I arrived late and the venue is already packed. I just caught the last song of the support act, Kamran Khan aka Fake Laugh. His singer/song writer style isn’t really my cup of tea but judging from the applause he went down well with the audience.
So on to the main event, joining Walton and Hollingworth on stage are Kamran on guitar and a drummer who’s name I didn’t catch. As the notes of the first song begin, Walton is already dancing on stage with a strangely curious bunny hop type dance. Hollingworth seems a little nervous to begin with and remains on station at her keyboard, her head bowed glancing occasionally upwards. It’s wonderful to see the pair perform together, there’s obviously a deep bond between them. Their usual routines of Pattycake and the Macarena have a playfulness to them.
Highlights of the set include the beautiful ‘Two Ribbons’ and the poppy, ‘Hot Pink’. They played ‘I Really Want to Stay at Your House’, which was written by Walton for the video game and the animated series, Cyberpunk 2077. As always, the stage presence of the pair filled the room. The audience could not resist but to dance along with them. Not to be out done by Walton’s dancing, Hollingworth at one point leapt off stage to join the audience, dancing with them until she was needed back on stage. The set draws to a close with the catchy ‘Levitation’ which feels very classic electro–pop. After a short break, the girls came back on stage for one final song, ‘Donnie Darko’, which featured their hallmark recorder solo. The night was absolutely fantastic, songs from Two Ribbons seemed to have been given a lift and sound much better performed live. The set seemed incredibly short with only eleven songs. I was left wanting more and could quite happily had an extra hour. My only niggle is that the backing band, while talented musicians didn’t really seem to gel with Walton and Hollingworth. I wonder if a backing track would have been better.
Let’s Eat Grandma are going from strength to strength and deserve to be much bigger than they currently are. They have just written the soundtrack to the Netflix series The Bastard Son and The Devil Himself which is due to drop any day. This is one band I want to see again and again
Set List
Happy New Year
Falling Into Me
Hot Pink
Hall of Mirrors
Watching You Go
Deep Six Textbook
Two Ribbons
Give Me a Reason
I Really Want to Stay at Your House
Levitation
Encore:
Donnie Darko
