Words by Sally Churchward. Photos by Bella Briscoe.
There was something intimate, magical and raw about Bastille’s gig at Southampton’s 1865 last night (18/10/24).
Obviously it was a much smaller venue than frontman Dan Smith typically plays with the band’s regular line up – who routinely sell out arenas – but there was an unpolished immediacy to the performance which made it feel personal, real and very special.
The stripped back vibe of the evening – a record store outstore from Vinilo – perfectly echoed the immediacy of the album Dan and co were here to promote – & (Ampersand), which is out on October 25th.
Ampersand is a collection of story songs, exploring interesting figures from mythology, history and pop culture, created by Dan in collaboration with friends and even family.
On the album you can hear the sound of rain on the roof, people breathing – rather than being produced out to create a slick sound, they’ve been kept, inviting the listener into the space rather than creating a barrier of post production sheen, separating the finished product from the process of creating it.
“I want this to be different and as real as possible,” Dan explained in one of his many chats with the audience.
And here we were, at Southampton’s 1865, getting to experience that authenticity in person.
Much could be said about what has brought Dan to this place. He alluded to bouncing off of collaborator Charlie Barnes, whose own album ( The Heart of the Home, it’s stunning, go listen to it) came out on Friday. I chatted to Charlie before the gig (look out for the interview) and he mentioned how he and Dan had found themselves in similar places musically while Dan was working on &, and Charlie had a big hand in the finished product.
Maybe Dan has reached a place of confidence in his work that he can allow himself to share who he is and where he is, feeling less pressure to offer something as close to perfection as possible.
Or maybe it’s the effect of a project – & – which has snowballed. Charlie revealed the record store gigs hadn’t been planned but they were invited to do them so took the offer up.
Regardless, the result was magical. Bastille with full band, light show, set design, rehearsed to perfection is an amazing experience. But so is Dan, with Charlie and Moira Mack, fully owning the fact that some of the songs are under rehearsed, and that he is relying heavily on a notebook to know what to play and sing, especially having lost some band members from their recent Candlelight Sessions who have gone on other tours.
This alchemy saw the Southampton audience treated to the first ever play of Mademoiselle & The Nunnery Blaze. We were among the first to hear it beyond those who had actually worked on it.
After talking enthusiastically about the story behind the song – look out for the Muses: an Ampersand Podcast on that one – Dan asked the audience not to record it in their phones and post on social media: “just so we can f**k up and feel a bit less stressed about it”.
He didn’t need to worry about f**king it up, as far as the audience was concerned. It was a beautiful song, switching between French and English lyrics, and for me, it’s probably my new favourite from the forthcoming album.
Dan spent much of the night chatting – about the songs, sending himself off down a rabbit hole of his own creation about whether or not drugs are bad, sharing that they’d just been to Southampton’s Wagamama, thanking Vinilo, praising Emma Nagouse co-creator of the Ampersand podcasts – and more.
He shared the somewhat surreal experiences of the Candlelight Sessions, which saw the band having to pause soundchecks for actual church services and found him singing the lyrics “There ain’t no god up above” whilst ‘standing beneath a giant Jesus’.
In fact, he chatted so much that Charlie warned him he’d have to stop, or they’d have to start dropping songs from the set.
As it was, some changes were made. Planned penultimate song, Red Wine & Wilde, was replaced by Drawbridge & the Baroness, which saw Dan hitting some amazing high notes and ended with a stunning and intense acapella section, which was, quite rightly, met with huge applause – Dan seemed visibly moved by the reaction.
For me, the chats were worth it – although I’d have loved to have heard all the album, but it’s not long to wait for that now. They contributed to the co-created feel of the night, which Dan definitely lent into. He gratefully received a bag of sweets from an audience member, speaking later about getting distracted by Haribo – a common experience apparently. He also spotted and thanked a stalwart fan who had taken along fake candles to help recreate the Candlelight vibe. And he invited the audience to choose part of the set, voting between Seasons & Narcissus, which was totally overwhelmed by the applause for Emily & Her Penthouse in the Sky.
It was a good choice. The song was flawless. Dan seemed absorbed in it and the audience was captivated.
Throughout the evening, the audience was rapt and respectful – at one point Dan noted with seeming pleasure and amusement that people were mouthing along to the words rather than singing.
Everyone would have had their favourite songs. I wondered if for Dan one of them was Eve & Her Paradise Lost, which saw him beat his chest so loudly while singing that the sound reached across the room.
A sea of mobile phones came out to capture the new arrangement of Pompeii – a departure from playing the album, but which perfectly matched the stripped back tone of the evening.
But for me, and I think many others, the highlight was the evening’s swansong, Blue Sky & the Painter.
It was the first song fans had heard from &, when Dan recorded a special version of it whilst on Greenpeace boat Arctic Sunrise, supporting their campaign to protect the Sargasso Sea.
It’s a huge moving, bitter sweet song about the artist Munch (the guy who painted the Scream emoji, joked Dan) – which paints its own portrait of tortured genius, and how someone can incorporate suffering into their life. It’s also just a bloody good song.
The audience were given permission to sing along and we did, swept along with the song.
It was the perfect ending to a brilliant, authentic musical experience. Dan and co held the space and created a special, intimate experience for their fans and the audience leant into that. It felt like a one off, that the audience were fortunate to be there and be part of it – and I’m very glad I was.
- Look out for our interview with Charlie Barnes about his new album, The Heart of the Home.
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