Bastille w/ Mondo Cozmo
WaMu Theater, Seattle, WA
04.26.17

After releasing their second album, Wild World, six months ago, UK band Bastille brought their Seattle fan base together for a passionate live show. The night featured a wide range of tracks with moody, meaningful lyrics.

To open the night, Mondo Cozmo – née Josh Ostrander – took the hazy stage for a few quick songs. Their sound was something like The Head and the Heart meets Band of Horses, but a little more out there with random samples thrown in. His performance was full of big, climactic songs that had the band head-banging and shouting along. A few songs in, the familiar opening of “Bittersweet Symphony” began to play. This was easily a big crowd hit, with Seahawks and Bastille fans alike singing along to both the instrumentals and lyrics with friends and laughing at the odd cover choice.

Opening with news from “Wild World Communications,” Bastille finally kicked off their set with “Send Them Off!” This track was a great choice to open with, as it’s one of the upbeat, insanely catchy songs from their latest album, and is on the less depressing side of their music. Everyone happily jumped and sang along with lead singer Dan Smith, before he spent the entirety of the next song walking through the middle of the crowd. He partied with fans who stood wide-eyed in disbelief, touching his shoulder as he passed by. This turned out to be one of the many times that Smith performed songs from places other than the stage.

The night slowed down with “Oblivion,” a crowd favorite from Bastille’s 2014 debut, Bad Blood.  The band performed it with a delicate passion that beautifully filled the need for a slower track in the set.

The powerful thing about a Bastille set is the balance of deeply emotional themes with incredibly catchy melodies. As Smith stated mid-set, the band, “makes pretty depressing music.” The lyrics in each song, despite how happy it may sound, hit on difficult topics as obscure as capital punishment, as addressed in “Four Walls.”

To open their encore from the sound board in the middle of the venue, the band played “Two Evils,” a haunting acoustic performance that seemed to gain a new weight when played in the middle of the cavernous venue with just simplistic spotlights. The mood turned around when they finished their set with “Pompeii.” Everyone jumped around to the familiar tune and Mondo Cozmo joined them on stage, drumming and having a great time.

Bastille had a wonderful performance. With songs that ranged from upbeat party tunes to sad ones that make you question every aspect of life, their set was well rounded and expertly executed. Smith’s strong vocals set themselves apart from the instruments in a way that perfectly paired with his dorky dance moves to make him a perfect front man. The dedicated fans packed in for a night of their beautiful music, and I don’t think the band could’ve done it any better, as it’s truly shocking more of their songs aren’t incredibly popular.

Review by Lulu Dawson
Photos by Logan Westom

Bastille

Mondo Cozmo