THE LAST DINNER PARTY + IMOGEN & THE KNIFE – BRIGHTON CENTRE 5.12.25
Friday nights in early December are known for a time when work colleagues go out celebrating with traditional end-of-the-year Christmas parties. Tonight I attended a party of a different kind. The Last Dinner Party performing at the Brighton Centre seafront venue on a wet and windy evening with support from Imogen And The Knife.
The Last Dinner Party (originally known as The Dinner Party) are made up of five core band members: Abigail Morris (lead vocals), Georgia Davies (bass guitar), and Lizzie Mayland (guitar, vocals). They met while at Kings College London and teamed up with Emily Roberts (guitar, mandolin, flute) and Aurora Nishevci (keyboards, vocals), who studied at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. They have come a long way since they formed in 2020 and played their first gig at The George Tavern in London in November 2021. They spent 2022 playing the live circuit in London, building up a fanbase through word-of-mouth, and signed up with management group Q Prime. They even opened for The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park in July 2022 (Review HERE). Their first two non-London shows were in Brighton. They played The Hope & Ruin in March 2022 and The Prince Albert in June the same year. They have also previously played Brighton at Patterns during ‘Mutations Festival’ in November 2022 (Review included HERE), Green Door Store in March 2023 (Review HERE), and at Chalk during ‘The Great Escape Festival’ two months later (Review included HERE). Then in February 2024 they played instore at Resident Records for the launch of their debut album (Review HERE).
The only time I’ve previously seen The Last Dinner Party perform was at ‘The Great Escape Festival’ when they were sandwiched between Cucamaras and headliners The Big Moon. This was on the back of hearing their debut single ‘Nothing Matters’, which was released a month earlier, having been signed by Island Records. I was blown away by their performance that day and instantly knew they would go on to greater success. Following further single releases in 2023, they released their debut album ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ in February 2024, entering the Official UK Albums Chart at No.1 with the biggest opening week of any band since 2015 and the fastest-selling vinyl debut of any group this century, by selling more than 14,000 units on vinyl in its first week on sale. They were winners of the Rising Star Brit Award 2024, the BBC Sound of 2024 poll and the Best New Artist Brit award 2025. In October of this year they released their second album ‘From The Pyre’. It made it to No.2 in the Official UK Albums Chart behind Taylor Swift’s latest release ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’.
This evening’s show is the 13th date of a 15-date UK tour in support of the new album. The tour started in Dublin on 14th November and has taken in venues in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield, Bridlington, Norwich, Manchester, Wolverhampton, Bristol, Cardiff and Plymouth. It finishes with two dates at O2 Academy Brixton. The band then have a six-date tour of Australia in January followed by a 33-date North American tour running from March through to June.
IMOGEN AND THE KNIFE (19:45 – 20:29)
Imogen And The Knife is the exhilarating, genre-blending project of Newcastle-born, London-based singer-songwriter Imogen Williams, known for soulful, orchestral, and post-punk-infused alternative pop that explores love, identity, and human experience with raw honesty and powerful vocals. Imogen’s performance this evening features a full band with Evan Abel (saxophone), Jack Banjo Courtney (trumpet, flugelhorn), Ewen Moore (drums), and Oliver Wayne (bass guitar). Jack is also a member of the local Brighton-formed post-punk six-piece band Opus Kink.
At 7:44pm the house lights drop to a great cheer from the audience. Imogen’s band members enter the stage and the intro to the first song of the set is started by Evan’s saxophone, there’s a drum roll followed by Jack’s trumpet playing. Oliver crashes some cymbals, then Imogen enters the stage to further applause and begins singing the unreleased ‘I Wish I Were You’. Next up is the beautifully sung ‘Red (Is My Colour)’ with Imogen playing keys. This is my favourite song from Imogen’s debut EP ‘Some Kind Of Love’, which was released in July 2024. Tonight, we get to hear and see all tracks from the EP performed. Before the third song, Imogen tells us that most of the band are from Newcastle upon Tyne and says she wrote the next song when she lived up there. It’s called ‘If I Won’t Talk Of Rain’ and it’s a love letter to the city. It’s another one that features on the EP, and includes the line “What’s a voice of the north if it won’t talk of the rain”.
Imogen clearly appreciates the audience listening to her songs, with the majority paying attention to every note being played. The venue is filling and most feel like they are in the presence of a vocalist that has a bright future. Before the fourth song of the evening, Imogen says, “This is really lovely Brighton, the last time I played here was at The Hope & Ruin. This is a bit different.” (They supported Cardiff-based indie/glam rock band Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard at The Hope & Ruin on 26/09/24). Imogen then went on to say that the next song they are going to perform is available exclusively on her website. It’s called ‘Girl (Running)’. After another unreleased track, ‘The World Over’, Imogen tells us she wrote the next one about her sister. It’s ‘Paris Night’ and another from the EP. The now London-based vocalist says she has another gift for us. “I would like to welcome on stage Lizzie Mayland from The Last Dinner Party.” Imogen and Lizzie perform ‘Mother Mother’ together, a song from Lizzie’s debut EP ‘The Slow Fire Of Sleep’ which Imogen part produced earlier in the year. The pair harmonise over the lyrics with Imogen on keys and Lizzie on guitar.
As Lizzie leaves the stage, Imogen tells us that it’s been an immense pleasure to be on the tour and introduces us to the band. They then perform the opening song from the EP ‘Mother Of God’. It’s the most upbeat song of the set, with powerful vocals. The unreleased ‘Bloodbag’ features another powerful vocal performance, with Imogen expanding her vocal range, Oliver adds some backing vocals, and the song climaxes with a crashing ending. Loud applause follows, with Imogen returning the compliment by clapping the audience and saying, “Thank you, Brighton. You are in for an incredible evening. We are Imogen And The Knife, my amazing band. This is our final song, ‘Some Kind Of Love’.” It’s also the final song from the EP and a fitting ending that sees Imogen sink to the floor as it closes out. There’s another round of applause and the band exits the stage. Imogen clearly is going places based on tonight’s performance.
Imogen And The Knife:
Imogen Williams – vocals, keyboard
Evan Abel – saxophone
Jack Banjo Courtney – trumpet, flugelhorn
Ewen Moore – drums
Oliver Wayne – bass guitar, backing vocals
Imogen And The Knife setlist:
‘I Wish I Were You’ (unreleased)
‘Red (Is My Colour)’ (from 2024 ‘Some Kind Of Love’ EP)
‘If I Won’t Talk Of Rain’ (from 2024 ‘Some Kind Of Love’ EP)
‘Girl (Running)’ (unreleased)
‘The World Over’ (unreleased)
‘Paris Night’ (from 2024 ‘Some Kind Of Love’ EP)
‘Mother Mother’ (a L.Mayland cover)
‘Mother Of God’ (from 2024 ‘Some Kind Of Love’ EP)
‘Bloodbag’ (unreleased)
‘Some Kind Of Love’ (from 2024 ‘Some Kind Of Love’ EP)
THE LAST DINNER PARTY (21:00 – 22:43)
After a 31-minute break between bands, and at the stroke of 9pm the house lights drop again. The elegantly looking stage setting has eight bright lights beaming out at the audience as the band take up their positions on stage. Joining them on drums is Luca Caruso. The bright lights are switched off, and the band go straight into the opening song ‘Agnus Dei’ from the new album. The stage has two levels, with piano and drums positioned on the higher level, piano to the left and drums to the right from the audience’s point of view. Towards the front of the stage and on the lower level, there is a keyboard to the left. There are a set of steps on each side of the stage so band members can move between the levels. ‘Agnus Dei’ is a powerful opening song and gets the crowd moving from the word go. Lead vocalist Abigail moves around the stage with plenty of energy as she does for the majority of the set. Her vocals sounding great, welcoming us to the apocalypse. They then go straight into the excellent ‘Count The Ways’ with its opening guitar riffs reminiscent of Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ and catchy chorus.
Abigail then says, “Welcome to The Pyre, Brighton. It’s been a while since we’ve been with you. I’m going to introduce the band.” They then perform ‘The Feminine Urge’ from their chart-topping debut album and follow it with ‘Caesar On A TV Screen’, which sees Aurora playing keyboard as well as keytar and there’s the first of the evening’s guitar solos from Emily. The performance of the song really rocks and is one of many highlights of the set. The crowd goes wild and Abigail remarks, “Oh, good, you like rock ’n’ roll. How are you? We’re going to do a gentler one now.” It’s ‘On Your Side’ and the third straight song from ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’. This segues straight into the rockier ‘Second Best’, that starts off with harmonic vocals before kicking into gear. It feels like I’m watching a rock opera being played out. The band feels so tight and it’s definitely a big step up from when I first saw their impressive performance at Chalk during ‘The Great Escape Festival’ in 2023.
It’s now Aurora’s turn to take over the lead vocals while playing piano, with Abigail switching to acoustic guitar for the only time during the set, as they perform the pace-changing ‘I Hold Your Anger’. Abigail then says, “Thank you, Brighton. Are you having fun? I think you might be the best-dressed audience; you are all looking gorgeous.” She then asks for applause for support band Imogen And The Knife and continues, “Thank you so much for welcoming her to the stage. It’s been an honour. She is f***ing brilliant. I hope you leave with a new favourite artist today. Thank you, Imogen And The Knife.” The next song, ‘Woman Is A Tree’, opens with a cappella from the five female band members before Abigail takes up the lead. It’s very good and different from the other songs performed during the set.
Aurora then tells us she’s going to sing the next one. She said for years she felt ashamed for not speaking through her mother tongue. She tells us she watched the Kneecap film, so it inspired her to write the lyrics for ‘Gjuha’ (this means ’language’ or ‘tongue’ in Albanian). The song is then performed in Albanian as it is on the debut album, with the other band members performing backing vocals. Emily plays mandolin with Abigail on piano. It sounds like such an angelic song. This leads straight into the pace-changing ‘Rifle’ with Lizzie on lead vocals.
The only unreleased song of the set is next. ‘Big Dog’ starts with an opening monologue from Georgia before Abigail takes up the lead vocals. This is The Last Dinner Party at their heaviest and sees Aurora switching between saxophone and keyboard. It’s back to the debut album for a rousing performance of ‘Burn Alive’. Abigail then addresses the crowd with “We are right at the end of this tour. You are the last show apart from London before we head home. This has been our favourite tour. When we recorded this next song, I imagined seeing people dancing along. This is one of my favourites and it helps a lot if you sing.” As you would expect, plenty of the audience oblige in singing along to ‘The Scythe’. It’s Emily’s turn to multi-task on this one with flute and another guitar solo.
Abigail is back at the mic to say “Thank you so much to Bankuet, with whom we have been working on this tour with Ribbons for Provisions, raising money for food banks. We are so honoured to be doing this. Everything you donate today will go to a food bank in Brighton.” She then has a message for the students, telling them they shouldn’t listen to people that tell you you have no power, and if they think something should be changed, they have the power to do it. £30k has been raised so far on the tour.
Following a round of applause, Abigail sits down on the upper level of the stage to sing ‘Sail Away’ with Aurora playing piano. The three guitarists join the song late on, providing beautiful angelic harmony. This leads to Lizzie providing a prelude verse prior for second single, ‘Sinner’, with its instantly recognisable opening keys that remind me of Rowan Atkinson’s character ‘Mr Bean’ performing at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. There’s more keytar from Aurora on this one, as well as the excellent Brian May-like guitar solo from Emily. This leads straight into another pace changer, ‘My Lady Of Mercy’. Following this, Abigail tells us, “It’s important to scream”.
The multi-talented Aurora is back at the piano for ‘Inferno’, then Abigail reveals, “We don’t want to leave you, but all things must end. We’re going to leave you with a song you may have heard on Radio 1.” They perform their Top 20 debut single ‘Nothing Matters’ with many in the crowd waving their arms from side to side in unison. As you would expect, there’s plenty of applause once the song ends. Abigail says, “Thank you, Brighton, and good night.” The band members leave the stage and return for an encore two minutes later. Piano and drums start up as they go straight into ‘This Is The Killer Speaking’. Another song that has an Arctic Monkeys vibe to it. The crowd join in with the chorus. Abigail then gives the crowd a choreography lesson, and they play out the last verse of the song.
Abigail then says “We have been the Last Dinner Party”. She then gives out thanks to all of the crew. Listing each member. They have a lot of crew. There’s further thanks to support act Imogen And The Knife, Bankuet, and then “Most of all, we thank you, Brighton.” A reprise of the opening song ‘Agnus Dei’ is performed before the five females join together to take a bow at the front of the stage before exiting stage right. This has been an amazing performance and one I will never forget. It’s a definite highlight of a busy gig going year for me.
The Last Dinner Party:
Abigail Morris – vocals, piano, acoustic guitar
Lizzie Mayland – guitar, backing vocals
Emily Roberts – guitar, mandolin, flute, backing vocals
Georgia Davies – bass guitar, vocals
Aurora Nishevci – piano, keyboards, keytar, saxophone, vocals
Luca Caruso – drums
The Last Dinner Party setlist:
‘Agnus Dei’ (from 2025 ‘From The Pyre’ album)
‘Count The Ways’ (from 2025 ‘From The Pyre’ album)
‘The Feminine Urge’ (from 2024 ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ album)
‘Caesar On A TV Screen’ (from 2024 ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ album)
‘On Your Side’ (from 2024 ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ album)
‘Second Best’ (from 2025 ‘From The Pyre’ album)
‘I Hold Your Anger’ (from 2025 ‘From The Pyre’ album)
‘Woman Is A Tree’ (from 2025 ‘From The Pyre’ album)
‘Gjuha’ (from 2024 ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ album)
‘Rifle’ (from 2025 ‘From The Pyre’ album)
‘Big Dog’ (unreleased)
‘Burn Alive’ (from 2024 ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ album)
‘The Scythe’ (from 2025 ‘From The Pyre’ album)
‘Sail Away’ (from 2025 ‘From The Pyre’ album)
‘Sinner’ (from 2024 ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ album)
‘My Lady Of Mercy’ (from 2024 ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ album)
‘Inferno’ (from 2025 ‘From The Pyre’ album)
‘Nothing Matters’ (from 2024 ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ album)
(encore)
‘This Is The Killer Speaking’ (from 2025 ‘From The Pyre’ album)
‘Agnus Dei’ (reprise) (from 2025 ‘From The Pyre’ album)
