Live Review: Bastille – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London 17/11/2024
Tears, laughter, and every emotion in between were experienced at Bastille’s intimate gig at London’s Shepherd Bush Empire.
Stories. If there was one word to sum up Bastille’s intimate show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire, this would be it. Whether it be the stories from ‘“&” (Ampersand)’ which celebrate different characters throughout history, or the personal stories that fans created from the show, it was an evening that welcomed narrative in all its forms. Surrounded by candles and bathed in a warm orange glow, it deviated from Bastille’s normal course of events by allowing us a glimpse into a more tender and emotionally vulnerable side of vocalist Dan Smith, which allowed the crowd to lower their guards and be fully present to experience all the emotional highs and lows from the music. Whether you needed a cry, a laugh, an embrace in musical form, or anything else to satisfy your emotional needs, Bastille delivered this and left the audience complete with unforgettable memories.
Glaswegian musician Kerr Mercer brought a stirring start to the evening, starting with low vocals before building to a searing chorus in opener ‘Jealous’. With a powerful voice that teemed with emotion, Mercer wasted no time in sending shivers down everyone’s back. That was hardly the only point in his set where you involuntarily held your breath and experienced goosebumps, as Mercer’s bruising lyricism and achingly beautiful melodies pierced to your core in ‘Love To Lose’, before he slightly picked up the pace and switched from keys to guitar in ‘Timeless’. Despite being a musician who has yet to officially release any music, Mercer showed no such signs with his compelling stage presence and his masterful control over the music. Bringing a light-hearted demeanour between songs, Mercer joked that he was going to play a cover “so you’re not all bored to tears” before delving into ‘Another Love’, captivating the audience with a heart-breaking rendition that allowed us to experience the song through a different perspective. Closing with ‘One In A Million’, we were treated to Mercer’s dramatic build-ups for one final time this evening as he earnestly sang, ‘darling don’t you be afraid, this could be different / one in a million, we’ll be what we’re missing’.
With poignancy lingering in the atmosphere, Bastille took to the stage with the bittersweet ‘Intros & Narrators’ and guided you to a full immersion within the world of ‘& (Ampersand)’. The sweet opening of ‘Emily & Penthouse In The Sky’ quickly gave way to rousing vocal harmonies in the chorus, while gently plucked guitars brought an ambling movement to the track which encouraged gentle swaying from the crowd. ‘Seasons & Narcissus’ tugged at your heartstrings as Smith muses ‘is this real love I’m falling in?’, exacerbated by stirring swells from the accompanying string quartet and airy falsetto vocals from the likes of AK Patterson, Florrie, and Moira Mack. However, it was Smith’s own falsetto that offered an unforgettable highlight of the evening in ‘Drawbridge & The Baroness’, which Smith had professed to be one of his own personal favourite tracks that was “really f***ing hard to sing.” As the band fell away after an explosive bridge to let Smith’s voice ring out solo for the end, you could not help but be mesmerised by all the unspoken emotions held within that one note.
Perennial crowd favourite ‘Pompeii’ was given an acoustic treatment that transformed the upbeat singalong we thought we knew and loved, into a spine-tingling ballad that drew on elements of musical minimalism to create and introspective and atmospheric version of the track. As the last echoes of the piano faded out, Smith delved into the story underpinning the next song, ‘Zheng Yi Sao & Questions For Her’. Written about a pirate queen who dominated the high seas yet remained relatively unknown throughout history, the track highlighted the uniqueness of ‘& (Ampersand)’ in the way it shines a light not only on previously unexplored tales but also in the band’s sonic evolution, as it strips back to the bare bones and allow ideas to freely express themselves. ‘Telegraph Road 1977 & 2022’ offers another striking example of this, as Smith revealed that it was based on a poem written by his father while travelling through San Francisco, while his mother sang the backing vocals on the album to complete the personal connection of the track. The tinker of the piano gave way to lulling guitars in ‘Mademoiselle & The Nunnery Blaze’, while ‘Essie & Paul’ commanded your attention with a forceful performance that saw Smith deliberately gesturing as if he was conducting the crowd.
Surprising the crowd with an unreleased song, an easy-going ‘la la la’ in between chorus and verse lent a catchiness that guaranteed the song will become lodged in your brain (and frustratingly so as you cannot listen to it again until it gets released). This was contrasted against the profoundly melancholic ‘Good Grief’, which, when stripped of its zealous sonics, laid bare the despair as the musicians onstage took turns to sing each line before concluding ‘I miss you more’. A flicker of hope was reignited in finale ‘Blue Sky & The Painter’, which offers a message of resilience and triumph as Smith concluded, ‘is that a blue sky? It’s about damn time.’ Leaving the audience with this message of optimism, Bastille retreated from a night to remember. As they shared their hearts with fans and we laid bare our emotions in return, we cannot help but wonder if, and when, we will ever share this opportunity again. What is clear though, is that there is plenty more on the horizon and we can eagerly await all that is to come from Bastille.
Words by Athena Kam
Photography by Abigail Shii
