An eruption of screams and the darkness swallows the stage as the lights go down. Drummer Chris, Bassist Will, Keyboardist Kyle and, finally the lead man, Dan, appear and roars explode. They are straight away in to their first song ‘Bad Blood’, beginning their massive set list of 16 songs, and, immediately, the crowd is infused.
Soon after the shy and polite lead introduces the band on to the stage, they charge in to ‘The Silence’ as the atmosphere progressively grows. ‘Overjoyed’ then coolly soothes the atmosphere, and I have never seen such dedication from a crowd to scream every word in unison. Things hit an apex soon as ‘The Weight of Living Pt. II’ and ‘Laura Palmer’ kicks in, once more sending the crowd into an uproar of energy. ‘Sleepsong’ dazzles the crowd with Dan Smith showing off his ability to astound with the fantastic tones of his voice. ‘Poet’ and ‘What Would You Do?’ afterwards forces the atmosphere of the crowd to hit breaking point. It was a testament to Bastille’s skill at capturing their live audience.
From here things only improved as the band show off their plethora of talent. ‘Oblivion’ was the emotional highlight, and as ‘Icarus’ opened Bastille revealed their inner film geek with audio from Requiem for a Dream. Kyle and Dan began to reminisce about Leeds Uni prior to the climatic ending, Bastille hitting the spectators with ‘These Streets’, ‘Things We Lost in the Fire’, ‘Rhythm is a Dancer’ and ‘Pompeii’, all of which we are actively encouraged to join in with.
They leave but the crowd’s chants of ‘Encore!’ brings them to storm on to the stage sending the audience into mass exhilaration. ‘Get Home’ once again hits the emotional strings, but is overshadowed by the pure ecstasy that ‘Flaws’ brought as Dan ran through the crowd, sending shockwaves throughout the crowd. Once returned thanks the crowd for the night and I can honestly say only one thing – thank you, Bastille for an unforgettable live experience.
ALEX KILLEEN