The rise and rise of The Last Dinner Party (2024)

It has become impossible to talk about The Last Dinner Party without phrases like “swift rise”, “rocketed to success”, or the endlessly boring and utterly incorrect “industry plant”. From the outside, it would have looked like when ‘Nothing Matters’ dropped in April 2023, this new band had appeared out of nowhere and was suddenly heralded as “the next big thing” with no basis. But for plenty of fans, they’d already clocked in hours of time with the band before then. What the conversation around the band routinely misses is the fact that their tireless schedule of live shows has meant that their rise has been right there on stage in front of us.

I’ve seen the band ten times. I’ve seen them in pubs and small venues, at festivals, even in an arena. I’ve now seen the band in every size, scale and type of show it’s possible to see an act in. Of those ten times, eight were before their debut album Prelude To Ecstacy dropped. Twice were before they’d released any single, once was even before they got their name, when they were originally called simply, The Dinner Party. From as early as the summer of 2022, I’ve followed the band, witnessing their growth in the most organic way possible.

It began in Hyde Park when a band clad in Victorian dresses walked onto the massive BST stage. They were first on and they were supporting The Rolling Stones. This is one of those gigs that people like to use against the band in claims that they’re frauds. Sure, not many bands can brag that they supported the Stones without a single song out. But even from my position at the back of the field, I thought, ‘Who are they?’ My memory of that support slot feels like witnessing a twinkling star right before the Big Bang.

From then on, I’ve watched the band grow. I’ll admit that I’ve also been through the waves of cynicism, wondering where on earth they came from. But having been in the crowd at so many shows, even the earliest ones put that to bed instantly. Tracking the growth of their crowds, the sound of their songs and the reaction of their fans, this is the rise and rise of the band, told through an oral history from the audience.

The rise of The Last Dinner Party through six gigs

15th March 2023 – The George Tavern, London

After their set with at Stones, The Last Dinner Party stayed as a fringe name on my radar. I saw them on festival posters or on gig guides as they continued playing around London, but never managed to see them. Then, in March, I got an email inviting me to the George Tavern to see the band’s showcase, boasting that this would be the last time the group were seen in a venue this small. On the way, I was cynical and bitter. I was thinking, ‘How do they know that? They could fail’. I was laughing at how the invite to a press-only show felt like a confirmation of the ‘industry plant’ label that’s always slapped onto exciting new acts fronted by women. But then, the second the band took to the age, I got it.

The thing with the industry plant label in connection to the band is that, actually, they’re proof that the record label system and the industry at large are still working well. Their powerhouse manager heard about them after a friend saw one of their early gigs, texting Tara Richardson to say, “I think I’ve just seen the next best band”. After attending a show herself, Richardson knew they were right and did anything she could to sign them.

When labels heard their demos and were invited to their shows, there was a bidding war over them. This isn’t sinister, it’s success. It’s proof that when an exciting and talented new act emerges, the system still moves to support them. At that gig in the pub, with memories of the band playing the heavy drop in ‘My Lady Of Mercy’ being burnt into my mind, I remember thinking, ‘If I was a manager or a label, I too would’ve done or spent anything to lock them in’.

11th May 2023 – The Great Escape Festival, Brighton

Flash forward a few months, and their team was right. The Last Dinner Party wouldn’t play a pub again because now they’re playing Chalk and there’s a queue down the street. The band didn’t just pack out the 850 capacity venue, they had to turn people away. I remember clearly that my group of friends essentially decided to set up camp there, abandoning our festival schedule to get into the place early, two or three bands early, because we knew if we didn’t, we wouldn’t get it.

“And just remember Nothing Matters”, Abigail Morris said before the band launched into the single that had by now made them stars. It’s a line that would stick with them, coming to define them as it heralds the final moment of their set where that one song proves exactly the kind of high-energy indie-pop finale that bands far more seasoned than them dream of. But even back here, with no other music out, they already had this distinct power as I found myself singing along to ‘My Lady Of Mercy’, somehow remembering the words and melody I’d only heard once before.

24th June 2023 – Glastonbury Festival, Woodsies Stage

Even Glastonbury had the same issue that The Great Escape did. For their debut at the festival, the Woodsies stage was heaving with people straining their necks from the outside, trying to catch a glimpse. It’s around this point that the crowd splits into two halves. On one hand, there are the fans that the band have been slowly gathering. In between Brighton and this, I caught the band once more in Oslo in Hackney, where a 375-capacity crowd already knew the words to unreleased songs like ‘Portrait Of A Dead Girl’ and was already yelling “Turn to the alter of lust” during ‘Sinner’.

People like that were there at Glastonbury, gathering at the front to twirl and dance to the songs they were desperate to have on Spotify. But on the other hand, there was a new crowd that stood with their arms crossed towards the back. Usually older, usually men, the launch of ‘Nothing Matters’ into the 6Music world had brought with it a vocal gaggle of critics keen to brush the band off.

Right as their huge Glastonbury set marked their launch into the mainstream world, bursting the bubble of niche fandom they’d been growing over the previous years, it also marked the start of the loud conversation about the origin of the group. That’s one thing to witness online, but I’d never witnessed it in real life before as the energy of their audience became undeniably weighted down by people coming to check them out, watching them like a freak show that they were determined to dislike and looking for any and all evidence that they were phonies. But by the time ‘Nothing Matters’ was over and the applause was done, my feelings were the same as ever; it’s impossible to see the band live and not be sold on them. My friend turned to me, blown away and keen to know more. She’d since been to see them three times.

15th December 2023 – Wembley Arena, supporting Hozier

From George Tavern to an arena in a year. It’s remarkable, so it’s easy to understand why people get suspicious or confused. The crux of the issue is that most new acts simply couldn’t pull it off. Of the other acts that are suddenly given rising star status, there is usually a moment where they falter when the rooms get too big too soon, and they realise they’re not quite equipped yet. We’re used to people who boom to success quickly failing. But as the band commanded the arena stage, it was clear that that wouldn’t happen here.

Picked up and placed in this huge scale space, they more than pulled it off as suddenly all the elements of the band grew and stretched out to suit it. Morris’ stage presence, which has always been captivating, became larger than life as she danced around the arena and laid herself down on the platform. The band’s harmonies proved capable of not just being impactful in a small room but hypnotising the masses as they still played ‘Gjuha’, their stunning Albanian interlude.

But it’s here that Emily Roberts, the band’s undeniable weapon, finally got the scale she deserves. As she stepped to the front of the stage to do the huge riffs in ‘Sinner’ or ‘Nothing Matters’ or kick her pedal to drop into the heavy rock chorus of ‘My Lady Of Mercy’, she alone makes a case for why the band will undoubtedly reach these heights with their own headline billing, reminiscent of Brian May but as a five-foot-something girl in a corset.

1st February 2024 – The Roundhouse, London

On the eve of their debut album release, The Last Dinner Party played their biggest headline show to date, and, strangely, it was the worst show of theirs I’ve seen. It had absolutely nothing to do with the band who played as stunning as ever and levelled up to new heights with the inclusion of an orchestra to celebrate their keyboard player, Aurora Nishevci, and the work she did composing the album.

The problem was the crowd. Suddenly, in a bigger space but still without the full album out, there was an odd stunting energy. By now, the fans who had been with them for a long time knew the words, but in a bigger room, the energy of them singing along was lost. Instead, it felt like an army of crossed arms as thousands flocked in for another night of trying to suss the band out, desperately not wanting to give in or understand the ‘hype’. While the band have only risen and risen, it’s been the people in their crowd who have been on an up-and-down journey, going through the motions of doubt and cynicism while the group stayed on course.

16th October 2024 – Eventim Apollo

Last night was the first time I’d seen the band at a headline show since their record was out. Their 2024 Glastonbury set was a triumph, proving once and for all that the group have hit the big time and made it mainstream. But it was this show that felt like a final celebration of years of climbing.

Everything came to fruition. With bigger budgets, the light show and staging provided the drama that songs like ‘My Lady Of Mercy’ have always deserved, coming along with from the flashing red lights of the George. Tracks beyond ‘Nothing Matters’ now get their flowers, as ‘On Your Side’ got the biggest singalong of the night. Finally, elements in their songs that were built for interaction and energy receive it. Gun fingers fly up in the air during ‘Portrait Of A Dead Girl’, copying the move Morris has done during the track since the start. “Turn to the altar of lust” is screamed by the whole room” along with “when I can’t talk back” during ‘Feminine Urge’. Finally, these moments that deserve crowd involvement have got it as their album, Prelude To Ecstacy, is out, all the hype was to be believed, and their audiences have settled into the perfect place of genuine engagement and love.

As the band treated the crowd to two new songs, the heavy rock of ‘Big Dog’ and country swagger or ‘The Killer’, it was clear that the next stage was in the pipeline. That’ll be the next challenge: attempting to continue or live up to the phenomenon their debut caused. But if ten shows have taught me anything, it’s that they have the talent to manage it as I’ve never once left a gig without goosebumps.

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