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The Last Dinner Party (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, April 15, 2026)

Posted in Florence Road, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, The Last Dinner Party on April 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[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. (more…)

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Florence Road (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, April 15. 2026) [THE LAST DINNER PARTY]

Posted in Florence Road, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, The Last Dinner Party on April 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 15, 2026] Florence Road

Florence Road is a band from Bray, County Wicklow in Ireland.  I had listened to one song before this show and it must have been Rabbits Can Swim, because I thought that they were a pretty but mellow indie rock band.

They came out on stage right around 8: lead singer and guitarist Lily Aron, guitarist Emma Brandon, bassist Ailbhe Barry, and drummer Hannah Kelly.  And they proceeded to blow our hair off.  They opened with None the Wiser.  Aron’s voice is really powerful.  My wife, who normally doesn’t even really pay attention to the opening band remarked at how strong her voice was.  And the band kept up with her–they rocked hard and were really impressive.  It was also interesting that they just put out their second EP (Spring Forward) but this opening song wasn’t on it–it’s new.

There were a lot of people there who knew the band (apparently) but they won the entire crowd over by the end of the song.  The next song Miss was a bit quieter, but Aron’s voice still soared around the room.  By the time of Storm Warning  which had some really cool staccato power chords near the end, they could do no wrong.  Heavy continued with more loud guitars and then switched to a pretty, quiet ending with drummer Kelly on piano.

They stayed quiet for Rabbits with Barry on acoustic guitar.  Hanging Out to Dry was a mid tempo song showing that they can do it all.  They followed it with another new song 7563–no idea what that means, but it was fun hearing them sing that chorus at the end.  That brought the tempo back up.  And then someone in the audience shouted for Break the Girl, which seems to be one of their dancier songs.

They ended the set with the aptly named Goodnight.

Aron and Emma Brandon were both funny when they chatted to us.  They told us it was their first time in Philly and I have to assume it won’t be their last.  They made a ton of new fans tonight.

2025
None the Wiser §
Miss ⇒
Storm Warnings ⇒
Heavy ♣
Rabbits Can Swim ⇒
Hanging Out to Dry ⇒
7563 §
Break the Girl  ♣
Goodnight  ♣

§ single (2026)
⇒ Spring Forward EP (2026)
♣ Fall Back EP (2025)

 

 

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Noah Kahan–All Things Go Music Festival [Day 1] (Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD, September 26, 2025)

Posted in All Things Go, Caroline Kingsbury, Columbia, MD, Joy Oladukin, Lucius, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Noah Kahan, Sharon Van Etten, Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory, Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory, Sunday (1984), The Beaches, The Last Dinner Party, The Marías on September 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 26, 2025] Noah Kahan–All Things Go [Day 1]

Noah Kahan was the headliner for Friday night.

I know that I exist in a musical world that is all of my own so I didn’t know Noah at all.  I was aware of his song Stick Season because my daughter played it for me, but it seemed like he was basically a folk singer.  So I guess I don’t understand kids these days.

Anyhow, I was surprised that he would be the headliner, but clearly no one else was.

But I was pretty happy that it wasn’t just him and a mandolin.  He had a full band and they rocked much harder than I thought they would.  Although it was pretty fascinating to hear the crowd react so powerfully to a dude with a mandolin.

But he had a full band and they harmonized really nicely.  He also seemed genuinely funny and nice.  (I’m Noah Kahan and I’m here to ruin your evening). (more…)

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The Last Dinner Party–All Things Go Music Festival [Day 1] (Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD, September 26, 2025)

Posted in All Things Go, Caroline Kingsbury, Columbia, MD, Joy Oladukin, Lucius, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Noah Kahan, Sharon Van Etten, Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory, Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory, Sunday (1984), The Beaches, The Last Dinner Party, The Marías on September 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 26, 2025] The Last Dinner Party-All Things Go [Day 1]

I was most excited to see The Last Dinner Party. They had only played Philly once but I had tickets to another show that night.  Ugh.  So this was my first time seeing them.  And they were terrific.

The opening strains of Prelude to Ecstasy played over the speakers as they came out on stage.  The five women up front filled the whole stage–keys (Aurora Nishevci) , guitar (Emily Roberts), vocals (Abigail Morris), guitar (Lizzie Mayland), bass (Georgia Davies) with their drummer back on the riser.

They opened with Burn Alive and it was cool to hear these songs come to life.  The problem for me was that the woman next to me felt compelled to scream every single word.

The empowering anthem Caesar on a TV Screen came next and Aurora played keytar which was fun to see.  She rocked out next to Emily–who plays some phenomenal solos.

Count the Ways played live for the first time 2 nights ago in New York City. Abigail  went over to acknowledge the ASL interpreter and to thank them–she said they didn’t know they had one.

Abigail introduced the next song as being from the first record and you might know it.  And Lizzie said no you won’t this is from the new record.  Abigail laughed “I don’t know my own setlist.”

Second Best opens with gorgeous acapella harmonies from all of them.  It’s a great song, continuing their streak of great songs.  And of course since they were new, the woman next to me couldn’t sing them.

On Your Side has some really gorgeous quiet moments that showcases how great their voices are.

Aurora sang Gjuha next after giving a brief introduction about it (it’s about her relationship with her mother tongue).  Everyone sang backing vocals and Emily played the mandolin–absolutely lovely.  And it segued right into the rocking Sinner.   It was really fun to see Abigail dancing around the stage with abandon. Lizzie sings some lead vocals on this song too, which I didn’t realize.

Then came another new one Agnus Dei.  Which Abigail introduced as “This is a song about a boy–ew!”

After a moment with a QR code to donate to Palestine, Abigail said she was really sorry for what was happening on our country and it was not a time to be scared–letting us really know how the rest of the world sees us right now.

Aurora started playing the piano up on the riser and as Abigail walked up the risers and as they started the next song Aurora gasped and stopped playing–she was attacked by a huge moth. Everyone laughed–“you guys have some massive bugs here.”

They returned to Portrait of a Dead Girl which builds to some great sing alongs–over and over again as well as the really fun “give me the strength.”

I didn’t realize that the band doesn’t have a drummer.  They use session drummers for tour (wonder why).  For this show they had Victoria Smith who was great–she totally rocks. (more…)

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All Things Go Music Festival [Day 1] (Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD, September 26, 2025)

Posted in All Things Go, Caroline Kingsbury, Columbia, MD, Joy Oladukin, Lucius, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Noah Kahan, Sharon Van Etten, Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory, Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory, Sunday (1984), The Beaches, The Last Dinner Party, The Marías on September 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 26, 2025] All Things Go [Day 1]

My daughter and I went to All Things Go in 2023 and had a great time.  We didn’t go last year, but this year we decided to go again–for all three days (last time it was two).

The first day was a Friday and my daughter had a half day of school.  So we left after classes and got to MD in pretty decent time.  The early shows on Friday were great and I would have loved to see Lucius (having just seen them) and Sharon Van Etten (having seen them a few weeks earlier), but it was fine that we arrived too late for them.  But my huge YES was for The Last Dinner Party, a band I could have seen when they played Johnny Brenda’s but my wife and I had gone to a meh show elsewhere that not instead.  So I really wanted to see them!

We arrived, got good ADA parking (phew) and used our fast pass entry (yay).  We could hear The Beaches playing and they sounded great.  My daughter went for food and I grabbed a seat as we watched a video of The Marías playing. I was a little bummed we didn’t see them (although I hadn’t heard of them at all before this) because their set sounded really good.

In a bizarre coincidence, we ran into my niece/her cousin while getting food.  It was great to see her (she lives in DC).  She was really looking forward to seeing Noah Kahan.  Then we parted–thought we might see her at Noah but we didn’t.

Then we headed down to the Chrysalis Stage (which was pretty packed) in time to see The Last Dinner Party.  My daughter and I have different wants at a show.  I like to be really close and she is cool hanging out and letting the music wash over her.

So I snuck down as far as I could and enjoyed TLDP very very much.  I even got a photo of the setlist. (more…)

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The Last Dinner Party / Mothermary (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, November 4, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Mothermary, Philadelphia, PA, The Last Dinner Party on November 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: November 4, 2023] The Last Dinner Party / Mothermary

I heard about The Last Dinner Party a few weeks ago.  Right around when I found out they were doing a very short US Tour and Philly was one of the places.

I was intrigued by their gimmick, but also by their music.  And I snagged a ticket even though I knew we had tickets to see The Head and the Heart. I figured this would sell out and I’d rather not be able to go because I had something else to do than not be able to go because it was sold out.

So what is this band about?  Well, they dress as you see here, and they play a kind of “art-rock bombast” with a “distinctive baroque-pop sound and look.”  Lead singer Abigail Morris sings in a very aristocratic way with very long vowels.

And they dress up.  Often in corsetry and baroque outfits.

Because, yes, they are all university students.  And there are few things more fun than British University students starting a band. (more…)

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