I Just Read About That…

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 20, 2024] Bombay Bicycle Club

 

The show opened with bouncy horns and fanfare as they sang the song “Just a Little More Time.”  The live version was bigger and felt more fun than the record and I knew that this was going to be an enjoyable set.

This segued into the second song on the new album, which had lots of drums and a cool guitar riff and sound.  I really enjoyed watching guitarist Jamie MacColl, confidently playing these riff and getting such varied sounds.

The middle of the song has Jack Steadman whispering I want to let go and forget and he was indeed whispering it pretty quietly.  So much so that some jackass yelled “fix the mic” just before he started getting louder.  Duh.

It turns out that their drummer Suren de Saram had a family emergency and had to go home.  So their drum tech Josh P. Gale filled in and did a great job.  The drums in a lot of these songs aren’t complex but there are intricate parts that really flesh out the sound.  And he nailed it (I say without knowing the songs all that well, I must admit).

I don’t know much of their output, but I really enjoyed “Dust on the Ground” which is a bit more classic Brit indie rock which makes me think I’d like their debut album quite a lot.

Steadman was a lot of fun, bouncing around, turning the mic for us to sing along and chatting between songs.  When they played a couple of songs off of their comeback album (they took a six year hiatus starting in 2014), he joked that they released their new album at the worst possible time (pandemic) and that’s whay it has been ten years since they played the U.S.

I was fascinated by the song “Feel” which has a distinctly Indian feel both in the opening sample (which is clearly Indian) and the guitar riff which has an Indian vibe.  I mean, their name is already a little questionable I suppose, but it turns out that this album was (according to Wikipedia) “written during frontman Jack Steadman’s travels through India, Japan and Turkey, it uses a wider range of instrumentation and a lesser use of guitars.”  It turns out this song uses a sample from the 1954 Bollywood film Nagin.  I guess I’ll have to listen to this album more closely too.

The new songs were fun and bouncy and “My Big Day” was dedicated to anyone whose birthday was that day (two people said it was).  Introducing the song written about “the best video game ever,” Steadman noted that they somehow managed to get Chaka Khan to sing on the song.  And how were they ever going to play it without dragging Chaka Khan along with them.  Well, they found  the next best thing in Olive Jones.  Olive sang great backing (and lead vocals) with a gorgeous voice that plays in different genres (a bit R& B and a bit indie on “Driving” which on the album is sung by Holly Humberstone).  Steadman wondered if they should record another version with Olive and I say hell yea.

I didn’t really enjoy “Lights Out, Words Gone” too much as it felt a little too adult contemporary to me.  Although the live version was better than the recording with Olive Jones nailing the vocals.  But the crowd enjoyed everything.  I don’t think the venue was anywhere near sold out, but the crowd was pretty big and we sang along quite nicely.  Everyone around me knew the words to everything.  I wonder how they knew about this band that I genuinely didn’t.

“Luna” features some big moments and the build up to them was quite tasty.   The song “How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep” was a good example of the crowd singing along.  The lyrics aren’t hard and by the end of the few minutes, even I was singing along.

One of my favorite songs was the somewhat heavier “Everything Else Has Gone Wrong” a very unfortunate album title for a just-before-the-pandemic release.  It was followed by the single from the album.  “Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing but You)” was their comeback single and is, I believe, quite beloved.  The guitar line is rubbery and bouncy and the chorus literally repeats the title over and over and yes, we all sang it over and over.

The band left the stage except for Jack and Olive and they sang two songs with just an acoustic guitar.  he told us that we were a great crowd–loud during the loud bits and quite during the quiet bits and better yet, no one ironically raised a lighter during the acoustic songs.

They followed up the acoustic quietness with a storming “Evening/Morning” (clearly their debut album is one I will like).  This song has some cool bass sections and gave Ed Nash a moment in the spotlight.

“Mediatate” features Nilufur Yanya on the record.  No one sounds like Yanya, but Olive Jones did a great job singing her parts.

They ended the set with “Always Like This” another bouncy fun song from their debut that I really liked.

The band left the stage and then came back a few minutes later to play a song that made everyone squeal with delight.  “Shuffle.”  I didn’t know this and actually found it a little less catchy than their other songs.  But boy everyone seemed to be pretty thrilled with it.

Overall, it was a super fun set–I got into the vibe immediately and was really glad I went.  I didn’t know the band that well ahead of time, but they quickly made a fan of me.

1. Just a Little
2. More Time ♠
3. I Want to Be Your Only Pet ♠
4. Dust on the Ground ∑
5. Feel ⇔
6. My Big Day ♠
7. Tekken 2 ♠
8. Lights Out, Words Gone ⊕
9. Luna ⇔
10. How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep ⊕
11. Diving ♠
12. Everything Else Has Gone Wrong Ø
13. Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing but You) Ø
14. Flaws (solo acoustic) ¥
15. You Already Know (solo acoustic)
16. Evening/Morning ∑
17. Meditate ♠
18. Always Like This ∑
    encore
19. Shuffle ⊕

♠ My Big Day (2023)