Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
Mon 31 Oct
With their second album Wild World topping the charts, Dan Smith and co. are an enormous draw in their own right. In fact, a packed-out Motorpoint Arena, this Halloween, proved that fans just can’t get enough of the lads’ catch-all choruses and worry-wart lyrics. Bastille’s 90-minute set had more treats than any kid could haul from door-to-door, this Hallow’s Eve.
As a haze pumped out onto the stage, the opening sample from the band’s sophomore album Wild World filled the arena as we were asked: “So, what would you little maniacs like to do first?” Singer Dan Smith took centre stage – crowded by the band’s extensive setup, including three brass, two strings, keyboards, MIDI-drum pads and guitars – and in-keeping with the holiday, performed the warped horror-tinged thriller Send Them Off!
While Dan chortled at his awkward dad-dancing, he encouraged his captive audience to help him out. And, if your eyes weren’t drawn to the pogoing teens around you, you were instantly mesmerised by the visual aids exploding on the screens behind them. True to their album Wild World the aesthetics hinted at the more politically-charged moments of our everyday lives, while also showing us the beauty in escapism and, quite simply, colour and fun.
Soon the band’s name was emblazoned on a large backdrop, while strobe lighting flickered the ghosting image of two wire sculptures, mimicking Wild World’s album cover. Fans welcomed their new music including Four Walls and Lethargy.
Bastille’s set, buoyed by massive hits like Things We Lost in the Fire, Icarus and Flaws, demonstrated the impressive longevity of debut album Bad Blood and the canny release of extended version All This Bad Blood.
The songs that Smith crafts and performs are profoundly personal, which he describes as: “depressing songs hidden by happy melodies.” It was no surprise, then, that the audience reacted the way it did as Bastille played catchy-hit after catchy-hit. At several points in the evening, Smith even disappeared from the stage, worming his way through the masses, only to reappear on the tech-booth or straddling the upper balcony.
The return to Bastille’s breakout song Pompeii was welcome at the end of the night – though you feared for the Motorpoint’s foundations, such was the level of rapturous applause. This final burst of energy echoed throughout the venue, Bastille cast their spell over departing the crowd who reverberated “eh-eh-oh-eh-oh, eh-eh-oh-eh-oh…”
words ZOE BROOKES