15 years ago, Bastille, comprised of Dan Smith, Kyle Simmons, Will Farquarson, and Chris "Woody" Wood, made their debut at a pub in Dartford to a crowd of just three people. Now, 15 years later, the band continued their arena tour across the country playing songs from their past albums. After taking a break from from touring as a collective for a year, their From All Sides tour pit-stopped at the AO arena, a venue they're no strangers to, on the 14 November to an ecstatic crowd undeterred by Storm Veronica outside. Whilst most known for their hit 2013 song 'Pompeii', which peaked at number two on the UK charts, this tour showed that their hits didn't stop there.
A much needed warm up from Manchester indie band locals better joy and emerging pop star Sofia Camara set the stage as Bastille came out to cheers and applause, opening with a hit song from their debut album, Bad Blood, 'Things we lost in the fire.' Lead singer Dan Smith matched the crowd's energy, running, and even leaping, across the stage. If there's one band that knows how to make an entrance, it's Bastille — they were in their element, as if they hadn't stopped touring at all.
Credit: Caitlin Embradura @ The Mancunion
With the mood unequivocally set, the songs kept on coming, including 'Shut off the lights' — a song about throwing your worries away and dancing like no one's watching from the band's most recent album Give Me The Future — and 'Good grief', an unusually up-tempo track about the complexities of grief.
The atmosphere became sombre when Smith sat down at his piano, marking the first of many ambient sections throughout the show, singing a stripped down version of the song 'Flaws,' before returning to the front of the stage with touring guitarist Charlie Barnes to play 'Oblivion.' Both sat, Smith and Barnes played to a sea of phone flashlights and mesmerised faces. The raw emotion in Smith's voice shone through, complementing the harmonic violin accompanying the piece.
Credit: Caitlin Embradura @ The Mancunion
Like a switch had been flicked, Smith was back on his feet, jumping around. In fact, excluding the emotional ballad moments, there weren't many moments where he sat still. To be fair, it's hard not to move around to songs like drum-heavy 'Blame,' featuring percussion from the remarkable Gabrielle King, and the rock-inspired tune 'WHAT YOU GONNA DO???' both exuding themes of frustration and fury.
An emergency in the crowd paused the show momentarily, but Smith made sure to keep everyone entertained with his wonderful stage chat, anecdotes, and wishing members of the audience Happy Birthday. Although repeating that he supposedly wasn't very good at it, it did its job of distracting the audience from the ongoing situation, so in a roundabout way he accidentally succeeded. Though, he did say to pretend it never happened, so ignore anything I just said.
The mood quickly softened following a stripped down version of 'Fake it' with more melancholic songs including 'Hope for the future', as well as a snippet of 'World gone mad,' and 'Doom days' featuring the phenomenal AK Patterson who had been supporting with the guitar and violin up until this point.
This part of the set in particular hit hard, especially with current events and the state of the world; sorrowful themes are no stranger to Bastille songs (their 2018 album Doom Days took inspiration from the political turbulence in the world at the time) and present-day affairs make songs like 'Doom days' and 'World gone mad' relevant all over again. Quoting from 'Pompeii,' "Does it almost feel like nothing has changed at all?".
Credit: Caitlin Embradura @ The Mancunion
Another dramatic transition saw a DJ turntable be wheeled out to centre stage; the start of their Other People's Heartache set — a collection of four albums, by the same name, of mostly covers. Patterson joined the lead singer once again, treating the crowd to a round-trip mashup of songs including Lana Del Rey's 'Blue jeans' and TLC's 'No scrubs' and original songs from VS. (Other People’s Heartache, Pt. III) like 'Bite down' and 'Weapon'. Smith quipped that "Manchester on a Friday night would be so much more fun than London on a Tuesday night". As ever, Manchester did not disappoint.
Credit: Caitlin Embradura @ The Mancunion
The next song, 'Of the night', included audience participation; crouching down before the beat dropped as everyone jumped up and joined in at the chorus. This wasn't the last interactive segment however, as before the previous record they had played 'Icarus,' a song Smith said that they "haven't played in a while." Throughout, the lighting and staging had been spectacular, but seeing the stage explode into light after the initial instrumental and the spotlights alternate in a rhythmic pattern, was an immense testament to the technical work that goes on behind the scenes during concerts of this magnitude.
It was then revealed Bastille had a new upcoming song called 'Save my soul' incorporating a call-and-response section. A catchy melody in the chorus that saw half the arena going "Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh" and the other repeating "Save my soul, save my soul." The song oozed pure, uncontrolled euphoria, something foreign to most Bastille records and their lethargic themes. It seems to be the embodiment of the From All Sides tour; a joyous commemoration of the past 15 years celebrating the band, the fans, and the art they've shared with the world.
Credit: Caitlin Embradura @ The Mancunion
With the show wrapping up, an intimate rendition of 'Two evils' with Charlie Barnes and an angelic version of 'Glory' preceded the final song. The famous "eh oh, eh oh," song that shot the band to the mainstream, 'Pompeii.' better joy and Sofia Camara re-joined the stage, partying with the rest of us to "the song that started it all" ; an optimal note to end the night on. The band said their goodbyes and like that, the first 15 years came to a close at the AO arena.
Let's hope for 15 more.
Credit: Caitlin Embradura @ The Mancunion
https://open.spotify.com/album/1tSRIsR2Y8dQ63QNFQnCSU?si=xJL_d4fWQpiD-4XpX49VKg
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