Live Review: L.S. Dunes - Electric Ballroom, London 28/01/2023
L.S.Dunes descended on an electrified Camden on Saturday Night to finally grace the English capital with their Past Lives, with support from Kayleigh Goldsworthy.
The ridiculously packed-out queue waiting to charge the venue gave the impression that London in general just belonged to L.S. Dunes. And, as the throngs of people, some of whom had seen them in Glasgow the night prior before flying down to London and starting the queue at 7am, stormed in, their speedy thuds sounded like thunderclaps in their desperate attempt to get as close to the band of the hour as possible. It would be easy to suggest that the stupidly talented group — made up of Anthony Green, Frank Iero, Travis Stever, Tim Payne and Tucker Rule — only had such devotion because of their ‘main’ musical pursuits. Not too large an assumption perhaps — reports of Gerard Way attending an early show in America to support his bandmate and being swarmed, mobbed in overly excited zealotry, lends a bit of credence; you can say a lot about music fans, particularly My Chemical Romance fans, but a lack of passion sure ain’t one of them — but to say L.S. Dunes themselves haven’t earned it would be hasty at best. Past Lives, the band’s debut album which was released back in November of last year, is fantastic. But, at least for this writer, they could have stopped at just the lead single, Permanent Rebellion, and had the same effect. Permanent Rebellion is a stunner — but more on that later.
With main support No Devotion dropping out last minute — leading to their Cardiff gig at Clwb Ifor Bach having its tickets refunded, before a free event with Geoff Rickly on his own and Himalayas supporting invited everyone to make the best of it — there were only two bands playing tonight: and first up was Kayleigh Goldsworthy.
Bedecked in a sparkly top, practically a mirror ball in human form before the spotlights illuminated the stage, Kayleigh, at first, felt a little… jarring. Beautiful acoustic melodies surrounded the now fully rammed venue — which were a tad bit different to L.S. Dunes— and Kayleigh was well-aware of it, laughing and smiling good-naturedly. ‘As you can tell, I’m a quieter person than the band you’re about to see — let’s just get that elephant out of the way now!’ Having been the support for all the USA shows already, it was obvious that there must have been something magical about her to secure such a prestigious spot — and it didn’t take long to find out what it was.
With a large swathe of the crowd seeming already acquainted with the smiley singer-songwriter, the solo set seemed to take on an incredible sense of intimacy; stories and jokes interspersed themselves between passionate, personal stories of toxic relationships (‘Boomerang’), breakups (‘You’re Good’), and trying to figure out your own worth (‘Overambitious’). And Kayleigh seemed almost desperate to cling onto that intimacy, informing everyone that we were her friends now:
‘I’m the only one on stage’, she told us, ‘so it makes me feel a lot better — and a lot less scared shitless!’
Her songs, while flitting between a quiet, hopeful pop punk sound and an even quieter, heart-breaking acoustic one (Little Ghost especially!), were all mesmerising. No matter how far removed from her experiences you might be, no matter how distant, they might as well have happened to you — so tinged they were with a sort of wounded yet wistful nostalgia. And, as much as you could hear the emotion in her voice, perhaps a slight wetness to her eyes, her melodies were beautiful things. Although it might not have been true for the back half of the venue, the hundreds arrayed in front were practically holding their breaths in anticipation, barring the occasional ‘WE LOVE YOU’ thrown up, so entranced were they by the solitary figure on stage.
Well, mostly solitary. For, as the set began to end, there was one final little surprise. With some members of the audience preemptively bawling, feeling woefully unprepared for what was happening, (the majority of) L.S. Dunes joined Kayleigh on stage for her final song, Overanxious. The sadness turned to anger, the despair turned to determination, and the set ended with a bang — many bangs, in Tucker’s case! A fantastic opener, a wonderful performance, and too short a set from someone bound to make waves.
With only one support to pave the way, it was just a short wait until London finally got their showing of Past Lives. There was a tangible thickness to the air; a heady mix of nervousness, excitement, and just a dash of panic for good measure pervaded the room, smothering a crowd coated liberally in face paint, tattoos, eyeliner, and anything else that helped mark them as members of the scene. The whole room had a sense of community, of belonging, yet at the same time felt like a seething powder keg about to erupt. And, as Tucker took to the stage solo, smashing the drums with all the night he could muster, the latter was proven right; half of the room immediately transformed into a writhing mass of bodies, sparking off of one another, while the other half became people fighting for better angles either ready to scream along to Anthony Green’s distinct vocals or to get highlights for social media, as the opening to Bombsquad rang out. With the rest of the band joining him on stage, including this time the indelible Anthony Green, L.S. Dunes had finally arrived in full — if the swooning, swearing, shrieking and crying hadn’t clued you in already. “All you see is make believe”, we’re told; a pretty incredible fever dream if so.
‘Fuckin’ God Damn’, Green drawled, chucklingly, when those first four manic minutes had faded to a close and he could finally take a breath. With a sardonic grin plastered across his face, swaggering around the stage like he owned it — which, in fairness, he might as well have given the devotion of their fans — the charisma rolling off the stage felt simply surreal. Five pretty damn iconic musicians in the relatively tiny Electric Ballroom. Yet, launching straight into Like Forever, there was no time to revel — only to rebel. The explosive Like Forever immediately set the crowd alight, before fan favourite Grey Veins got its London debut, emotional angst flirting dubiously with an ear worm of a chorus and just a hint of tongue-in-cheek jubilance. It also saw Frank Iero’s first moments of supporting vocals, much to the adoration of the room.
Already over a quarter of the way through the set, It Takes Time took over the next few minutes of the set, Anthony Green’s pitched vocals practically fracturing in the chorus, almost managing to drown out the thousands of voices screaming right there with him, while the forebodingly Blender saw a delightfully delicate edge to the piercing guitars and headbanging hedonism; Travis Stever in particular seemed to relish the notes of prog metal sprinkled throughout.
Then it was the midpoint of the set; and, as our instructions came through loud and clear — ‘go fucking crazy’, we’re told, practically a call to arms — the afore mentioned Permanent Rebellion began. Not even a stoppage midway through the first verse — ‘I want you to go fucking crazy but simultaneously take care of each other’, Green amends, to a chorus of cheers — could damper the track. The four members not glued behind a drum kit prowled forward, dressed in various greys and blacks, while a crazed cacophony of sound and fury blitzed around the room, echoed on the lips of thousands of snarling, gasping, and adoring packs of people. Basically, it’s both a crazy-good song and a crazy-crazy song, and it goes hard live.
Yet, somehow, it wasn’t the craziest part of the night. That dubious honour belongs to Anthony Green, or more specifically his reflexes. Mister Miyagi himself would have been proud at the sharp catches and firm grasps that the lead singer snatched from the sky, ranging from T-Shirts and flags to ‘PG Tits’, the misheard mascot invoking a chant of his own!
As the insidious Antibodies flew past, and we were gifted with the sonic grandeur of Grifter, it became depressingly clear that the night was already beginning to draw to a close. First, though, was the title track Past Lives. As fans fought over Frank’s hastily thrown picks, and the harried security flocked to the front to try and carry crowd-surfers to safety, the band’s celebration of their pasts, presents, and futures immersed the hall before building to a final crescendo, greeted by cheers as the band took their leave, and finally… silence.
For about ten seconds, anyway, before the demanding cries of ‘encore’ filled the room. The album still had two songs left, after all — and first up, the band triumphantly taking the stage once more, came 2022.
The opener to Past Lives, 2022 began its life as a somewhat soulful ballad from Anthony Green’s solo album — not that you’d know, of course, with Frank and Travis’s roaring rhythms, Tucker’s thunderous thrashing, and Tim’s honed bass riffs collided behind it. The final few hoarse screams rising from Anthony really helped cement the song’s L.S. Dunes-iness, and just in time too, as the finale approached.
Inviting Kayleigh back on stage to play the violin, it was time for the bizarre brilliance of … Sleep Cult. With the now six-some serenading the crowd, the ‘50s style album closer bespoke a need to help gently bring the night to an end: the supposed halcyon days of old were juxtaposed seamlessly with a very modern sounding nihilism — Green apologising that he wishes he was dead — resulting in a macabre musicality that perfectly rounded off the set. Green’s vocals might not lend themselves directly to ballads, but, accompanied as they were by the magical musicianship of the fivesome behind him, they were just right.
The band had only eleven songs they could play for us that night, but they played them ridiculously well, masterful maestros conducting the energy of everyone in the room. Of note, however, was the wording. As Anthony Green said himself, they only had eleven songs they could play for us — not that they only had eleven songs in total. With the band previously rejecting the term ‘supergroup’, or ‘side project’, it’s obvious that the band aren’t in it for the short haul. There’s more to come, and I’m sure I can speak for countless thousands that that’s an exciting prospect indeed.
Words by James O’Sullivan
Photography by Kevin O’Sullivan
