Review: Last Night of the Proms 2026 at Royal Albert Hall

“It’s tradition, Oliver. Traditions are important”, so says Dawn in the Inside No. 9 episode “Last Night of the Proms”, explaining the actions of the Prommers during the Fantasia on British Sea-Songs section of the concert to her teenage nephew. Anyone at the Royal Albert Hall (or watching from home) on Saturday night might have been forgiven for thinking that the first two thirds of the programme were incidental, given the insistence on party poppers being set off every two minutes and flags taking over nearly every spare inch of the auditorium - all while Sakari Oramo conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra through a mixture of pieces from the past two centuries.

_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/Review-BBC-PROMS-LAST-NIGHT-OF-THE-PROMS-2026-Royal-Albert-Hall-20260914)._