This programme contains strong language
APPLAUSE
Welcome to the show
and welcome to The Last Dinner Party!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# I've never been so scorned
# To find your kindness didn't last beyond a fry-up
# And my spit upon your sheets
# And if I'd asked for how you'd answered
# I'd have gone to see my father at Brompton's cemetery
# I hope your back is healing from that brutal flaying
# And your coat's still stained with me
# Wear it with my pride pinned to the lapel
# God knows I left him by mistake
# Good morning, good looking!
# This is the killer speaking
# Good morning, handsome!
# This is the killer on the line
# Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
# Here comes the killer!
# Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
# Here comes your girl
# Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
# Here comes the killer!
# Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
# Here comes your girl
# And I'm down so bad
# I'm doing time
# You look like a weeping saint With your infected eye
# I'm doing time and I'm down so bad
# Hope my television appearance drives you
Mad, baby!
# Oh!
# Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
# Here comes the killer!
# Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
# Here comes your girl
# Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
# Here comes the killer!
# Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
# Here comes your girl
# Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
# Here comes your girl! #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Love them! Thank you. Wonderful.
The Last Dinner Party!
Superb line-up tonight. Let's hear it
because, from Los Angeles,
via Rhode Island, we have Tyler Ballgame.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
From Puerto Rico, Princess Nokia!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
From London, Celeste.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
But now, from Northwich, Cheshire, it's The Charlatans!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# We know
# We know where we're going
# Or we're lost now
# Choices that we're facing
# Have a cost somehow
# Looking for the truth in all this darkness
# It shines on us
# Ever present while unavailable
# My glass half-empty
# Yours half-full
# You got me acting irrational
# This is the place
# These are the days
# We are love
# Not sure what fits
# Language is a gift
# That we could heal the rift
# Accepting all we are now
# Try to spot the grift
# And take the path we're seeking
# Look for what we missed
# Raise your fist
# Spend all day
# Together
# And live the night
# Dream of taking flight
# It's achievable
# But impossible
# Days will never be dull
# Feeling exceptional
# This is the place
# These are the days
# We are love
# Ever present while unavailable
# My glass half-empty
# Yours half-full
# You got me acting irrational
# My glass half-empty
# Yours half-full
# This is the place Ooh
# These are the days Ooh
# We are love
Ooh
# Here we are love Ooh
# We are love. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
We Are Love - title track from their new album.
The Charlatans!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Now, I think it's time for piano-side chats
with Abigail Morris and Emily Roberts
from The Last Dinner Party. Welcome to the show.
It's fantastic to have you here.
Thank you so much for coming.
Hi! This band are going from strength to strength.
You know, you came on last time, it was great. It's even better now.
And you have had enormous success, because you've had Brits,
a number one album, all of these things have happened.
Is the whirlwind success...
Is it how you imagined it was going to be?
Well, it kind of feels like a montage from a film
so, yeah a bit, yeah, I guess.
What sort of a film would it be?
Almost Famous.
Oh, yeah.
Is it right that you started off
with writing out a manifesto
for your future band, what you wanted to have?
Yes, that is true. And what did you put on it?
What did we put?
Schemes.
There was colour palettes.
That was big focus.
We knew how we wanted to dress
and the kind of visual world we wanted to create,
and sort of references from film and ballet, and theatre,
and the kind of sound we wanted -
and I think, also, the kind of feeling we wanted people
to take away from seeing us live
of feeling like you've kind of been
at a dinner party with your friends and...
..that kind of excitement.
Your set before... Cos you had all candelabras and things before,
you haven't got those now.
No... No, we're into minimalism now.
No, we're not.
Now, your latest album has a great sleeve,
and it's got you all dancing 'round
the bonfire dressed in red, very medieval-looking.
Is there anything particularly inspired that cover?
Yeah, I mean, we were really drawn to kind of,
like, that medieval sort of Hieronymus Bosch kind of tableau.
And there's a film, by Ingmar Bergman,
called The Seventh Seal,
and there's a scene where the characters
are kind of walking across a hill in formation,
kind of dancing like that, and that was quite a big inspiration.
One of my favourite films. There you go.
And Death plays... Chess.
..chess with a knight, yeah, great.
What a treat.
Now, I believe there was a David Bowie exhibition...
Now, you went and helped curate some of the exhibition.
What did you do there?
We co-curated with Nile Rodgers, which was really cool!
LAUGHS
And when we got asked to do it,
we were, like, "Absolutely, yes, we'll do it,"
cos David Bowie's, like, a common influence between the five of us,
that's been an influence for, like, both albums
so, yeah, and you picked out some really cool things
from the archives. Some handwritten lyrics. Oh, wow.
Well, cos it's more than an exhibition,
it's a permanent archive that they've got in the V&A East,
in the storehouse.
And instead of just kind of going and looking at things behind glass,
you can book an appointment and then go...
And go through his archive kind of on your own...you know,
under supervision, so you don't get it all greasy.
But I think it's a really amazing resource to have.
How great. Yeah.
And did you pick particular things to sort of put on show?
Yeah, we gravitated more towards the kind of, like,
physical, handwritten stuff that he'd done
cos I think it's so important
to be able to see the process behind finished products,
be able to kind of see into the mind of a creative at any time
and see the kind of little doubts and sparks of inspiration,
I think it's so interesting.
Yeah, there's sort of lyrics with bits crossed out.
Yeah! And, like... Setlists.
..stains, little drawings of things.
Yeah. So you're going to be performing The Scythe next.
Tell us about that. Like a scythe,
and you're holding a scythe, aren't you,
like sort of the Grim Reaper?
Well, it's about how relationships ending are like death.
And it's about grief,
and grief of real death, grief of death of relationships,
things coming to an end, that kind of, you know, pain.
Well, quite honestly, the band sound better and better.
We look forward to hearing you at the end of the show.
Thank you for joining us very much. Thank you for having us.
Abigail and Emily from The Last Dinner Party.
APPLAUSE
Next, a brand-new artist
who found songwriting gave him a spiritual awakening.
Please welcome Tyler Ballgame.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Saw my old self, beat his breaks off
# Doesn't know yet
# He'll feel it when he wakes up
# Got a new car
# Hear me start it
# I was beaming, nearly crying when I bought it
# Gene-pool down, do a cannonball
# Kill me in your mouth like an animal
# Headlights and shouting
# You can tell me all about it when you die
# Plenty part-time undertaking
# But some friction in the fiction we were making
# Tyler Ballgame got his hopes up
# Disrespected like a blue Kentucky Podunk
# Back-swing stings like a caddy hum
# Keep me in your prayers like you're not involved
# Cult fame and status is the only thing that matters
# When you die
# I want to be the one to let you into the light
# You know I love it when you lie to me, lie to me
# On the way back
# Was scared of what could go wrong
# All the way back
# What's there? What could go wrong?
# Oh, oh, oh, oh
# Held a seance, left my body
# Looking back, it's a little Mary Todd-y
# Met a pumpkin, scooped his brains out
# Took his job when the music never paid out
# Gene-pool down, do a cannonball
# Kill me in your mouth like an animal
# No-one's gonna tout us but they'll tell you all about us when we die
# I want to be the one to let you in to the light
# You know I love it when you lie to me, lie to me
# I wanna be the one
# To let you in to the light
# You know I love it when you lie to me, lie to me. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Excellent.
Tyler Ballgame!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Next, we welcome an artist
with her first new music in five years,
with an exclusive performance of
a song from her forthcoming album, Woman of Faces.
Please welcome Celeste.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Different days come, different weather
# I know when I'm with you
# I just know now we're not together
# Missing you's what I do
# And you are the one who knew me well
# Are the one who knew me well
# People always change
# It's just no good for me cos I just stay the same
# And you know where I'll be
# As still as I remain
# There's just no-one for me cos people always change
# People always change
# It's just no good for me cos I just stay the same
# And you know where I'll be
# As still as I remain
# There's just no-one for me cos people always change
# I'm not ready to forget yet
# Though I know I must try
# People like you, people like me
# Know the heart doesn't lie
# But you are the one who knew me well
# Are the one who knew me well
# You are the one who knew me well
# Very well
# People always change
# It's just no good for me cos I just stay the same
# And you know where I'll be
# As still as I remain
# It's just no good for me cos people always change
# People always change
# It's just no good for me cos I just stay the same
# And you know where I'll be
# As still as I remain
# There's just no-one for me cos people always change
# In a world that won't move
# I get sick of it sometimes
# In a world without you
# I get sick of it sometimes
# In a world without you
# I get sick and then I find
# In a world that can't replace you
# I can't see
# So if you miss the way, the way it used to be
# You could call my name
# And I'll be there in a hurry on the way
# I won't be what you knew cos people always change
# And you are the one that knew me well
# Are the one that knew me well
# Are the one who knew me well
# Very well
# I thought I was nearly there. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you. Wonderful.
Celeste.
Accompanied by Seth Evans, piano, beautifully.
Now, a change of atmosphere.
Performing on British television for the first time,
our next guest has just released her seventh album, Girls.
With a mashup of two songs from that,
please welcome Princess Nokia.
APPLAUSE
# Girlhood is a spectrum, pretty is destruction
# I just fell from grace, then I made it into something
# Fight for you the first time, then I called my cousins
# Buzzards get the buzz in, Tim Burton my button
# Tattered frilly dresses, bloody covered knuckles
# Rotting from my insides, glitter, bones and honey
# Daughter of thy Lilith, sister of thy Eve
# Men are violent liars, Adam's apples proves they're thieves
# I am so disgusting, I am so salacious
# I am purest evil with the sweetest bit of fragrance
# I am not your sister, I am not your friend
# I am full of anger, full of violence, and then
# Look at how you made me, look at how I'm behaving
# Look at what it gave me, alchemist my aching
# Carrie when she went to prom, stop and give me back my crown
# Pig's blood
# When I hit the stage, bitches kiss the floor I walk on
# I'm David Lynch, babe, I'm smoking Blue Velvet
# Hit the Twin Peaks, now I'm fucked up and I'm bended
# If only I could understand the reason for my crying
# If only I could stop the fear of dreaming that I'm dying
# I'm drinking blood in the mountain
# I got the fountain of youth
# I'm scaring men off with rumours, can't tell the lies from the truth
# I am convicted of witchcraft and now I burn at the stake
# I light a spliff by the fire and let my destiny fade
# I am the lamb and the lion, the sacrifice of the blood
# The Mary Magdalene, body and spirit, love from above
# I dance around in my darkness and pull my shadow up close
# I'm fornicating with spirits and making love to the ghosts
# I paint a mask on my face and let the underworld know
# I have Persephone blood and pomegranates at my door
# I came from Hades in a Mercedes, in all tinted fours
# I cocked the stick back to sit back and raise the suicide doors
I'm mixed with royalty and mystery, sorcery and history
# Black magic on my opps cos they try to cause me misery
# I'm not 7:30, I'm quarter to fucking nine
# My daughters in my closet but they are not mine
# My shoes are sky-high, my boots is thigh high
# My style is doll-ette, my mind is sci-fi
# You got the update, it's been my high time
# I'm in my house, my pretty d-doll house
# I pull the string, marionettes is all out
# I spill the tea, no Boston tea party
# There's only one queen, Nicki, The Queen Barbie
# I'm David lynch, babe, I'm smoking Blue Velvet
# Hit the Twin Peaks, now I'm fucked up and I'm bended
# If only I could understand the reason for my crying
# If only I could stop the fear of dreaming that I'm dying
# I am very girlie and also very violent
# I'm the She-Devil, the Jezebel and the tyrant
# I'm the whistle-blower when men try to make us silent
# I'm the older woman, unmarried and undecided
# And I don't want kids, wouldn't do it if you paid me
# Refuse to be a servant to the modern-day slavery
# Ha-ha, I hope he drive off a cliff
# I showed up to the funeral, talk that hot shit
# I'm so tired of performative divinity
# Manipulating women with kindness is such a sin to me
# Premeditated, you pretend to be a friend to me
# You rip my wings while I'm sleeping
# You're fucking dead to me
# Hail Medusa, blood moon in her eyes
# Hail Medusa, make a grown man cry
# Hail Medusa, kiss of death on her lips
# Catch the Holy Spirit, rebuke the... Bad...
# You're emotionally reckless and very fucking lustful
# Jerking off the pictures of the girls you like to lie to
# I will undisguise you, bring you to the light
# You're a fucking predator, standing in plain sight
# Finger fuck me in the front seat, wait until you fuck me
# Be a fucking man, go and tell me that you love me
# I fuck like a fairy and make love like a god
# The feeling inside me, infinity and beyond
# Hail Medusa, blood moon in her eyes
# Hail Medusa, make a grown man cry
# Hail Medusa, kiss of death on her lips
# Catch the Holy Spirit, rebuke the bad dick
# Hail Medusa, blood moon in her eyes
# Hail Medusa, make a grown man cry
# Hail Medusa, kiss of death on her lips
# Catch the Holy Spirit, rebuke the bad dick. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# It's the first time I ever felt like this
# I always thought I had known pure bliss
# Ooh
# Even thought I'd had the perfect kiss
# Reading your lips is like a film with a twist
# Ooh
# And I'm here
# They say there's nothing in their fears
# Deeper and deeper
# I don't feel like coming up for air
# Right now
# Not while I've got my head in the clouds
# I couldn't help but get interested
# After seeing that thing you did
# Bathwater under the bridge
# Deeper and deeper
# I don't feel like coming up for air
# Right now
# Not while I've got my head in the clouds
# Steeper and steeper
# This climb might defeat me yet
# No safety net
# It seems to be a long way down
# When push comes to shove
# It's only ever about the ones we love
# Ah, ah, ah
# When sent from above
# We had to realise we were hand in glove
# Ah, ah, ah
# No matter where you are
# There'll always be a fire inside my heart
# Ah, ah
# Tour soon
# They'll be playing our song on the moon
# Deeper and deeper
# I don't feel like coming up for air
# Just now
# Not while I've got my head in the clouds
# I was feeling weaker
# But we are gifted and supreme
# Life just seemed bleak back then
# Everything became clear to me. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you. The Charlatans with Deeper And Deeper
from their new album, We Are Love.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
And now, at the piano, I'm so thrilled
and delighted to welcome my dear friend Celeste.
APPLAUSE
Very nice to see you.
I'm so pleased to have you back on the show,
and you've got this wonderful album
about to come out, coming out in November.
Woman Of Faces. Where does that title come from?
Actually, it's quite an unusual and, I suppose,
quite an interesting story
in that, actually, a lady
who goes by the name Kiddo,
because she's a writer and an artist herself,
she met somebody who I've worked with for many years, and she said,
"I just have the feeling that I need to give this title to Celeste."
And she said, "The title is Woman Of Faces."
And I knew... In the time that I was working on my album,
I was waiting for a title,
and I knew what it needed to feel like and what it needed to explain.
And when I heard that, I knew, "This is the title,"
and I suppose it kind of just came to me in that way.
Yeah. So did you meet when she gave it to you,
or was it in the post anonymously?
Via pigeon! Yeah.
No! Eventually we met.
We didn't actually write the song together.
I ended up writing the song with a friend
of mine in London called Matt Maltese,
and we did it in 2023, actually.
We went to an old rehearsal space
because I just started to feel
like being in studios was kind of clouding my judgment
and the way I wanted to write.
I wanted to write really freely and without the sense
that you have to walk away with something that day.
So I went to this rehearsal space,
and we just had our laptop
and a microphone, and did it like that. Yeah.
Your song earlier sounded fantastic.
Thank you. Seth's a great piano player, isn't he?
Yeah. He's lovely. And when you were growing up,
what were some of the things you were listening to?
When I was growing up...
It's hard to remember now!
Well, the first singers I heard were Nina Simone,
Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald.
But then also, I remember my mum playing The Clash
and playing, like, some of the dance music from the '80s
with, like, some of those soul vocalists
that were then on kind of house music and stuff.
So it was always those kind of big soul voices that I was hearing
and always kind of attracted to and drawn to.
And also people that just had, like,
a way of expressing themselves
that was not holding back, I suppose, yeah.
Sam Cooke was one of those, wasn't he?
Yeah. It was a great song, actually, that Sam Cooke did as a duet.
Should we give it a go?
OK, let's give it a go. We'd like that, wouldn't we?
APPLAUSE
# If you ever change your mind
# About leaving, leaving me behind
# Oh, you bring your love
# Bring your sweet love
# Bring it on home to me
# Yeah
# I know I laughed when you left
# But now I know I only hurt myself
# Why don't you bring your love
# Bring your sweet love, bring it on home to me
# I'll give you my heart
# I'll give you my mind
# But that's not all
# All I leave behind
# If you bring your love
# Bring your sweet love
# Bring it on home to me
# Yeah
# You know I'll always feel the same
# You know my love won't be led astray
# Why don't you bring your love
# Bring your sweet love
# Bring it home to me, yeah
# Yeah. #
Thank you.
APPLAUSE
The wonderful voice of Celeste!
One fantastic treat after another in this room this evening
as we welcome back The Last Dinner Party.
APPLAUSE
# It'll take you, too, mm
# Take a long time
# Limbs will disconnect, mm
# Like the phone lines
# Keep the water on, mm
# Keep it running
# I'm in the other room, mm
# Nothing happened
# Make it quick
# Make it quick so I can't see the scythe in its sheath
# Don't cry, we're bound together
# Each life runs its course
# I'll see you in the next one
# Next time I know you'll call
# I'll put your record on, mm
# Keep it spinning
# Under the LEDs, mm
# Till I'm seasick
# Nothing lasts
# Nothing lasts, I know, I've seen the scythe in its sheath
# Don't cry, we're bound together
# Each life runs its course
# I'll see you in the next one
# Next time I know you'll call
# Next time you call, I'll be your girl
# You'll be in silk, and I'll wear my furs
# We can go out
# I feel your mouth
# Open me up
# Butcher my heart
# Please let me die on the street
# Where you live
# And don't cry, lie here forever
# Let life run its course
# I'll see you in the next one
# Next time you know I'll call
# Don't cry, we're bound together
# Each life runs its course
# I'll see you in the next one
# Next time I know you'll call
# Don't cry, we're bound together
# Each life runs its course
# I'll see you in the next one
# Next time I know you'll call. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
The Scythe, featured on their new album, From The Fire.
The Last Dinner Party!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Excellent.
Thank you to all of my wonderful guests here this evening.
Got time for just one more treat.
With their 1997 hit One To Another,
let's finish with The Charlatans!
APPLAUSE
# One to another
# Sister and a brother
# And a-changing the way that you feel
# Pleased to meet ya
# Hope I never see ya
# I'll be at ease watching you sleep, watching you smile
# Love, I adore you
# You know I'm always thinking for you
# And I'll be there whenever you need me
# Be my Spider-Woman, I'll be your Spider-Man
# I hear our day is coming
# More sweeter every year
# Tomorrow's gonna be too easy and today is gonna be too near
# Trust is for believers and love can keep the faith
# I don't need you, I can't buy you, I can't hurt you
# One to another
# Yeah, peace to my sister
# Always giving me her thing for free
# Sad to knock ya, it's good to rock ya
# And I'll do it the best that I can
# I hear our day is coming
# Gets sweeter every year
# Tomorrow's gonna be too easy and today is gonna be too near
# Trust is for believers and love can keep the faith
# I don't need you, I can't buy you, I can't hurt you
# Stand by my accusations
# I'll come clean, I don't need no vice
# I know you wanna keep me waiting
# I think it's funny that you might
# Love is hard to leave and it's hard to never have
# Can you please crawl out your window?
# You can play with all I got, yeah, yeah, yeah
# Box up all our records and a head full of ideas
# And a handful of escape routes
# They're gonna burn you
# Woohoo!
# Woohoo! #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# I want to be the one to let you into the light
# You know I love it when you lie to me, lie to me. #