IN PHOTOS: Bastille rocks Manila

Paul John Caña

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IN PHOTOS: Bastille rocks Manila

Stephen Lavoie

The British band behind the hit song 'Pompeii' power through a minor injury to deliver a satisfying show

MANILA, Philippines – If I had to guess, the average age of the audience at the World Trade Center last night for the Bastille show was about 21. Teenagers tried hard to contain their excitement at the Manila debut of the British alternative rock band, and while there was ample room for a game of tag or even Frisbee at the venue, the hardcore “stormers” (what Bastille fans call themselves; history buffs will immediately get the reference) who were present made sure the guests of honor felt welcomed and loved. 

 

Bastille is composed of frontman Dan Smith, Chris Wood, William Farquarson and Kyle Simmons. All 4 appeared onstage at a few minutes past 9 pm and immediately launched into “Bad Blood” from their debut album of the same name.

Smith’s whisky-smooth voice – deep like a canyon but rising effortlessly towards glorious high notes – sounded exactly as it does on record, which was a relief. (READ: Dan Smith of Bastille: ‘We don’t care about the haters’)

See more photos here:

All photos by Stephen Lavoie

Mabuhay,” he said afterwards, earning another round of screams and catcalls. “Thank you so much for coming out to see us.”  

Wearing a black Jurassic Park shirt, a gray hoodie with a wolf print in the back, skinny jeans and high-top kicks, and his hair in that popular side buzz cut, Smith reminded me of a younger, cooler Rick Astley. Of course Bastille’s music couldn’t be further from ’80s gems like “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

Photo by Stephen Lavoie

Nominated for Best New Artist at this year’s Grammys, the British band plays the kind of hip, textured rock inoffensive to the ears; think The Killers but less of the glamour (and eye makeup), or Imagine Dragons with a bit more bite. 

The band played a mix of songs from the album (“Weight of Living, Pt. II,” Things We Lost In the Fire,” “Overjoyed,” “Oblivion”) as well as tracks released on earlier EPs, like a dance-ified cover of TLC’s “No Scrubs.”

At one point, Smith seemed to have a little mishap as his right ring finger got caught on one of the industrial fans and had to be bandaged; Wood had to improvise and did a quick drum solo. The injury didn’t seem to have an effect as Smith was still able to play the keyboards on some tracks. 

The frontman was also fun and flirtatious with the crowd. He got an audience member’s phone and took a selfie onstage in the middle of a song, and towards the end of the regular set, ran into the crowd with only a couple of burly bouncers for protection.

He even played “catch me if you can” with the most obsessed fans, who of course followed him with their phones as he ran around the back of the venue. 

Later, they uploaded this group photo of the band touring Manila:


 

There were perhaps not a few people in the crowd who weren’t as infatuated and only know the band for their monster hit, “Pompeii.” When they came back for the encore, they played a couple more songs, including “Of the Night” (which combines the classic Debarge hit “Rhythm of the Night” with a lesser-known song called “Rhythm is a Dancer” by a German group) that had everyone hopping in place, before the big finale.

You sometimes build expectations up in your head and think that they’ll never be that good, but when they did “Pompeii,” it really was. Everyone just kind of forgot about everything else and just surrendered to the song for three and half minutes. The shower of confetti only made the moment more special, even for people like me that pulled up the age average of the audience that night. – Rappler.com

 

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