitch, ladies”.
Later in the set, she notices someone in the crowd holding out a camera.
“What do you want?”
“You want me to take a photo of you?”
Morris eventually relents, knowing full well what the person is asking for. She tries to figure out the best way to take said photo while yelling “everyone get your TikToks out, we’re being human and relatable”. She waves for her bandmates to join her in the middle of the stage and attempts a selfie before one of the crew takes both pity and a photo of the band with the Liverpool crowd.
Endlessly sarcastic and charming, Morris is a natural frontwoman.
Next on the setlist is ‘Second Best’ (the first unreleased track of the night) and a cover of Catherine Howe’s ‘Up North’.
But most of the tracks The Last Dinner Party play tonight are taken from Prelude To Ecstasy – an album that is decadent, striking and over the top in the best way. ‘Sinner’ and ‘The Feminine Urge’ are two of the strongest tracks on the LP, and they’re even better live.
The Last Dinner Party finish their set with ‘My Lady of Mercy’, but quickly give in to the audience’s demands and return with a killer encore. Quite literally – the first song we get is the ‘The Killer’, an unreleased track that’s a little bit country.
‘Nothing Matters’ is next – it’s euphoric, a crowd favourite and the perfect finale. The five-piece exit to the sounds of Dire Straits and a roaring Liverpool crowd.
I’m calling it now: The Last Dinner Party will have a longevity most bands (and Premier League managers, for that matter) can only dream of. They’re going to be unstoppable.
Review by: Ayla Hewitt
Images credit: Ayla Hewitt
Follow Ayla on Insta: @aylagoestogigs @aylaratesalbums
