Bastille Presents "&" - Manchester Cathedral

BASTILLE - Presents "&" (Ampersand) Candlelight Sessions

Manchester Cathedral

Wednesday 17 October 2024

Last night I went to see Bastille again on the last stop of the "&" Candlelight Sessions with Holly in Manchester Cathedral. Super lucky to be seeing Bastille for the 7th time! t was never planned to go again last night but Holly was away in Lisbon on Sunday night and she landed back in Manchester at 6pm so on a whim she got tickets for it. I've always wanted to go to more than 1 night of the same tour so here we are ticking that off bucket list!

It was absolutely pissing it down when we queued and we were quite far back. We should have queued earlier but I went and got food. It's different as it's not standing and seated in sections but it was first come first serve for your section. We were in Zone D which is the furthest away as Holly did have section C in her basket but that sold out as she went to pay then ended up with D. We were on the 2nd to last row. If we queued earlier we could have been at the front of the section.

Doors were are 8:45pm but we didn't start moving till about 8:55pm. The venue was a lot bigger than St George's Hall but not as many candles.

It was due to start at 9:30pm but didn't start till near 9:40pm.

We were so far away and it was really dark so my photos aren't great sadly!

They played a 11 song set - the same as Liverpool on Sunday but did an extra new song with Bim as she was down. They did a set the night before that was lived streamed on Amazon Prime which she was at.

Even though we were right at the back and couldn't see (the seats weren't as comfy either as we had cushioned seats in Liverpool) we could stand up it was still amazing to be there. The sound felt better but not sure whether it was because I was further away as on Sunday I was really close to the speaker. Dan didn't talk as much and the set still lasted an hour - might have been because his mum and dad were in attendance.

The crowd was very different it was a lot rowdier which Dan made a comment about cos people were heckling and we were sat in the section with super annoying people so Liverpool was definitely the better night - without being biased being my home city and being right at the front... 

It's a great way to promote the album and can't wait wait for the album to come out next Friday! Excited to hear all the songs and getting the limited edition candle lit CD that I've pre-ordered! Might do more dates once the album comes out so could see Dan again soon...

Twitter || Instagram || Tumblr || Bloglovin || Google+ || Pinterest || Last.fm

Bastille Presents "&" - Liverpool St George's Hall

BASTILLE - Presents "&" (Ampersand) Candlelight Sessions

Liverpool - St George's Hall

Sunday 13 October 2024

Last night I was super lucky to finally see Bastille in my home city!

Dan - lead singer of Bastille is releasing a solo album called "&" (Ampersand) at the end of this month (Friday 25 October) which Dan has done on his own while the rest of the band take a year out.

Last month he announced a really small and intimate run of live shows mainly in other European cities and the only UK was London which I didn't get tickets for. Then at the end of last month he announced he would be doing an intimidate 4 part series of candlelight sessions to celebrate the release of the album. Liverpool St George's Hall was the 3rd stop of the tour. 

It was super intimate and small. I wanted premium tickets which I had in my basket, put my card details and it said I had timed out and the tickets had sold out so I got the next best which was Zone A - tickets were expensive £52 but no extra fees on top. All 4 shows have sold out as he did Edinburgh and Newcastle before then Manchester Cathedral on Wednesday.

It's all seated but not allocated seating - first come first serve. Doors were 8:45pm and I got there an hour before doors. I was quite close to the front considering I only got there an hour before. It was freezing last night standing there so that wasn't particularly enjoyable. Doors opened at 8:50pm then we had to walk up the stairs to the room. As I was on my own (Holly is away in Lisbon and didn't bother trying to find anyone else to go with me) I think I had an advantage and was 2nd row on the end to the left side of the stage close to the exit. If I got premium tickets I would have got front row seats. The 4 seats next to me to the left had "reserved" on them and were empty. A couple were sitting in the 2 seats but then moved and no-one else filled them which was weird as it was a sold out show.

Beautiful venue - perfect for this candlelight set up

It started bang on 9:30pm

Definitely one of my favourite gigs - the 6th time I've seen Bastille. It was pretty much an acoustic set - Dan changing from guitar to piano and there being 2 other guitars and violin. Nothing fancy or big. The sound was so good in the setting. The only thing was the last song Blue Sky & The Painter Charlie's electric guitar sounded off and felt like it was ruining the song.

They played a 10 song set - the 6 songs that have already been released from the album - 2 new ones and did Pompeii in the middle but super striped back version. Dan was also on form and did a lot of talking in between songs - being super funny and awkward as always.

The gig only lasted an hour and as I was on my own and working from home today I thought I'd hang round to try and see Dan when he came out. Not that many people waited which was unusual but not complaining. Waited an hour in the cold for him to come out but they were in a rush to get straight to Manchester so he couldn't stop for photos and stuff even though there was only a handful of us. We got a group photo taken but it's not been posted. I was stood right next to Dan but someone was stood in front of me and I had to stand on my tip toes so probs can't even see me but Dan is super tall! 

Should have asked Charlie for a photo but he was super busy loading the equipment into his own personal van that he was driving himself!

The best "selfie" I'm going to get with Dan - I probably could have forced a selfie with him though

In the fuzzy live action of this photo he's waving as he's getting into the van

I got speaking to this really nice lady and her son last night and this random guy her son knew from other Bastille gig's and he made these little pins and gave me one which was super cute!

Can't wait to do it all over again on Wednesday night at Manchester Cathedral...! So Holly got tickets for Wednesday night when she lands back in Manchester from Lisbon at 5:45pm. Hopefully she doesn't get delayed of anything but I will defo be there again. Not the best seats in Zone D which is furthest away but it will still be amazing to just be there and experience it in a different setting. I've always wanted to try and go to more than 1 show in a run but never had the money or time to be able to do it. Which means come Thursday there will definitely be another blog post from Manchester but probably still no selfie with Dan as Holly won't want to wait an hour for him to come out since she's coming straight off a plane to this gig.

Twitter || Instagram || Tumblr || Bloglovin || Google+ || Pinterest || Last.fm