GIG REVIEW: Bastille @ Manchester AO Arena, 08/04/22

If you listen to any track from Bastille’s new album ‘Give Me The Future’, it quickly becomes obvious that it is based around the concept of a future that has been predicted, but that we as the human race are not necessarily prepared for; ‘we’re living 1984, if doublethink’s no longer fiction, we’ll dream of Huxley’s Island shores’ lead vocalist and band founder Dan Smith sings on one of the album’s highlights ‘Give Me the Future’.

But as ambitious as the album’s themes are on record, they are best heard when brought to life in a live setting, as we discovered on Friday night at Manchester’s AO Arena.

Zealous and dynamic, but never overly extravagant, Smith danced, skipped and sprawled his way through the hour and a half set, occasionally lying down on the large psychiatrist-esque chair that sat in the middle of the stage, in doing so adding to the slightly uneasy but undeniably futuristic feel created by the astounding AI-based graphics that accompanied the performance.

Generally, however, Smith’s humble and involved performance style - along with the enthusiasm of the rest of the band, particularly the two female backing singers and the lead guitarist - balanced out the innovative stage design well, and despite the dark themes tackled by many of Bastille’s songs tackle (depression, suicide, the end of the world), created a light-hearted, inclusive atmosphere that was clearly much appreciated by the audience.

Highlights of the night included the mischievous yearning of ‘Good Grief’, the dance-pop escapism of ‘Stay Awake?’ and the Ibiza-friendly ‘Run Into Trouble’, which will undoubtedly become a crowd favourite in

Whilst the anthemic ‘Pompeii’ understandably got the best reaction of the night, the band were right to close with ‘Shut Off The Lights’, a track from the new album in which the protagonist is told ‘empty your head, be here with me, we’ll tune out the noise for a moment’.

It concluded an evening that had been all about looking for an escape from our increasingly overwhelming, technology-centred world that few of us are ready to fully embrace.