I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: April 15, 2026] The Last Dinner Party

The Last Dinner Party played Johnny Brenda’s in Philly back in 2023 and I really wanted to go.  But we had tickets to another show so I missed out. It’s amusing that they mentioned that show at this show and how they hadn’t been back since then (yes, we know).  I’m still bummed that I missed that one, but my daughter and I did get to see them at All Things Go and tonight, my daughter and my wife joined me for this much much bigger show.  (To go from Johnny Brenda’s to Franklin Music Hall is a huge leap).

The stage was set up simply but with a cool look–fabric draped all along the back wall and a mobile of birds high above the stage.  At one point the mobile spun and the birds, which were reflective, shone lighted birds across the black of the stage–very cool looking.

So The Last Dinner Party is slightly gimmicky with the way dress, but it does look very cool and they transcend that look with fantastic songs and a great stage presence.  And indeed, this was one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time.  They didn’t do anything especially fancy, but their engagement with the audience, their presence and their sheer kickassery was phenomenal.  I loved them at All Things Go but this show was even better.

The opening strains of Walking Into the Pyre played over the speakers as they came out on stage.  The four women filled the front of the stage–keys (Aurora Nishevci), lead guitar, mandolin and flute! (Emily Roberts), vocals (Abigail Morris) and guitar (Lizzie Mayland).  Something was amiss though as their bassist was clearly not Georgia Davies.  Well, it turned out that Georgia hurt her back and was being attended to by a doctor.  She would be heading back to England shortly.  In her stead was Max Lilley who is their bass tech (he’s in a band called Slow Team as well).

They have always had a rotating touring drummer.  I think his leg of the tour it’s Davo–he off in the back, essential but not prominent.

They started with Agnus Dei and won the crowd over immediately (as if we weren’t won over before they started).  It was a great opening bunch of songs with Count the Ways followed by three songs from their debut: The Feminine Urge (one of my favorites) Caesar on a TV Screen (which has some great powerful moments and the emotional On Your Side (which was dedicated to Georgia).  Some fans threw a signed card for Georgia on the stage and Abigail showed it to the crowd.  It was a very sweet moment.

Abigail is a very engaging front woman.  She is very theatrical.  She joked about art school and about taking dance lessons.  I’m not sure if any of that is true, but she absolutely knows how to command an audience.  She walked all over the stage, getting close to both sides of the stage.  When not singing, she would swan about the stage–giving us something to look at but not detracting from the guitar solo or whatever else was going on.

The theatricality does not stop with Abigail as the four (usually five) of them stood facing each other for the gorgeous harmonies of Second Best.  It’s truly phenomenal who great their voices are both individually and in harmony.  I love the way that a capella opening segues into a nice guitar rocker–and yes, Abigail can hit the high notes.

Although Abigail is the main lead singer, Aurora takes lead on a few songs and her voice is really impressive too.  She sang I Hold Your Anger from the grand piano at the back of the stage then took the center of the stage to finish.  There were more great harmonies at the beginning of Woman is a Tree as they each sang the ahhhh’s to open the song.  If I had any complaint about the setlist its that these three songs which are kind of slow (and are not “familiar” are put together in a kind of mellow middle section.  For this song was followed by Aurora’s “Gjuha,” a gorgeous song sung in Albanian.  Before the song she told us how much  the song meant to her as a tribute to her Albanian heritage and the immigrant experience as a whole.  It’s a lovely song and I enjoyed quite a lot that it was extended with Emily’s Mandolin playing.  But I feel like they could have put one of the more familiar songs in the middle of this block.

Because it was followed by Rifle, a fantastic song that also starts very slow.  But it builds wonderfully.  Sung by Lizzie Mayland and what a voice she has too!  The middle of the song builds wonderfully with the killer backing vocals.  I’d say maybe even switch this and Gjuha to keep the middle from being too mellow.

Around this time Abigail started chatting to us and then someone up front needed water (it was really hot in there).  What was really weird was that it seemed to cause a surge of people passing out.  A woman right in front of us passed out and another woman on the other side of the crowd also passed out.  All around the same time.  It was weird.   I remembered a similar thing happened at the Earl Sweatshirt show and he jokes that people in Philly need to eat some granola bars.  Clearly they still do.  But the band were gracious and were full of patience and concern, encouraging the crowd to take care of themselves and reassuring them that they don’t mind the interruptions as long as everyone gets the help they need.

After Rifle they ratcheted up the rock with their old song Big Dog, a Led Zeppelinesque banger that isn’t on a record.  It doesn’t really sound like them, but the sentiment is great, and it’s fun to rock out with them.

The followed up with The Scythe, which everyone happily sang along to.  A woman behind me was singing a long very loudly through most of the show.  And here’s the thing.  I get wanting to sing along an be a part of the experience, but if you are singing so loudly that I can hear you, surely you can’t hear the band.  I mean, don’t you want to hear the band you came to see?  I guess not.  Of course when the band asks you to sing along, of course you should–join the chorus, but you don’t need to sing every word surely.

For Sail Away, Abigail sat at the front of the stage while Aurora played the pretty piano part (and the mobile spun up above).  It’s a gorgeous song and Abigail’s voice is lovely (as were the backing vocals toward the end).  Then came the end of the set, with a killer version of Sinner and My Lady of Mercy.  Things slowed a bit with Inferno, but it builds very nicely to a fun ending moment.

Abigail told us that this was the first show after a week or so off and she constantly raved about the Philly audience’s excitement and volume.  I find that a lot of bands seem to really like Philly.  And while it’s likely that they say kind things about all of the cities, she told us that she doesn’t say that about all of the cities.  And I guess as proof they played us a song that they hadn’t played live in America before (and checking the next few dates, they haven’t played it since).  It was the new song from War Child Records’ HELP(2) charity album.  I have the first HELP CD from jeez, 1995!  It’s a great compilation and so is Help2.  I hadn’t heard  “Let’s Do It Again!” and it was a ton of fun.  Bouncy, kind of unlike anything else they’ve done but very LDP with lead vocal opportunities for nearly everyone.

I was a little worried that with the medical pauses and now this extra song that they might cut something.  But how could they possible cut Nothing Matters?  It was a ton of fun at All Things Go and it was even more fun here with the crowd going nuts during the chorus.

They left for an encore break and the crowd never let up.  I actually had to cover my ears it was so loud.  But they soon came back out, marching in the wonderful way they do for This is The Killer Speaking.  The crowd happily sang the “ahhh” part and the rest of the chorus.  By the time Abigail had jumped down to the crowd and while she didn’t surf, she did get right up to the edge of the barrier.  Before the short, quiet middle part of the song, Abigail taught us the proper way to dance to Killer–she showed us the leg and arm moves and had a grand time up there.  She had also asked us if Aurora she get a belly button ring and since we all loudly agreed that she should, we’ll have to see if she does.  After learning the dance moved, we all sang the chorus a few times before they wrapped things up with a reprise of Angus Dei.

It was a such a glorious and celebratory show.  She promised that they’d be back to Philly and I sure hope they come back.  I’ll definitely be there.

 

2026	2025
Walking Into the Pyre [TAPE] ¶	Prelude to Ecstasy [TAPE] ¶
Agnus Dei ψ	Burn Alive ¶
Count the Ways ψ	Caesar on a TV Screen ¶
The Feminine Urge ¶	Count the Ways ψ
Caesar on a TV Screen ¶	Second Best ψ
On Your Side ¶	On Your Side ¶
Second Best ψ	Gjuha ¶
I Hold Your Anger ψ	Sinner ¶
Woman is a Tree ψ	Agnus Dei ψ
Gjuha ¶	Portrait of a Dead Girl ¶
Rifle  ψ	The Feminine Urge ¶
Big Dog Ø	My Lady of Mercy ¶
The Scythe ψ	Big Dog Ø
Sail Away ψ	Mirror ¶
Sinner ¶	The Scythe ψ
My Lady of Mercy ¶	This is the Killer Speaking ψ
Inferno ψ	Nothing Matters ¶
Let’s Do It Again ∀ (live debut in America)
Nothing Matters ¶
encore
This is the Killer Speaking ψ
Agnus Dei (reprise) ψ

 

∀ Help 2 compilation (2026)
ψ From the Pyre (2025) [played whole album]
¶ Prelude to Ecstasy (2024) [did not play Burn Alive, Portrait of a Dead Girl, Mirror, Beautiful Boy, ]
Ø unreleased (2023)