Gig Review: The Last Dinner Party And Picture Parlour At EartH Hackney
When they finished with their gigantic summer anthem ‘Nothing Matters’, we could do nothing but believe them.
Outside of Hackney’s EartH, a stormy October evening, sheets of rain cold and violent. Inside, two bands ready to face their second sold-out show in London. Both bands have triumphed on social media, their names already fit for neon lights - all that’s left to do is prove their worth. As the crowd trundled in, shaking off damp coats and revealing layers of glitter beneath, expectation settled like froth in the air. Over the next few hours, both Picture Parlour and The Last Dinner Party would cement themselves as the next big things in indie, rock, and just about everything else.
From their two released singles, ‘Norwegian Wood’ and, more recently, ‘Judgement Day’, Picture Parlour have made a name for themselves through blending classic rock with the contemporary and often spiteful voice of our digital age. This band is only going to get bigger and better: Katherine Parlour on vocals and guitar stomps across the stage with effortless grace and commands the band together and apart with the flick of a wrist. Lead guitarist Ella Risi dazzled, flew through insane riffs with a cheeky grin. They looked the part: teal greens, boiler suits, billowy shirts. Sometimes, though, it took a second for everything to click. Because of the delicious storytelling in each song, their set demanded to be sung along to. Otherwise, it was often a befuddled point of entry into some of the songs that weren’t wholly distinguishable from the last.
The band have faced much during their impressively short life; only weeks after their first song triumphantly hit streaming platforms, the internet filled with accusations of nepotism and industry planting. Lies have a life of their own, and it’s hard to drill down to the root even if, as was the case, the claims are nothing but spiteful fabrications. This 30-minute set, brimming with bangers I wanted to immediately hear again, was a reclamation of space. It was rock ‘n’ roll in a new suit of glitter. It was vintage epicism. It was indie ballads barking back at an industry that chews at the heels of success with fangs of envy. They’re tight, big and sagacious: ‘this might be one you know!’ Katherine laughed before launching into the end of their set with massive hit 'Norwegian Wood’. I’ll definitely be seeing them again.
The crowd from there only grew, hundreds dressed in feather boas, patterned ties and lined waistcoats: the theme of the night was inspired by the cult-classic movie ‘The Velvet Goldmine’. Extra layers of eyeliner were hastily drawn in the blue light as the tension built; how does a 9-minute beloved discography fill an hour-long set? Easily, the all-female group would soon show. From the off-set, frontwoman Abigail Morris was nothing short of a force to be reckoned with, twisting, gyrating and catapulting across the stage. It was the release of energy from over a decade of dreaming. The rest of the band were just as captivating, though it took a few songs to melt their stiff, exposed stances. Emily Roberts played lead guitar, flute and mandolin with admirable prowess: Lizzie Mayland and Georgia Davies formed a formidable duo to the right of the stage, providing harmony to exacerbate the plush velvet of Abigail’s lungs. At one point they collided and fell to the floor, instruments raised above them in ritualistic show.
They played angry tune ‘Big Dog’ for the second time live, stage ablaze with violent red mashing a sexy bass line with instruments racing twice their usual speed. ‘Big Dog!” Abigail spat, the masculine cliche squirming in the force of their magnificent silhouettes, conjured just to be overruled masochistically. The band have stunning versatility in lyricism and musicality; latest online release ‘My Lady of Mercy’ deals with their experience of shame when attending a Catholic school. ‘Fem Urge’ details maddening female rage, desire and sexuality. In this vein, the band refuse to put a name to their sound: ‘More often, we’ll use aesthetic words that you might use to describe a painting, like opulent or decadent or grotesque’, bassist Georgia Davies told The Rolling Stone. And yet, the crowd was happily diverse, old men in extra layers comfortable alongside beaming teens with dripping fringes. How important that such honest, vulnerable and preconceived ‘taboo’ topics can be a great equaliser. Several songs into the set Aurora Nishevci on keys was hit with a white ray of light to lead ‘Gjuha’, a testament to the shame and complexity she feels towards her Albanian mother tongue. A spine-tickling and wholly necessary deeper moment, in which they all joined in a vocal cry. And then it was here, the peak of the night - their riotous hit ‘Sinner’, ABBA-esque staccato keys opening into the ballooning energy from band and crowd alike, rocking the space like a gargle of thunder.
In the crowd, a familiar face: ‘we all knew it was going to be big’ Angus Rogers, frontman of post-punk six-piece Opus Kink quipped after the gig, ‘but that was fucked’. He referenced the commandeering call and response at the end of an unreleased song; ‘give me the strength’ they had the crowd yelling, dancing under the pinprick of a finger. They knew they had us and were taunting their power. Suddenly, the tone had switched. ‘This song is really fun for us to play live, so enjoy it I guess’ Abbie introduced penultimate hit, ‘Godzilla’. This was a hometown gig, and they were playing for themselves, not for us. ‘When’s the album?’ Someone heckled in the dip of a song change, to which the band responded ‘shhhh!’. This set was on their terms, not ours, so when they finished with their gigantic summer anthem ‘Nothing Matters’, we could do nothing but believe them.
Both Picture Parlour and The Last Dinner Party finished the night in their favourite pub ‘The Shacklewell Arms’, a local haven for up-coming artists like Shame and Black Midi; the band actually decided on their name there deep into a drunken night, Abigail revealed between songs. Just down the very same road stands a colossal advertisement for their gig in February, at Camden’s spectacular venue ‘The Roundhouse’. The perfect lasting image of a dream turned into reality.