A crowd-pleasing run-through of bangers hints at much more to come from Bastille.
Still avoiding tomorrow as much as they can,
Bastille spends the night in Brighton as part of their whistle-stop UK tour. With no sign of that third full-length record yet, and very little in the way of new music, there was something of a stop-gap feeling to the evening - but with the collection of good time bops that this band possess, that is never going to be much of an issue.
Support comes from spiky pop rocker
Ulysses Wells, as well as the phenomenal voice of
Lewis Capaldi - soon to return to Brighton as one of The Great Escape’s Spotlight Shows. The room is already nearly full for the self-deprecating Scot, the surest sign of a star about to go supernova. Holding the crowds’ attention as surely as if he was the main act, it is a perfectly self-assured performance. He looks certain to be returning to this size of venues on his own two feet soon enough.
As Bastille emerge, silhouetted behind a blood-red curtain, Dan Smith takes all of the attention. Bouncing, leaping backwards and forwards on a raised podium, his head freshly shaved for a new video, he is every inch the bonafide pop star. The long wait for album number three is referenced early, a cry from the audience for its release date being met with “Fuck knows mate” from Dan. Originally promised for the start of 2018,
Doom Days still has no firm release date - and there is a discernible lack of new material tonight. Only ‘4AM’ gets a run-out, Smith lazing back in a revolving sofa in the middle of the stage.
Apart from that, it is a solid run-through of bangers from their first two albums, with a smattering of singles and cuts from the various
Other People’s Heartache mixtapes. Of course, the likes of ‘Pompeii’ and ‘Things We Lost In The Fire’ are still top-level pop rock - but there is a feeling that something is being held back. Whether this is a dry run for bigger things to come, and a prominent slot at Reading & Leeds suggests it is, a slightly saggy middle section shows that there is a need for those new tracks to come through. Hopefully, Bastille will be showing us what tomorrow brings very soon.
Photos by Jamie MacMillan
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