Bastille celebrated a big milestone this year as their debut album Bad Blood is now 10 years old. The record of the British band debuted at Number 1 on the UK albums chart and includes their first commercial hit “Pompeii.” To celebrate Bastille had been performing special shows, aptly named Bad Blood X tour, throughout Europe. As a final hurrah, the band selected the Wiltern in Los Angeles on Aug. 25th as their last celebratory stop.
The show started with a video montage of clips taken from their Bad Blood Tour. It was nostalgic to see how far they’ve come as a band, as each clip highlighted a different accomplishment they've had. When the first melody of “Pompeii'' made an appearance the whole crowd cheered with excitement. That was the queue for the band to make their grand entrance as they performed the bombastic hit. Bastille performed their debut album Bad Blood from start to finish. Bad Blood is a dark and lyrically layered album filled with earworm choruses and haunting piano ballads. It was a treat to hear all the tracks that they normally never play live including “Daniel in the Den,” “Get Home” and “These Streets.”
The band's chemistry on stage is undeniable as they placed all their energy into delivering an unforgettable performance. Drummer Chris “Woody” Wood is a pro at hyping up the crowd as he would occasionally stand up with the melodies and encourage the crowd to dance and sway with his drumsticks. Keyboardist Kyle Simmons and bassist Will Farquarson did their best to entertain each side of the stage with their playing. Frontman Dan Smith has become quite comfortable on stage through the years - embracing his quirky and witty personality. It was fun to hear him chat about their state of mind while creating the album. Smith never missed a beat as he delighted fans by singing all the high notes and catchy choruses of their catalog. As always Smith jumped down to the crowd and walked around the venue during their performance of “Flaw.” The visuals shown during each performance added another nostalgic layer to the show with various homages to their past music videos.
The show was divided into two segments - one dedicated to Bad Blood and the other to their previous catalog. The last part of their set included “Good Grief” their sophomore album Wild World, “Million Pieces” from their third album Doom Days, and their biggest hit to date “Happier.” The band also brought back the old classic mashup of TLC’s “No Scrubs” and The xx’s “Angels” titled “No Angels” and ended the night with “Shut off the Lights” from the band’s last album Give Me The Future.
Setlist:
- Pompeii
- Things We Lost in the Fire
- Bad Blood
- Overjoyed
- These Streets
- Weight of Living, Pt. II
- Icarus
- Oblivion
- Flaws
- Daniel in the Den
- Laura Palmer
- Get Home
- Weight of Living, Pt. I
Encore:
- Good Grief
- WHAT YOU GONNA DO???
- The Draw
- No Angels
- Happier
- Million Pieces
- Of the Night
- Shut Off the Lights
