The Last Dinner Party at First Avenue, Minneapolis (04 April 2024)

 

One of the hottest bands around is London’s all-girls group The Last Dinner Party, featuring singer Abigail Morris, guitarist Lizzie Mayland, lead guitarist and flutist Emily Roberts, bassist Georgia Davies, keys Aurora Nishevci, and drummer Rebekah Rayner. The group won the BRITs Rising Star 2024 award, and their debut studio album, Prelude to Ecstasy (Island Records), went to number one on the UK Albums Chart.

On their maiden US tour, the band stopped by First Avenue, in Minneapolis, on Thursday night.

The venue was packed full of diehard fans, who all wore dresses or suits. The fashion was a nod to The Last Dinner Party’s fashion sense… but they were also dressed as if they were attending a dinner party. It’s really fun to both watch the band on stage, but also watching the audience.

What’s cool about these Last Dinner Party shows is that you can bring a canned food and, in exchange, you’re gifted a personalized ribbon. The cans are collected and donated to a local food bank.

With only one album, the band played every song they’ve ever written, including their hits “Sinner” and “My Lady of Mercy” (for the encore). They also covered Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” for good measure.

For “Portrait of a Dead Girl”, they asked for help from the audience because Abi jokingly said they would blow their budget if they had brought over “a twelve hundred choir”. Instead, they asked the audience to help them sing the four words, “give me the strength!”

It’s their first tour, and ultimately when they come back, they’re going to have to play a bigger venue. At the First Avenue show, as I previously mentioned, it was packed full of young people. Even the upstairs (for the drinking “adults”), it was still very full. Someone told me it wasn’t sold out, but I’ve been to “sold out” shows that wasn’t as crowded as Thursday night. It’s a good sign for the band, and they seem to be enjoying their time in America.

Special guest for this tour was New York’s Miss Grit (Margaret Sohn), who was personally asked to open. Sohn was grateful and mentioned that the Last Dinner Party’s fans were just “the sweetest audience.”

Watching Miss Grit’s set was like watching a cool shadow and light art show… with a Miss Grit soundtrack. There was a projection with various light effects that would sync with the music (funny how the last song on her set was called “Syncing”). It looks cool, but I felt the Last Dinner Party’s drum kit had obscured/blocked some of light. Still, as you can see from the photos, it was cool to see the show from the back of the venue.

Miss Grit’s latest Follow the Cyborg is out now on Mute Records.

Remaining Tour Dates: