[ATTENDED: November 2, 2022] Let’s Eat Grandma
I first heard about Let’s Eat Grandma back in 2016 from NPR music. They had put out an album, I, Gemini that was weird and quirky, the creation of two weird and quirky girls–Rosa Walton (r, on the poster) and Jenny Hollingworth. The album was really bizarre–strange music and spoken/shouted lyrics in thick Norwich accents.
I really wanted to see this concoction live, but they were quite young at the time and didn’t come over to the States until 2018. Their 2018 album, I’m All Ears had a very different sound (more synthy and dancey, but still quirky). The song “Hot Pink” from that album is about as weird as a catchy pop song can be.
Then in 2022 they put out Two Ribbons. They had a series of personal crises in this time and it feels like a lot of the quirkiness was bashed out of them. This makes the new album poppier and a lot mre accessible but to me a bit less interesting.
I read a review of their live show to make sure I still want to go, and it did make me want to go. But I couldn’t help feel that there was something a little flat about the whole thing.
Their new single “Happy New Year” is an exuberant anthem (with very sad lyrics) but while Rosa Walton was bouncy and joyful, Jenny Hollingworth was just another musician in the band (the other two were never introduced, so I don’t know who played with them).
“Falling Into Me” has the two singers complementing each other very nicely. It was followed by “Hot Pink” which made the crowd go nuts (understandably). And the band seemed to perk up a bit with the reaction.
Rosa and Jenny did a few synchronized dances and moves–waving their eyes in synch and smiling at each other. At some point they did a bouncing macarena.
For “Hall of Mirrors” Jenny sang lead (the newest album has more individual lead singers as opposed to their earlier music where they more or less sang together). She also sang “Watching You Go” and I was really impressed by her vocal range. She also seemed to really come out of her shell once she was away from the keyboard.
“Deep Six Textbook” was the only song from their debut. Walton played glockenspiel and Hollingworth played a moody, effects-filled sax solo.
Then after a taped loop of “Half Light,” the tone of the set shifted a bit. Walton more or less played guitar for the rest of the set. “Two Ribbons” is a slower, pretty song that starts with just guitar. They followed it with the bonus song from their new album, the Jenny sung “Give Me a Reason.” Jenny exploded to life in this song. She engaged with the audience and even came up to the fence and sang into the crowd.
They shifted gears somewhat to Watson’s “I Really Want to Stay at Your House” which received a huge response (it is a big song in the Netflix series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners).
They ended the set with “Levitation” which brought the mood up once again. It’s a massively infectious pop hit with great vocals from both Rosa and Jenny.
Then the left, It had been about an hour, maybe less.
They came back for an encore which was Donnie Darko. I didn’t know this song, nor id a i know that it was 11 minutes long. It has multiple parts and the duo started the song while lying on the stage. They had a lot of fun during this song and, during the dancey middle part, Jenny even came out into the crowd to dance with a few of the big singalongers.
They certainly ended on a high note, but I found that an hour and change was plenty of time for me to appreciate them.
[tape] In the Cemetery
- Happy New Year §
- Falling Into Me ∞
- Hot Pink ∞
- Hall of Mirrors §
- Watching You Go §
- Deep Six Textbook Ø
[tape] Half Light § - Two Ribbons §
- Give Me a Reason §+
- I Really Want to Stay at Your House (Rosa Walton cover)
- Levitation §
encore - Donnie Darko ∞
§ Two Ribbons (2022) +(bonus track)
∞ I’m All Ears (2018)
Ø I, Gemini (2016)
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