Review: Bastille – The Waterfront

March is shaping up to be Bastille’s month, given that in the past week they’ve released their first album, Bad Blood, had a number two in the UK charts with their single Pompeii, reached number one on the album chart and, last Friday night, were honoured with a headline slot at The Waterfront.

Uncanny…

The night begins as, drenched from the rain and stressed out by a forgotten ticket (and the consequent journey back to campus to collect it), I take one step into the crowded venue and find Dan Smith, the lead singer of Bastille, standing three feet away from me. Fortunately for both of us, I’m suddenly immensely distracted by his uncanny resemblance to Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) of T.V show How I Met Your Mother, and he slips backstage before I can rugby tackle him in affectionate excitement, or do anything embarrassing.

This is an above average start to a gig, and once my pulse sorts itself out, I realise that the support, MS MR, are a friendly, chilled out band from New York with electro tendencies and a gorgeous female lead voice. Her vocals ring out clearly, which is a refreshing escape from the over-eager bassists of too many forgettable support bands. They’re good as background music which, when you’re headed for the bar, is pretty perfect.

Bastille is exactly the kind of band to turn up on time, and they do. They’re hard to define, a kind of pop/synth/indie mix, but they’re as good live as they are on their fresh album, and Smith is much better frontman than I might’ve expected considering the whole adorable, awkward thing he does, like he grew up gawky and is still surprised to be paid attention to. Icarus and Bad Blood are played early on, these big hits warming the crowd up properly. Smith’s voice is great live, and especially impressive since so much of the band’s sound is created in the layering of (surprisingly high) vocals. Happily, this seems to shame some of the tipsy baritones into quiet.

It’s sad because Bastille’s original songs are generally good, but their two covers, City High’s What Would You Do? and The Rhythm of the Night by Corona, are the highlights of the night. They’re old Bastille favourites and great, distinct versions.

The night ends, of course, with Pompeii and Flaws, their highest charting single and the song which instigated their Youtube popularity. They’re the tracks most akin to pop, and people have been waiting for them. It’s a big, wholehearted, happy dancing end to the evening, which is, after all, what this sold out crowd came for.

Photo credit: Ewan Sears