NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
You might have heard about The Last Dinner Party . . . ok, there’s probably no way you haven’t heard about them already. They are the hottest indie band right now and, yes, I’ve also heard the complaints. They’re an industry plant, living off their rich parents, and pretentious as hell. But they write their own music unlike 90% of mainstream pop artists so who are the true industry plants? The hype, both positive and negative, has propelled the band to the forefront of indie pop with their hit single “Nothing Matters” and their debut studio album “Prelude to Ecstasy” reached number one on the UK charts! In addition, their 2024 North American tour was sold out five months before it was set to kick off!! Many dates on their UK tour later this year are also already sold out. Much like Wet Leg from the last couple of years, there’s something about these two bands that don’t expose a lot of skin but are strong and sexual nonetheless. Perhaps it’s a female frontman slapping you upside the head through their lyrics that appeals to the masses! The Last Dinner Party’s baroque styling also seems to speak to fans of all ages, many of whom dressed up in flowing dresses, bustiers, and flower crowns to the show! It was sure to be an interesting night!
Opening for The Last Dinner Party was Miss Grit (aka Margaret Sohn), an indie artist from New York City. We last saw her opening for Nation of Language last December at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto. She unique way of managing the lighting using geometric shapes leads the audience to both marvel at the lights to understand what they’re seeing and close their eyes to focus on the music. After her set, I overheard somone say that they were too far back and couldn’t see the opening act. I think he missed the point. The music itself has a very futuristic vibe and her guitar solos elicited the biggest cheers from the capacity crowd. As I said last December, check out this wonderful artist if you can.
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I’m not even sure what to say about The Last Dinner Party’s set. Bands like this are the reason we need live music. While “Prelude to Ecstasy” is a wonderful record, it’s doesn’t come near to projecting the feeling and energy of their live performance. Lead vocalist Abigail Morris is such an amazing frontman, bounding all over the stage engaging directly with fans, and dazzling us with her dancing and twirling. She literally (ok, not really literally) held the crowd in the palm of her hand!
The other band members (all in interesting garb) Emily Roberts (guitar/flute), Lizzie Mayland (guitar), Georgia Davies (bass), and Aurora Nishevci (keyboards/keytar) had a great time jamming together. The drummer for this part of the tour was Daiana Azar and she was phenomenal! Since they only have one record out, their set was much too short. They did include a nice cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” The crowd was pretty much singing and dancing the whole show, obviously having a great time! I’ll leave it at that and let the photos do the talking.
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