I haven’t seen Bastille live since March,and with them being my favorite act of the year , I just had to check them out as they came back for Bad Blood Part II tour.
First act of the night was Rag ‘N’ Bones Man. He stole the crowds attention with his soulful voice from the off. The most impressive element about his act was that it featured just him, a drummer and a backing track. Definitely one to look out for when his name spreads more and more. If I were to liken Rag ‘N’ Bones Man to any current acts it would be Maverick Sabre and John Newman but more blues heavy which sets him apart immediately. Before the end of his set, Rag ‘N’ Bones Man brought a guest on stage with an impressive flow similar to Action Bronson. I particularly enjoyed his cover of The Animals “House of the Rising Sun”. This guy knows his music and blends it perfectly to create his own style that can blow most Top 40 Acts out of the water. Definitely want to see more of this guy soon.He creating such a full sound that kicked off the night superbly.
Next on the bill were Clean Bandit. No words can describe how upsetting this act was. The only way to describe their style is “New-Wave-Classical-Underground-90’s-Cheese-Hip- Hop- Pop. Sure they played their hearts out, I can’t take that away from them. But I think you’re best left to support Union J or play a teen choice awards presented by James Cordan and Nick Grimshaw. The odd sexual tension between the violinist and the backup singer was really unsettling and not needed, much like the violinist. I’ve had a few people text me asking what I thought of them and were surprised at my thoughts on Clean Bandit, so there is a possibility my distaste of this act is down to my own personal preference, but I doubt it. Good drummer though.
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The main act of the night, Dan Smith and his pals burst on stage like it’s their first show of the tour. I was so surprised at how much energy they all still had! These guys have been touring non – stop including festivals both nationally and internationally and yet they still have all this energy in their shows. Bastille opened with “Bad Blood” of course, they also went on to play many of their infamous singles such as “Things We Lost In The Fire”,” Overjoyed” & “Laura Palmer“. This tour sees the implementation of visual effects which I thought really works well seeing that Dan has such a cinematic mind. Bastille debuted three new songs; “Campus”, is a very experimental song from the guys that had a slight reggae influence to it that would be a perfect accompaniment to the 2014 summer season. There was a massive shock twist with song “Blame”; they us a guitar! Speaking of the new direction with guitar Dan told the crowd “As you can see Will is using a guitar. It’s the most common instrument, but this is a big move for us.” The band debuted a third new song “The Draw” will be released next month once again uses guitar. The new songs see a a heavy and dark Bastille that felt like it separated the hardcore Bastille fans from the pop-hit chasers and its really exciting to the boys able to reinvent themselves.