Bastille is a Thing and IT MADE MY WHOLE LIFE

[I wrote this like weeks ago - closer to when it actually happened - but could only finish it now for reasons, so yeah]

LITERALLY

I COULD DIE RIGHT NOW

AND BE PERFECTLY HAPPY

PROBABLY BE SINGING ONE OF THEIR SONGS AS IT HAPPENS:

"I'll come baaaaaaaaaack to haunt you.... memorieeeeeees will tauuuuunt you..."

"I don't want to rest in peace/I'd rather be the ghost that annoys you.... It's Day of the Dead, I'm Indiana Jones here/These coins sit upon our eyes/Pool our funds, we'll pay the boat together..."

For those who have no idea what the friggity is going on right now, me and my friend Anna saw Bastille LIVE IN CONCERT

AND THEY ARE LITERALLY PERFECT

JUST

EVERYTHING

I DIED

AND I ALSO CRIED

AND HUGGED ANNA A LOT

IT WAS A ROLLERCOASTER Y'ALL

They opened with Things We Lost in the Fire and just, if you can imagine like a dark stage and then Dan Smith's angelic voice just breaking the anticipating silence and everything was totally wonderful in that moment.

And just - the bass pulsing in the seats we had and Dan Smith grooving out as he sings and hopping around, like first of all, wow, that's some good endurance to be singing and doing that at the same time, and everyone in the band was just so passionate and it was amazing.

Then they played The Weight of Living Pt. 2 (they never played Pt. 1 which makes me sad but it was still INCREDIBLE) and the light show was amazing and everything was amazing. Just everything. And they even tagged Pt. 2 with the beginning of Pt. 1 and I was like "YASSSSSSS"

And then Laughter Lines.

I don't remember the order after that. But it was amazing.

And they even played a few songs that I hadn't heard before (the funny thing is that all the ones I hadn't heard Anna had so between us we're basically an encyclopedia of Bastille) like The Driver, and something that comes out on their next album which, as Dan put it (in his beautiful voice that makes me glow), "will come out hopefully at some point in the future." And also their cover of No Scrubs with like mixed in sound bites from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and, surprise surprise, it's much darker and god I love dark god I love Bastille they're LITERALLY PERFECT.

Sidebar: I really love Bastille's covers. Not necessarily because they're, like, perfect covers of the songs, but because they make the songs really fascinating. They have a gift for completely turning the original intention of a song on its head. My current favourite is their cover of No Scrubs, which is called No Angels because it's mixed in with Angels. What I love about it is that - the song is about class, right? The verses are all talking about "Ugh, look at that deadbeat who lives with his mother and doesn't own his own car," calling these guys "scrubs", and then the chorus is all "I don't want no scrubs, a scrub is a guy that can't get no love from me...." etcetera. And in the original song, these lyrics were completely sincere. But in Bastille's version, while keeping the lyrics completely identical, they've mixed it in with clips of Norman Bates talking about living in traps and tagged it with "Being as in love with you as I am," and suddenly the lyrics are entirely ironic. It's like, they're pointing out how flawed that way of thinking is - to immediately assume that someone who lacks money or opportunity is a bad person because of it - by subscribing to it. I believe my english teacher would call that verbal irony. And I think it's so cool that they found a way to reverse the intention so completely without even changing the words.

They did a similar thing when they covered Miley Cyrus's We Can't Stop. That was my favourite thing for a while, because at first it seems like, oh yeah, this is Bastille's cover of a party song, and then in the middle of it they throw in some Billy Ray: "Don't break his heart, his achy breaky heart, I just don't think you understand....." and suddenly it's about how out of control Miley is and how disappointed her father must be. Once again, unexpectedly flipping the intention of the song, and it's amazing.

But anyways, wow, that was a rant. But I do find it very fascinating. What can I say? Bastille's songs make me want to think about things.

But back to the concert.

It was fabulous. They are amazing live. And Dan's like jumping up and down as he sings and getting so into it. Even when they played Overjoyed (with super cool percussion!), while he was playing the piano, he was like bopping up and down and it was my favourite thing ever.

And at one point he played Oblivion and he was like, "If you've ever listened to, like, two songs on any of our albums, you've probably noticed that we have a few depressing ones. This is one of them. But it'll be better if you all do that cliche thing where you bring out your torches or phones - did anyone actually bring a torch?" (He calls 'em torches 'cause he's British, God they slay me. They slay me like Buffy slayed Sunday. I'm dead.) And anyway we all brought out our phones and waved 'em back and forth for Oblivion and I almost cried. But not yet.

No, the moment I cried was when they played The Silence. And I'm not kidding. I actually cried.

What you have to understand is that The Silence is an important song to me. Even before I'd fully figured out exactly what the words were saying, it had always reminded me of an old teacher of mine, M. Larrivee (qu'il repose en paix). I don't want to get all cheesy here, but let's leave it at the fact that Larrivee was an extremely influential man who made me reconsider the definition of intelligence and of storytelling, both of which are important to me, and I like to think of the song celebrating him, even if that wasn't the original intention.

And then, when I listened to the actual words, I realized that it was, in fact, about writer's block. That it practically pleads me to break through writer's block. So, guess which song I turn on when I'm feeling lost and uninspired about some of my stuff? Guess whose voice urges me to continue and not let the blank page consume me? You guessed it.

What I'm saying is that the song is extremely meaningful to me on multiple levels, and that when the vocals started ringing through that PNE Forum it was a little overwhelming. But, like, in a good way. Sort of in a "I can't believe this is really happening," way. And I got a little emotional. But it was amazing.

Also they played The Draw. I mention it because it's another song that's really meaningful to me (I associate it with depression and things of that nature, and I think it helps me understand a little bit those of my friends that suffer from things like that - they've described similar things to me). And also because, according to Dan, they "tried to be grunge for four days. We failed. But this is what came out of it."

Thank you, Bastille, for failing at grunge. Thank you so. Freaking. Much.

Then, for the end of their first set, they played Flaws, and Dan just goes, "Let's see how far I can get!" And he jumps down from the stage and starts wading through the crowd. This was about the time that me and Anna both simultaneously went "HOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHIT", practically stampeded the people in our way and ran down to the floor in front of the stage. We didn't even get close to him, BUT, it got us out of our seats and on the floor, leaving us free to dance like crazy people during the encore.

And what an encore.

They came out, started with Get Home, which me and Anna passionately waved our hands back and forth to. Then, before beginning the next song, Dan goes, "As you may have noticed, I'm not that great a dancer. But for this next song - I know audience participating is lame, but like, if you all want to dance with me and make me feel better. I'll just say, 'Get down!' and you can all get down with me, if you want." Pauses, thinks about it for a moment. "But not, like, in a sexy way."

DAN SMITH YOU PERFECT CREATURE

So then they played Of the Night, and he yelled "Get down!" during the pre-chorus, but instead of dancing, everyone in the crowd just knelt down, because we're building up to the suspense here, and then they hit the chorus and the lights are flashing and everyone's jumping and dancing and it was amazing.

And then, finally, Pompeii. (I totally called it, I totally knew that they'd play Pompeii for their last one!) And it was amazingly fun and everyone was dancing and singing along and it was a freaking blast. The whole night was perfect.

Also, it was Anna's first concert. And, as far as first concerts go, it was pretty freaking incredible.

Bastille are literally perfection personified.

And so, yeah. That was more or less the rhythm of that night.

Sorry for the pun, I just needed a way to fill the silence.

I know, there's another one. It just makes me overjoyed when you listen to my words.

Okay, that's enough, I know. I hope you'll not not show your face here anymore.

I know, they're getting increasingly more desperate. But it almost feels like nothing changed at all.

Okay, I'm done now. Promise.

(When Dan Smith freestyles on the notes and just ohmygodmyovariesexplodedheisaperfectcreatureiwanteighthundredofhim)

Also I got a shirt.

*awkwardly tries to take a picture of the back of the shirt* Basically what's important is that it's a real concert shirt with all the tour dates and ish on the back.

I needed a shirt because we waited in line in the pouring rain and I did not have a rain jacket and so when we got inside I had to strip off my jacket because water was leaking through but when I looked I realized that the water had only leaked into certain parts of my shirt, and basically my shirt was like "LOOK! BOOBS!"

But I was also going to get a shirt regardless. I just, you know. Funny stories.

Bastille is awesome and it was an amazing night, that's basically what I'm getting at here.