Bastille Rocks Brooklyn’s Barclays Center With Their ‘Wild, Wild World Tour’

Robert Paul Cohen

Looking out at the faces of fans pressed anxiously against the security barricade of a coliseum before a show starts is often a good way to read what is about to transpire. They seem to know exactly what is about to happen, for they have lived it already. If not in actuality, then countless times in their heads. And from the moment that the silhouettes on stage could be seen taking their places behind microphone stands and instruments, and the opening blows of drum and bass pounded their way through the heart of the arena, it was clear that the anticipation felt was not over-promise so much as confident expectation. The lights revealed the band. The crowd erupted. Rock ensued.

As Bastille frontman Dan Smith later observed, the band had come a long way in their round-the-world trip from playing Brooklyn’s 550-person Music Hall of Williamsburg last year to this past Thursday’s performance at the glorious Barclays Center. Their “Wild, Wild World Tour” seems to be proving that, for this band, the world can indeed be wild, but in a good way.

Playing to an overjoyed crowd, deeply in touch with its feelings, Mr. Smith and crew managed to match the endearing enthusiasm of their loyal fan base. Accompanied by large, elaborate video boards that displayed images from past videos and familiar album art, the show was a blast of emotions and energy. This was only taken to new heights when Dan Smith surprised the audience by coming out to join them for the hit song “Flaws.” He sang his way through the main floor as cameras and security followed him. The crowd devoured it and, as if this weren’t enough, Dan made his way up the stairs into the top tiers, singing to fans standing at their seats, their camera phones out and their faces in awe. Finally, he made his way back down to the floor and jumped up onto the soundboards in the arena center. With only his inner glow and a spot from above to light him, he held the crowd in his grasp while feeling like one of them, a collective focus on what was surely the apex of the evening and one of the most memorable moments of a memorable show.
Predictably, their mega-hit song, “Pompei” capped of the night with a proverbial bang. As timeless and worth-the-hype as that song is, the performance lived up to it. And just to keep things consistently wild, Dan and Will appeared on the balcony for the first song of that encore, “Two Evils.” So it seems that no matter where you sit, even in the nose-bleeds, should you catch Bastille in your own city, you may well end up in a make-shift, if temporary, front row. Wild.

Bastille brought their “Wild, Wild World Tour” to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center March 30.