Award-winning British band The Last Dinner Party welcomed their second album to the world on Friday, and chose the East Midlands for their first stage.
From the Pyre, the follow-up to 2024’s smash hit Prelude to Ecstasy, was released at midnight to rave reviews. I gave myself two hours at the library in the morning to try and learn the lyrics, before catching the train into Nottingham.
At 9pm, the quintet emerged one by one onto the stage – immaculately dressed as ever, their unique style an aspect of the aura which has made them so important to so many in such a short period of time.
Lead singer Abigail Morris was last out, and launched straight into the opening track Agnus Dei. Blending religious imagery with feminist rock’n’roll is nothing new for the band, and the song’s climax of “all I can give you is your name in lights forever / and ain’t that so much better / than a ring on my finger” was a fitting entrance into The Pyre. We rolled straight on, into Count The Ways – a soft rock song about watching an ex-lover move on.
I defied my fresher’s flu to belt my heart out to Second Best, the single conceived by guitarist Emily Roberts. A simple but freeing chorus set against soulful cries (“take me back, take me back / let us walk by the shore / by the hand, by the hair / I don’t care anymore”) to capture the anguish of letting go of someone you loved more.
Lizzie Mayland took the reins for Rifle, a cross-genre anti-war anthem which captivated me from my first listen. From a soft, stirring introduction, the instruments built up with a chant of “red”. Mayland sang alone for the next verse, before the screams of all five members punctuated each line of the chorus (“crush to dust / all you love / does it feel good / spilling blood?”). The most magical moment was saved for the bridge, as Morris and Mayland combined on a melancholic French melody.
The band harmonised like a coven of witches to begin Woman Is A Tree, before Aurora Nishevci took the lead for I Hold Your Anger – a melodramatic musing on motherhood. Sail Away was a nostalgic journey, fading out with a minute of “take you with me everywhere / I’ll take you with me anywhere”.
Tears were streaming from the first note of The Scythe, even before the futile chorus of “don’t cry, we’re bound together”. Morris couldn’t hold back either, and her tears fueled those in the crowd as we battled through the hauntingly hopeful ballad of loss as one. Still crying, the singer poured her heart out again as she spoke of the song’s journey – the chorus written as an act of solace in her teenage years – to a packed out room, a boiling pot of anguish, catharsis and hope.
We picked ourselves up for the album’s closing track, Inferno. At Morris’ request, we danced along as the record ended with “I’m nothing but a shell / nothing but dust, in an inferno” – lines with shades of Mirror, the denouement of their debut album.
But we knew our evening was not over, and as a frantic piano flourish heralded lead single This Is The Killer Speaking, we readied our voices one last time. Morris donned a cowboy hat – the song is an Old West-themed response to getting ghosted, affectionately known as Yeehaw Interlude – and crooned her way through the opening verse.
The crowd were ready, and duly exploded as each chorus hit. The song had started its life being performed as a precursor to the band’s showstopping breakout hit Nothing Matters, and if the delirious crowds of Friday night are anything to go by, it is a worthy successor.
So, with one final “here comes your girl,” the night was done. I lingered at the barrier a little longer, staring at the set, wondering what was next.
