Bleachers released their latest album, ‘Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night‘ in July and are now hitting the road to play the new songs. On Sunday night, the band took the stage for the second time in two years. The return of live music has evoked emotion for a lot of people. And Bleachers frontman Jack Antonoff was not immune to that Sunday night. After performing three songs beautifully to start the show, Jack spoke to the crowd for the first time. He talked about how great it felt to be back performing live and this being the bands’ second show before abruptly ending the interaction by saying, “how f*cking lucky are we? but if we don’t start playing, I’m going to cry.”
Following that, the beginning notes of ‘How Dare You Want More’ rang across the Rooftop at Pier 17. As the song came to an end, the crowd was delighted with a dueling guitar and saxophone battle between Antonoff and saxophonist Evan Smith.
A sold-out crowd gathered for a special night of music with the band. Lead singer Jack Antonoff again noted how great it is to be back playing. Referencing their newest album, Antonoff described how the tracks were written to be performed live. However, “we’ve been apart for so long, and now these songs are coming alive in these shows. For a long time I dreamed of being back with you, and I’m so f*cking glad we’re here.”
The enthusiasm the band expressed being back was given right back from the crowd. All night the crowd was electric.
Bleachers
One really cool thing about the show was seeing so many of these songs performed live for some of the first times. The first Bleachers show back was the night before in New Jersey, and although they were still fresh back, it was outstanding. ‘Don’t Go Dark’ was a song that Antonoff noted fans were hearing live for the first time.
‘Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night‘ is a great album, and especially when played live the sounds are enhanced. One of the true joys from the night was seeing the full band and how they interacted throughout the night. In the six-piece band, many of them would switch between instruments often playing multiple. Bouncing from saxophone, guitar, the keys, and more. It was impressive to watch the talent displayed.
While storytelling is a highlight of Bleachers songwriting style, the band is excellent at doing that between songs as well. Antonoff told the story of ‘Rollercoaster’ and how it was written very close to the venue here at Manhattan’s Seaport. He talked about how it was the first song he wrote for the band and how he still cannot believe it resulted in the fans it has today. Fans that wrap around a giant Seaport square to pack the sold-out venue. He called for fans to get on one another’s shoulders and rock out like it was pre-pandemic. A scan across the venue saw large tower-esque stacked figures dancing throughout the crowd.
Bleachers
The electric performance was followed by a stripped-down acoustic-only performance by Antonoff for the song ’45’ to be played for the first time live.
Song after song, Bleachers excited the crowd as everybody sang together. The band noted their delight with the crowd saying, “You all have been so great, we don’t need to fake the encore bullshit. We’re staying on stage and playing two more songs!”
The crowd erupted as ‘Don’t Take the Money’ was played, followed by ‘Say Goodbye Like You Mean It.’
And the crowd and band both said Goodbye (and thank you) like they meant it. A thank you for a wonderful night of music.
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