BLEACHERS // BARROWLAND BALLROOM, GLASGOW
On their triumphant return to Glasgow, Bleachers prove that the only way from here is up - and two saxophones are better than one!
★★★★☆ (4/5)
BLEACHERS PERFORMING AT GLASGOW’S BARROWLANDS
PHOTOCREDIT: KENDALL WILSON
Bleachers' frontman Jack Antonoff alleges that the first and only time his band played in Glasgow there were nine people in the audience. Speaking to fans who were in attendance that night it was more likely into triple digits but for the bargain price of £10 - even in 2015 - it seems almost criminal that anyone could've passed up such a gig. In the nine intervening years, the band has expanded their catalogue to four albums of nostalgia therapy; Breakfast Club anthems touching on love, loss and the general specific of 21st century angst. While Antonoff has collaborated on many, wildly successful projects with other artists it's in Bleachers that his musical identity is its most raw and authentic. The sound is iconically New Jersey, iconically millennial, and in this Bleachers has forged an irresistible dynamic. And so for their second Glasgow outing - at more than triple the ticket price - Bleachers upscaled not once but twice, from SWG3 to the iconic almost-2000-capacity Barrowlands Ballroom, and sold it out.
Scottish-born, London-based artist Kaeto landed the coveted support slot for this From The Studio to The Stage Tour and duly delivers an uncompromising set of amalgam pop which is simultaneously ethereal and violent. Closing with the instantly familiar groove of No Body, she ensures the energy in the room is high ahead of the main event as she heads to the merch desk to give away postcards.
With the pervasive oscillation that is characteristic of their songs, Bleachers opt for an understated start as latest album opener I Am Right On Time winds the crowd up gently. It's going to be a long night but no-one quite knows that yet. They come out all guns blazing on Modern Girl though. There are three saxophones on the stage and they're immediately threatening on this track. In fact, there's very limited relief from the intensity of dual saxes and dual drums throughout.
The fierce urgency of How Dare You Want More fades into the sweet simplicity of Wake Me. Antonoff recalls that first Glasgow gig with energetic sincerity and dedicates his cathartic grief bop Everybody Lost Somebody to the supposed nine people who showed up in 2015. His affection and genuine appreciation for the Scottish audience is voiced often and the love is clearly reciprocated with exaggerated ovations and occasionally thunderous singalongs.
The romantic devotional Me Before You carries tones of Springsteen's Secret Garden and so when it segues tenderly into an actual Springsteen collaboration - hypnotic dream sequence, Chinatown - the crowd is already there waiting. As a songwriter, Antonoff really excels at building these quite straight-forward, mildly intense and melodramatic, love songs and the mid-set is loaded with them. There's very few artists who can pull off 80s pastiche with both earnestness and self-awareness but this is where Bleachers have made their niche. Addressing the crowd, he speaks with an almost aggressive friendliness (New Jersey, man! IYKYK) about what it all means to him; where music comes from, inspiration and genius; what he loves to feel in music as a listener and as a performer, and eventually he rambles onto a cover of The Waterboys that nearly brings the house down through audience participation.
They carry on, unrelenting still. The one-two punch of Rollercoaster and Let's Get Married sees Antonoff commanding the crowd to rise on one another's shoulders and later he even plays his acoustic guitar with such ferocity that his hand requires minor medical attention. They're not fucking around. It's after 10.30pm when Antonoff announces that they're foregoing the false-encore protocol. Thank God! the applause has been exhausting!
Their 20-song set crescendos in the last quarter with a sequence of what can only be described as "absolute bangers"; an embarrassment of riches representing each of their studio albums. At 11pm Antonoff calls to put the lights up on the audience so that the band can take in the full glorious scene of their triumphant "Glasgow 2" and with the promise of "Glasgow 3: as soon as fucking possible" they launch into Don't Take The Money, closing the night with a crash of euphoric bitter-sweetness. Bleachers leave it all on the stage, regardless of how many people they're playing for, and the feeling from this performance is that it could've been a lot bigger. For certain it could not have been smaller and it might not be this small again. Time will tell. Hopefully not too much time though.
