'From The Pyre' burns bright as The Last Dinner Party take on Brixton Academy

Four years ago, The Last Dinner Party played their second-ever gig down the road at The Windmill. "We had five songs, some ballgowns and a dream," grins Abi tonight, standing onstage at the much grander Brixton Academy for the first of two sold-out headline shows.

From the moment they dropped their attention-grabbing debut single 'Nothing Matters', The Last Dinner Party have constantly dreamed big. Early shows had a dress code to add to the fantastical freedom that their bewitching guitar anthems offered, while debut album 'Prelude To Ecstasy' was a sprawling, ambitious collection that merrily bounced between classic rock, grimy indie and snarling pop.

Backed by the even more wonderfully outrageous 'From The Pyre', tonight's show is The Last Dinner Party's biggest swing yet. The crumbling architecture and ruffled white backdrop of the two-tiered stage could easily be the backdrop for a West End musical, and, sticking to the theme, the band brings the drama at every opportunity.

The opening' Agnus Dei' is a twisting, twirling celebration of living large before the five-part harmonies of 'Second Best' and the extended riffs of 'Caesar On A TV Screen' see the band comfortable with smirking excess. The charged 'Rifle' is a fiery burst of catharsis that sums up the conflicting feelings of hope and fury that have defined 2025. Even when the group huddles together for a stripped-back' Woman Is A Tree', the show is absolutely massive. Delicate one moment, ferocious the next, The Last Dinner Party take everything to the extreme.

On early tours, the band put on a united front as they took on the world, but tonight, there's a fearless sense of play to the whole thing. Aurora delivers lead vocals on the searing 'I Hold Your Anger', Georgia shares a menacing burst of poetry before the still-unreleased, still-vicious 'Big Dog' ("Watch out for those dogs. Those evildoers. Those mutilators of the flesh. They know not the difference between hunger and loathing but it's what we know best") while Emily's solo in 'Burn Alive' has the rest of the band on their knees in worship.

"For the last few years, I've been saying 'Gjuha' is about me feeling ashamed of not knowing my mother tongue as well as English," explains Aurora before the Albanian-language banger. But after watching Kneecap's self-titled film, she's realised the song is about "a yearning to connect to a people, a place, a culture, that you've been removed from." Ultimately, she explains, "it's a celebration of language. "

The 90-minute set is an impressively slick showing from one of the most exciting guitar bands around. It's also devilishly fun. Tracks of loss ('The Scythe') and heartbreak ('Sail Away') are twisted into moments of jagged hope, while 'Sinner' into 'My Lady Of Mercy' is pure, unadulterated glee. "You might know this one," Abi smirks before a jubilant 'Nothing Matters' and towards the end of a rowdy 'This Is The Killer Speaking', she leads the room in a deliberately ridiculous dance lesson. "We will teach you greatness," she promises.

The Last Dinner Party have also raised £35,000 for local food banks on this tour, thanks to a partnership with Bankuet and their Ribbons for Provisions initiative. "We're so lucky that we get to play these shows and share such joy with you," says Abi. "It's another thing altogether that we can help facilitate this real positive change." Later, during one of her many trips to scream into the faces of the front row, Abi returns with handmade gifts. "It's such a joy that we've inspired you to do things," she says. "Hopefully, we inspire you to do more things, like make a dress or start a band."

'From The Pyre' was written with glorious, communal, triumphant nights like this in mind. But as Abi explains, "Brixton, you've exceeded the fantasy."

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