By Sally Churchward. Main image by Joe Horridge.
Joyous Bastille Day celebrations came to London this weekend.
Not with La Marseillaise and processions but thousands of people singing ‘eheu oh!’, ‘shut off the lights’ and an ode to Daniel in the Lion’s Den.
It was a special occasion for Bastille – the band – as well as being the actual Bastille Day and therefore frontman Dan Smith’s birthday. The day saw the release of Bad Blood X, the tenth anniversary reissue (with extras) of the band’s debut album, and the sold-out gig in Alexandra Palace Gardens was something of a homecoming for the band, who had played to a packed audience there in the early days, when they rocketed from being a small venues band driving themselves round to having legions of loyal fans and playing to sold-out crowds.
The weather threatened to put a damper on things but the rain mostly held off, with barely a drop, if any, during Bastille’s set, though those who came earlier to see the support and secure a place on the barrier needed their emergency ponchos.
But as support act Freya Ridings observed ‘the more it rains, the more spirit you have,’ and it’s unlikely that anyone would have been that bothered if the heavens had opened again, as the crowd was too busy singing, clapping and dancing along.
Freya Ridings was on great form and much of the crowd sang along with her on songs such as Blood Orange, whilst she also shared the background to tracks including Wither on the Vine – a favourite phrase of her mother’s apparently.
The crowd were in a buoyant mood – even the engineers got several cheers as they fixed a faulty screen ahead of the headliners, so by the time Bastille took to the stage, it was clear it was going to be noisy.
The band’s entrance was preceded by a video montage featuring footage of their early days. As soon as the crowd heard half a bar of Pompei on the video they were already joining in – it set the tone for an evening of joyous singing along with everyone’s favourite tracks.
Then the band were on the stage, straight in with Pompeii and the crowd was singing at full volume. The gig saw the band perform Bad Blood in order (“The set list is pretty predictable, so you know when to go for a drink, when it’s a song you f*ing hate, when to leave – please don’t leave,” joked Dan). That meant opening with the massive crowd pleaser. For the first 5 or so songs, Dan could probably have got away with miming and leaping around on stage if he’d wanted to, as everyone was delightedly singing at full volume. But he, too, was giving it his all, making himself heard and his vocals were spot on, reaching heights that left the audience behind.
Bastille songs are lyrically dense, often with layered meanings which can stand in contrast to an extremely upbeat melody and feature a diverse range of subjects, including the apocalypse, grief, self doubt and classical mythology, collaged with cultural references as diverse as Dylan Thomas and Weird Science. And they are also great to hear live, picking up the crowd and carrying them along. There was a fantastic atmosphere, with a feeling of camaraderie within the crowd and huge sense of affection towards the band – and vice versa.
The gardens at Ally Pally were a great venue, and although the steep slope required a little caution when navigating through the mud, coupled with a set featuring various platform heights,it provided all of the audience with fantastic views.
Bastille are a touring band with a schedule that many might find punishing. They’ve already been playing around the globe this year. Alexandra Palace on Friday night was seven dates into the UK Bad Blood X tour and they’d come to London from Leeds the night before, but the whole band – Dan, Woody, Kyle and will along with touring member Charlie Barnes and regular backing vocalists Senab Adekunle and Bim Amoako – were so full of infectious energy, passion and delight that it would have been easy to believe they’d been resting up for 6 months.They danced, sung and played with such gusto, making full use of the various heights of the stage and a revolving, dizzying-looking platform. Despite claiming to set a very low bar for dance ability, Dan threw himself and his moves around the stage with vigour, with Charlie perhaps vying with him for who could perform the most energetic routine. No one was going through the motions, not even for a second.
There was plenty of audience interaction, including Dan standing on the barrier and going on a very long walkabout into the crowd – his location could be tracked by watching the sea of mobile phones pointing towards a particular spot. He chatted with the audience, introducing Laura Palmer as ‘a song about a dead girl from a TV show,’ providing the background to The Draw, which he jokingly described as ‘not at all angsty,’ explaining why the ‘Other People’s Heartache’ mixtapes came about and commenting on his ongoing disbelief that an album recorded in a bedroom had brought them to where they are today. The set was interspersed with short video montages, giving the band a chance to regroup and come out with even more gusto for the next song.
Woody also took to the mic to introduce a song, in this case not a Bastille hit but ‘Happy Birthday’ for Dan. Bastille take their name from Dan’s birthday and many in the crowd were determined to mark the occasion. There were numerous party hats being worn over wet weather gear and birthday banners being brandished, whilst on several occasions during brief lulls between songs different pockets within the crowd had started singing ‘Happy Birthday’.
Once Bad Blood had been played in full, the band moved on to a selection of other crowd-pleasers, starting with Good Grief, arguably the world’s most upbeat song about a depressing subject – a bit of a calling card for Bastille. Everyone would have had their own favourite. I’m a sucker for Daniel in the Den, from Bad Blood, and it seemed I was in good company as it was one of the songs that everyone sang loudly to. Other favourites post Bad Blood were Million Pieces, Shut Off the Lights – which we were all instructed to sing the chorus too, although this was a crowd needing no encouragement – and Of the Night. My hunch was that Dan’s favourite was No Angels, which features the fantastic Ella Eyre and who joined the band on stage for a brilliant rendition of the song. (He also cracked up when he managed to kiss his own microphone goodbye rather than her when she exited the stage – less of a mic drop than a mic snog moment).
Bastille played for almost two hours but had the material, the attention of the crowd and seemingly the energy to play for twice as long.
It was a night full of passion, love, energy, celebration and bloody good music.
- Many dates of the Bad Blood X tour are sold out but you can catch Bastille in the UK on July 22 at Penn Fest, Buckinghamshire, July 27 at Belladrum Estate, Inverness, July 28 at Belladrum Tartan Heart, Inverness, July 29 at Slessor Gardens, Dundee and July 30 at Soundwave Festival, Hartlepool, whilst returns may be available for other dates. For more information and to buy tickets, visit: bastillebastille.com
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