On a cool spring evening in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, the Lido’s modest stage hosted one of those gigs that stays with you long after the amps cool. By the time Rosalie Cunningham strode on, she exuded the kind of effortless command that prompts people to lean forward – a rock star who knows it, making eye contact with individuals in the crowd.

The 2024 album To Shoot Another Day, released 1 November 2024 , is renowned for its lush, cinematic production, complete with honky‑tonk piano, saxophone and even xylophone . Live, those ornate textures were transformed into something earthier and more muscular. The band pushed the songs into heavier, psychedelic territory, leaning into 70s‑style grooves that turned the record’s whimsical flourishes into extended jams.

What surprised most was how cohesive the set felt despite drawing from across Cunningham’s catalogue. New material sat seamlessly alongside older solo work and even a few hard‑hitting nods to her previous band, with no jarring shifts in tone. Tracks known for their progressive arrangements were stretched into free‑flowing rockers; the subtle humour that suffuses her lyrics was present but there was little in the way of chatty banter – everything was channelled through the music itself.

Lido’s laid‑back yet attentive crowd and warm acoustics made it easy to sink into those grooves, and the lack of showy stagecraft only heightened the sense of being in a room with a group of musicians pushing each other to new heights. Leaving the venue, it was hard not to feel that Cunningham’s songs truly come alive on stage. The precision and polish of the studio recordings are impressive, but in Berlin the raw power of her presence and the heft of a great band elevated them into something transcendent.