Live Review: Bastille - Motorpoint Arena Cardiff
BASTILLE
MOTORPOINT ARENA
CARDIFF
[13/04/2022]
Bastille take the step up to arenas effortlessly with a high production career-spanning set
Bastille are an established live force, regularly selling out academy dates across the UK and headlining mid-tier festivals such as Latitude and Wilderness. In our review of their latest record, ‘Give Me The Future’, we noted how certain tracks were ‘crying out for an arena stage’ such as tonight, and on this tour, the band have taken the step up to the much larger capacity arenas effortlessly.
Fitting in with the records focus on the terrors of an increasingly techno-focused future, a digital grid fills the stage akin to 1980s classic Tron. The highlight of the setup is a screenless wide projection display that manages to present incredibly high-quality videos despite being projected over intricate light riggings, it’s a technical marvel that suits the themes of the album perfectly. In between live footage of the band, the audience is guided through the evening by the fictional Future Inc, the Facebook-style menacing tech corporation that is at the centre of the album's universe. The crowd is ‘plugged in’ and taken through various memories, which basically translates to easily digestible sections of the evening.
Frontman Dan Smith and the band feel at home with the larger than life production. Smith frequently bounds across the multi-storey layout which contains the rest of the group spread out across its levels. Backing singers BIM (who features prominently on the new record) and Senab feel like key new members of the band rather than simple accompaniments. They impressively bounce their vocals with Smith throughout the evening
The set encompassed the majority of Bastille’s discography, whilst understandably placing a large focus on the group's latest material. Disappointingly there were a few notable omissions and remixes, specifically, it was a shame not to see the stellar ‘Thelma + Louise’, which is a significant highlight from ‘Give Me The Future’. The revised instrumental for the chorus of ‘Happier’ was jarring, to say the least - a misjudged techno-influenced adjustment to one of the band's most iconic melodies. This was a juxtaposition to the band’s most recent dance collaboration, ‘Run Into Trouble’ with Alok which shined bright, a surprise highlight of the evening. For the most part, the setlist highlighted the breadth and depth of Bastille’s now vast discography.
Smith’s vocals are stellar, his live range is astounding and is an almost exact replication of his high-quality studio vocals, a remarkable feat. Each member of the group also gets their chance to shine through drum fills, guitar solos or their own vocal flairs. Smith, however, did seem displeased at sound issues in the first couple of tracks. For the audience, most of these were practically unnoticeable, albeit a very sharp feedback screech during ‘Distorted Light Beam’. Smith’s push for perfection displayed how much care and thought had clearly gone into the evening's production.
A few times throughout the evening he interacts with the audience, with Smith’s now standard self-deprecating humour. He makes frequent mentions of the band's trademark penchant for a sad song mixed with strong upbeat production. Smith, however, did seem genuinely overjoyed by the crowd's euphoric reaction to the show, noting how “fucking nice is to be back at gigs”.
That euphoria can be felt through the standout moments of the evening; a rare and raucous performance of their endeavour into pop-punk ‘WHAT YOU GONNA DO??’, a powerful rendition of ‘Pompeii’ that brought the arena together in communal chant, and the disco powered finale of ‘Shut Off The Lights’ which showcased how, almost a decade into their career, Bastille and their live show continues to evolve.
Across two hours Bastille made commanding a large arena look effortless. ‘Give Me the Future’ is a welcome addition to their live repertoire and it only feels natural now the band get the opportunity to tackle the main stages of Reading Festival and beyond.
8/10
Setlist:
Stay Awake?
Distorted Light Beam
Things We Lost in the Fire
Laura Palmer
Oblivion
Those Nights
Quarter Past Midnight
Back to the Future
Plug In…
WHAT YOU GONNA DO???
survivin'
Good Grief
Give Me the Future
4AM
No Bad Days
Happier
Run Into Trouble (Alok cover)
Of the Night
Future Holds
Pompeii
Encore:
Hope for the Future
Shut Off the Lights
Bastille conclude their tour with the following dates:
April 14th - O2 Academy - Birmingham
April 15th - O2 Academy - Birmingham
April 17th - Plymouth Pavilions - Plymouth
April 18th - Brighton Centre - Brighton
To find out more ticket information visit their site here.