Jack Antonoff and Bleachers have been on a rip-roaring tear since before the July, 2014 release of their debut album, Strange Desire
Which begs the question … with only one album in the can, how do you go about delivering on a headlining set? For Bleachers it meant playing their whole album, drawing out the band intros with some jams, and adding covers of Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own Way and Green Day’s Basket Case to the set. That all gets the performance to a respectable hour and ten minutes, but what these guys were able to deliver in that time cannot be measured in minutes.
With two drum kits, a pair of mirrored keyboard stations and huge Bleachers backdrop, the stage may have at first appeared simplistic. But once the band kicked into their opener Wild Heart, it was immediately clear that all of that empty space served a purpose. Not content to strum away behind a mic stand, Antonoff was a dervish on stage, tromping across every inch front-to-back and side-to-side in his yellow-laced Doc Martens.
In addition to unleashing pure energy, Jack still managed to connect with each and every individual in that 1,000+ person room in a way that few performers can. From engaging with the front row from the edge of the stage to some humorous banter with someone who tossed a Steel Train t-shirt on-stage (which was returned to the thrower who was then offered a free shirt from the merch table), the whole night was a love-in. And while the crowd got louder as the night went on and the drinks flowed, the collective inebriation was more driven by what was happening on stage than by what was floating in anyone’s blood stream.
Bleachers clearly loves San Francisco and San Francisco loves them right back. Here’s to hoping they return soon!
Setlist:
- Wild Heart
- Shadow
- Like a River Runs
- Wake Me
- Reckless Love
- Take Me Away
- Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac cover)
- Rollercoaster
- You’re Still a Mystery
–Encore–
- Basket Case (Green Day cover)
- Who I Want You to Love
- I Wanna Get Better
Supporting acts: Joywave | Night Terrors of 1927
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