In some ways I can understand why the term ‘Industry Plant‘ has been thrown around in conversations surrounding The Last Dinner Party. After all, it’s human nature to search for a plausible answer in the face of something that defies explanation. They just seem too good to be true. Releasing an instantly iconic debut single that oozes such effortless charisma, and then exploring new horizons with the tracks that followed while still maintaining that same astonishingly high standard. Their entrancing costume drama aesthetic, the theatricality of their music videos, the wild cathartic revelry of their live performances… hell, even the band’s logo is glorious! I get how someone may listen to their inner cynic before believing that the universe would gift us with a new band who are so assured, engaging and stylish this early into their career. They say seeing is believing, so I felt the need to catch The Last Dinner Party in Hull on their UK tour to see them for myself.

There was more than one buzzworthy band on the bill however. Tour openers Picture Parlour have been generating their own fair share of talk in music circles. Yet given that their much lauded debut single, indie crooner ‘Norwegian Wood‘, didn’t really connect with me, I sadly wasn’t sharing that same buzz ahead of their set. After their set? – now that’s a different story! So many singers like to think they share that Alex Turner kind of swagger; often imitated, rarely ever replicated. Not only is frontwoman Katherine Parlour one of the few to actually nail it, but her distinctive husky vocals sound quite unlike anything else out there right now.

Musically they really surprised me. I found their single a bit of a languid affair, and so I wasn’t at all expecting the energy and intricacy of their full set. If anything I was reminded of Crown Lands of all people. There were some proggy math rock sections that kept you on your toes, never quite knowing how the song would shift next, and the odd heavy blues stomp where Sian Lynch’s bold meandering bass lines would truly shine. The quartet really set a high bar for the headliners to follow. The only thing holding them back was the lighting; they were poorly lit from the front, and the lighting behind them would turn into a blinding rave at the most inappropriate of times.

Thankfully the stage was properly lit for The Last Dinner Party so that we could appreciate the band in their full stage regalia, capturing the night’s “folklore & fairytale” dress code. If their dedication to on-stage aesthetics wasn’t already an indicator that this is a band that never does things by halves, their set would certainly have convinced you. Flutes, mandolins and even a keytar all made an appearance throughout the course of the night. They felt like a band trying to hit you with everything they’ve got. Tracks like ‘On Your Side’ and ‘Beautiful Boy’ were heavenly group harmony driven affairs, while familiar singles ‘Sinner’ and ‘My Lady of Mercy’ whipped the room up into a frenzy like some cathartic mass exorcism. The bewitching folk of ‘Gjuha’, which saw keyboardist Aurora Nishevci singing in Albanian, was a particularly striking moment of calm reverie that felt like a witches’ coven casting a spell to keep the entire crowd entranced. 

Even with only three songs officially released into the world, there were already fans that seemed to know every word to the entirety of the set. But even the superfans who’ve been following the band on tour were kept on their toes by the first ever outing of a brand new song “Big Dog”, which was every bit as ferocious as its name suggests. Frontwoman Abigail Morris feels so at home on a stage; whirling with wild abandon, striking elegant poses like a marble statue, all while her voice shifts from luxurious velvet to pure fire and back whenever the song calls for it. The only limiting factor to her power seems to be the amount of square footage of stage she has to prance around on, and even then there’s nothing stopping her jumping in amongst the crowd. 

Closing with Emily Roberts’ soaring guitar solo on the song that started it all felt like the perfect capstone for an incredible night. I’ve been lucky enough to attend more than my share of “I was there!” gigs over the years. Most of them have been big bands in small and unlikely venues, and of the acts I caught live before their big breaks, I’ll admit many of those nights only feel special in hindsight, and I wish I had appreciated them more at the time. This was different, it felt special going in and only more so looking back. It may have just been one stop on a UK tour, but I can say with some certainty that I’ll likely never get to see The Last Dinner Party or Picture Parlour on a stage that small again. Those lucky enough to catch them this time around will be bragging about seeing them in tiny venues when they start selling out arenas in due course. So to anyone wondering if either of these bands live up to the hype, my answer is absolutely not – they’re even better!