The Last Dinner Party: Venue apologises to lone-male gig-goers over ‘strange’ and ‘condescending’ treatment
A live music venue in Lincoln has apologised to some gig-goers for “unacceptable treatment” after a number of men arriving alone to watch a The Last Dinner Party show flagged “strange” and “condescending” behaviour.
The Engine Shed – which bills itself as Lincolnshire‘s largest live music venue – put out a statement on its official Instagram page to say what happened fell “far short of our venue entry policy, which requires all attendees to be treated equally and be subject to the same entry requirements”.
Ahead of the gig, which had been scheduled for Saturday night, several men posted on social media saying they had been quizzed on their knowledge of the band before they were given entry.
The Last Dinner Party at the Brit Awards 2024
One fan called Dan wrote on X: “Just arrived at the gig, been funnelled into a dark corner with other men, told I might be a pervert cus I’m alone and then taken into a room alone with a security guard where I was interrogated and searched. Feel sick.”
He said he had also been asked what his favourite Last Dinner Party song was by staff.
A man called Paul wrote on X: “I rocked up there tonight at 8.45 on my own, no queue, I got asked how long I had liked them for, and to name my favourite song.
“I thought it was a bit strange and the first time I’ve ever felt like I’m on mastermind to get into a gig. Now I’ve read this I understand why now.”
The Last Dinner Party At Reading Festival.
Pic: Cover Images/AP
He went on: “I just told him, Nothing Matters and said a line of the song and he was fine. It does sound like they were targeting single men, I wonder if there’s been trouble at previous gigs.”
A second man called Kam Zagi wrote on X: “Same here, I queued for 7 hours to get to barrier as I am 4′ 11′, got whisked away, searched, asked condescending questions, didn’t get to barrier…”
Later, commenting on the Engine Shed’s statement, he wrote: “this.is.a.disgrace [sic]. I won’t be attending any rescheduled dates based on the way I was treated last night & I am not alone.”
The Shed Engine said in its statement it had “urgently” carried out a provisional investigation, saying “ad-hoc changes” had been made to its policy due to information “provided to our security team about incidents at a previous The Last Dinner Party gig”.
The venue went on to say the policy was changed “with the right intentions”, but that it “resulted in the unacceptable treatment of some guests”.
It “fully apologised” to anyone affected and said further training would be given to staff on door entry policy as “an urgent measure… to ensure that this cannot happen again”.
The Engine Shed encouraged anyone who felt they had been discriminated against to reach out.
Around half an hour before the Lincoln performance was due to start, the Mercury-nominated band pulled out of the show, “due to a band member unexpectedly falling ill and being unable to perform”.
In another statement, the venue apologised to fans for the “last minute” cancellation, adding, “This decision was not taken lightly as the band and the promoter were hopeful that the member would recover from the illness to be able to perform”.
The band, who are currently touring the UK and Ireland, cancelled a gig in Cardiff which had been due to take place on Sunday, telling fans on social media it was “cancelled due to illness” and they were “truly sorry”.
The Last Dinner Party are next due to perform on Tuesday in Birmingham.
The Last Dinner Party performing at Leeds Festival 2024. Pic: PA
An indie rock band, The Last Dinner Party are made up by Abigail Morris, Lizzie Mayland, Emily Roberts, Georgia Davies and Aurora Nishevci, and formed in 2020 after meeting at university in London.
Last year they won the Brit rising star award, with their debut album – Prelude To Ecstasy – reaching number one in the UK albums chart when it was released in February.
Sky News has contacted the band for comment.
Entertainment
Gregg Wallace: Over half of allegations against MasterChef presenter substantiated, including one of unwanted physical contact
An investigation into Gregg Wallace’s “inappropriate behaviour” on MasterChef has found that more than half of the allegations against him have been substantiated, including one of “unwanted physical contact”.
MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK shared a summary of its report into historical allegations of misconduct against the 60-year-old presenter, carried out by independent law firm Lewis Silkin over seven months.
The report also said the number of sustained allegations made Wallace’s return to MasterChef “untenable”.
The investigation heard evidence from 78 witnesses, including 41 complainants.
There were 83 allegations against Wallace, and 45 of them were substantiated. All were related to MasterChef.
While the majority of the substantiated allegations related to inappropriate sexual language and humour, a smaller number of allegations of other inappropriate language and being in a state of undress were also substantiated.
One allegation of unwanted physical contact was substantiated.
Nearly all the allegations against Wallace were related to behaviour which is said to have occurred between 2005 and 2018, with just one substantiated allegation taking place post-2018.
Wallace and Anne-Marie Sterpini in 2014
Ahead of the publication of the summary, Wallace had said he had been “cleared of the most serious and sensational accusations” made against him.
Additionally, the report summary found that there were also 10 standalone allegations about other people between 2012 and 2018/2019, two of which were substantiated. Those people were not named in the summary.
The investigation found that complaints had previously been raised with the production company between 2005 and 2024.
Gregg Wallace on MasterChef. Pic: BBC/ Shine TV 2024
While the report flagged inadequate reporting procedures prior to 2016, when Endemol merged with Shine ahead of Banijay acquiring Endemol Shine in 2020, it said there were significant improvements to HR processes and training after 2016.
While the investigation said some formal action was taken by the BBC in 2017, it also noted the corporation held no information regarding concerns raised over Wallace centrally, resulting in issues being addressed as a first offence.
Sky News has tried to contact Gregg Wallace for contact today.
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