Bleachers Show 11/2021

About two weeks ago I attended my second show since pre-COVID times. I was delighted to see Bleachers for a third time, the first two shows dating back to 2017.

As many know, Jack Antonoff busies himself with a myriad of side projects, including those with Lorde, Taylor Swift, and Lana Del Rey. Yet he and his band, Bleachers, eventually released their third album, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night (TTSOOSN), earlier this year. It is not difficult to find critical reviews of the album among some praise.

I think some people’s disappointment stems from an issue not specific to Bleachers but rather one ubiquitous throughout the music industry: it felt like the entire album was released before its official release date. Streaming services have transformed how we listen to music and subsequently how much is released, mostly for the worse in my opinion.

But back to this new release. Unhappy diehard fans felt cheated out of new music given the new album’s length and considering that even one of the non-singles, “Strange Behavior,” is a cover of a song from one of Jack’s previous projects. I sense that some Bleachers supporters felt cheated of an entirely new album that they expected and deserved after a long drought of new content; some concluded that Jack has clearly become too involved with his other projects.

Although Gone Now is by far my favorite Bleachers album, I still enjoy listening to TTSOOSN. Thematically, the album resonates with me – “Stop Making This Hurt” and “What’d I Do With All This Faith?” stand out. I also appreciate the sound but recognize that the 80s synth pop/rock can polarize people. I adore “Don’t Go Dark.” Upon first listen, the chronology of the tracks felt unbalanced, but now it makes sense to me. The music videos created for TTSOOSN hypnotized me, particularly those for “Chinatown” and “Stop Making This Hurt.” That’s saying a lot, considering that I am not usually enthusiastic about music videos and seldom watch them more than once if at all.

Regardless of how I felt about the album, I was stoked to attend another show, and Bleachers felt like the right group for my second dive back into live music.

A new venue out in Chesterfield hosted the band, which made me rent a car for the occasion. Not my favorite thing to do when I could easily commute to a show at Delmar Hall or The Pageant for free, but I must admit that the show being in Chesterfield rather than in St. Louis proper elicited a joke or two from Jack on-stage. One of my favorite highlights of the night was when Jack called Chesterfield “Chesterfuck,” which felt appropriate.

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I was fourth in line and was presently surprised to befriend some fellow fans. That was definitely not the case at the Foxing show a couple months ago. Getting into the pit was easy and more or less anxiety-free. Claud, the opener, was great.

I am still trying to acclimate to this city’s different type of crowd. I find that St. Louis crowds are much tamer than those in Chicago. It was also strange that this date on the tour did not sell out. I must say I have been to many fabulous shows that also did not sell out, and I realize the pandemic and the venue’s location may play a role. However, it was not difficult to tell that the show did not sell out. Bleachers is always a blast in concert, and most of the fans on the barricade, like me, engrossed themselves in the music and the band’s presence. But the rest of the pit seemed dead. What did not help the case was that the seated balcony area brimmed with the venue’s middle-aged VIP holders who showed up to the show simply because they could yet did not know who Jack was. It was disappointing to feel like the energy was lacking during “Don’t Take The Money” and “Don’t Go Dark.”

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But that’s all on the crowd and other factors not related to the band. Bleachers still poured their hearts out and, all in all, had a great time. It never gets old seeing Jack and Evan’s side-by-side stage presence while Evan blares his saxophone, and Jack’s personality never fails to shine. It was fun to hear some of the new songs live and even some older ones that I did not expect them to play, such as “Foreign Girls.” The crowd even managed to coerce Jack into playing a few reprises of “Dream of Mickey Mantle,” which accentuated my nostalgia for the second time I saw Bleachers live in 2017 – a magical, unforgettable show that culminated in my meeting Jack afterwards.

Artists touring again indicate to me a world slowly returning to “normal,” and I am thankful Bleachers is among them. I need to work on writing about these experiences sooner afterwards.