The Last Dinner Party – Spark Arena: January 22, 2026 (13th Floor Concert Review)
Auckland leaped willingly into the flames last night as The Last Dinner Party transformed Spark Arena into a feverish dream theatre. The London five‑piece are heralded as baroque‑pop revolutionaries, but live, their show is a collision of gothic pageantry, choral intensity, ornate sound layers and unashamed emotion.
Setting the tone for the night was the controlled cool of Sir Chloe joining The Last Dinner Party across their Australia–New Zealand run as the special guest opener. Sir Chloe is the music project of New York artist Dana Foote with a band that includes regular contributor Maya Stepansky on drums. They brought a set steeped in grungy guitar hooks and sharp pop instincts, delivered with passionate vocal presence by Dana. Her stage poise—balancing grace, attitude, and subtle menace—drew the crowd in immediately. Tracks like July and Michelle received the cheers, but it was the middle set of Sedona, Forgiving and Company that really highlighted the huge potential. Sir Chloe’s set was filled with tightly wrought energy and intimacy, forming an ideal atmospheric counterpoint to the aural storm that would follow.
Last Dinner Party arrived in Auckland as a band on the ascent. Fresh off the back of their acclaimed albums Prelude to Ecstasy and From the Pyre, the group is riding a wave of sold‑out shows, awards, and steadily growing mythos. Their reputation for immersive, theatrical concerts is well earned with dramatic pacing at the heart of everything they do. Even before the first note, the stage looked thoughtfully whimsical – some soft haze, a touch of cloud, a hint of flying birds, a sense of ceremony, the feeling that we were being ushered into something purposefully constructed.
They opened with Agnus Dei, a fitting invocation—slow, choral, almost ecclesiastical. It set the tone: reverence mixed with danger. The transition into Count the Ways lifted the energy sharply, and by the time The Feminine Urge hit, the crowd was enfolded fully into the band’s orbit. Each movement felt intentional, each shift a narrative beat.
Abigail Morris commanded the stage completely. She performs like she’s delivering both confession and prophecy, weaving theatrical gestures into an already magnetic vocal delivery. She is very comfortable up front—never overplayed, never underdone – fully engaged with audience. Beside her, the musicianship was both sharp and elegant. Emily Roberts’ guitar work sliced between ornate filigree and jagged art‑rock angles. Aurora Nishevci built emotional auras with her singing and her keyboard lines—cinematic lifts, gothic undertones, and swelling harmonic pads that gave the show its cathedral‑like depth. Georgia Davies anchored the drama with grounded, pulsing bass. Lizzie Mayland wove vocal harmonies that elevated choruses into choral surges, defining much of the band’s live signature. They use a rotating stock of drummers, tonight’s was introduced as Dave, who proved capable and highly complementary.
The set dipped into darker storytelling with Caesar on a TV Screen, sharpened live with urgency, before easing into the beautifully restrained On Your Side. From there, tension rose through as the set progressed Second Best, I Hold Your Anger, Woman Is a Tree. Each track arrived with escalating theatricality—blue gothic glows shifting to deep crimson as the arrangements intensified.
By the time they launched into Gjuha, Spark Arena was deep inside Last Dinner Party’s universe. The night reached its operatic peak during Burn Alive, a late‑set detonation of tension and release that felt ceremonial. The back end of the set included The Scythe Sail Away ( which had all the phones waving in the air) Sinner, My Lady of Mercy and Inferno. There was a quick fan raffle raising money for their chosen local charity Kiwi Harvest, before closing with the fan favorite Nothing Matters which had everyone dancing.
The encore included a strong extended performance of the soaring This is the Killer Speaking incorporating some serious audience participation and leaving the crowd with a massive earworm to play on repeat in the head for the journey home. Tonight was the end of the current Tour and there was an extensive number of very genuine thankyou’s before a brief Angus Dei reprise to finish, where we started.
What impressed most wasn’t just the scale but intent. The Last Dinner Party built a atmospheric dreamscape, set it on fire, and stepped out of the glowing ashes triumphant. The audience followed every dynamic shift—erupting during choruses, mesmerized in the quiet moments, and fully immersed in the performance…. And yes they knew every word.
The Last Dinner Party left Auckland with a concert steeped in drama, passion, and deliberate opulence. It was a reminder that performance can be ambitious, theatrical, overwhelming—and that spectacle doesn’t have to compromise the music. They crafted a night that built on another story in their growing mythology, and for few precious moments of time, this Auckland audience lived inside it.
John Hastings
Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Branwen Hastings
