Well, it was a late decision to come to this tonight. I was going to review The Last Dinner Party at the University instead, but as a 52 year-old man on his own, I feared I may be arrested (that would have been hilariously topical a couple of weeks ago).
I jest of course, it was always going to be all about Benefits tonight, primarily as I feel as if they are being somewhat ignored and under-appreciated with their frighteningly real life, hate-filled but tuneful bile towards the island we are all stuck on, and the worst of the people that we are stuck here with. They are on the cusp of releasing album number two, following on from the success of last year’s debut, one of my albums of the year, Nails, which served as a hard hitting review of the nation (spoiler: it was a 0 out of 10 from them).
It’s a stormy Saturday night as we spin in and out of stag and hen do’s and moody lads’ nights out as we wend our way towards The Shipping Forecast, the basement of which is tonight’s place of worship to the church of noise.
A pleasant surprise earlier in the week was the choice of support band in the form of Lynskey, who were one of my tip-for-the-tops for 2024 and, according to their socials, they have now got gigs far and wide as well as a recently released single, so I feel as if I won’t have very long to wait before my confidence in them is to be proved correct.
Lynskey appear at 8:10, and are feeling anxious after encountering some technical drum-based difficulties throughout the day. They deal with this situation by organising the crowd individual by individual, requesting each member to come a little bit closer. They then proceed to take their nerves out on their instruments with a tremendous two-piece, half-hour blitz.
They play with the freedom allowed them as a support, the witticisms from front-person B have well and truly got the crowd on their side. They have a naivety and charm to them with a complete lack of cynicism which hopefully they won’t lose as time goes on.
There’s songs about being the victim of a hate crime (‘m-m-m-Metal’) and a love of the actor Keanu Reeves (‘Keanu’), although they seem far too young to have a song about going into a room and then forgetting what you’ve gone in for (‘You Got The Scatterbrain Perk!‘). The guitars are all over the shop (in a pleasing way), the drumming from Saul is absolutely immense and it’s a hell of a racket (once again pleasingly). They end by thanking everyone from the people who watch support bands, Benefits, the venue staff and the promoter, before explaining how they would have to sell three T-shirts and a bag just to break even (which they did manage to do) due to the drum kit troubles (the perils of a new band) before their customary thrashing set closer ‘DUB me into my Estate Agent’. Give them your time, they are a joy.
“What will I be required to hate today” sings Kingsley, of the now two-piece Benefits on opener ‘Constant Noise‘, an ominously haunting start to the set. The answer over the next 70 minutes is “pretty much everything”.
Their latest single, the 6 Music endorsed ‘Land Of The Tyrants’ and previous release ‘Warhorse’ follow before we get into the heart of the new material that makes up the bulk of tonight’s proceedings. And what a heart it has.
(*Apologies, if the new song titles are in some way incorrect; they weren’t announced so coining them from a written setlist I saw.)
‘Missiles‘ is absolutely stunning, in a sad, shameful way, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crowd captivated by a new song in such a way before, a respectful silence is not the norm anymore at gigs these days sadly, but when required tonight it was there. “We applaud ourselves, we laugh, we cheer.” This is on a different level both lyrically and musically to Nails, there’s something of a maturing of the sound with the two-piece set up suiting them far more than a ‘normal’ band set up did. The dynamic works beautifully, especially when it incorporates a violin as well.
There’s some older songs smattered throughout – early single ‘Divide And Be Conquered’ and a crowd-pleasing ‘Flag’ – but it’s the new ones that really catch the ear. ‘Relentless’ sounds almost like The Streets. Kingsley declares an unexpected interest in going on I’m A Celebrity, before regaling us with the fact that they can now stay at fancy Premier Inns rather than Travelodges due to them now only being a duo, “basically we are the Last Dinner Party…more like the last dinner ladies”.
The new songs are that new that he is still reading the words off cue cards, but throughout you can sense the upping of levels. There’s singing where there was shouting and to use an IDLES-based analogy, it appears that they have gone straight from their Brutalism to their Tangk. The change in tone feels significant. Liverpool crowds are not usually known for their love of new material but there are cries for more and more of it tonight.
Speaking of Liverpool, towards the end Kingsley admits that he feels his bands have “never connected with Liverpool” so he’s grateful for the people that have shown up, and as someone from here that makes me feel kinda sad.
But it’s true, we never get the bands we deserve, and they never get the crowds they deserve. We only settle for political messages through music if it’s a simplified “F**k The Tories” shouted by a crowd full of people who are only at gigs so they can put it on their Insta, as long as it’s being peddled by some scally with bad hair and an acoustic, or some one-hit wonder poshos, (yes, the Uni was sold out tonight). They don’t seem to be able to cope with the emotions of what they would have witnessed tonight. The encore alone of ‘S*** Britain’ and ‘Taking Us Back’ would be more than they can handle and makes the 50 or so there tonight the lucky ones, the connected ones.
But I digress.
I’m calling it already, album number two WILL be one of the records of 2025. A special evening.
