“Bleachers Forever” at Armory 9/27

Bleachers put on an exhilarating show Saturday night at the Armory. Stories were shared from memorable times in Minneapolis, a stripped, acoustic version of the hit, “I Wanna Get Better”, and an eccentric performance from Jack Antonoff made for a memorable night.

This Is Lorelei opened the evening and had the crowd pulled in quick. Singer, Nate Amos played center stage with a force. Looking around, I nearly saw no phones held up. Everyone was just present, listening and swaying; something that can feel so rare and special these days. The band surprised me as an opener as I feel their sound strays from the other openers on the set but in a good way.

Bleachers took stage to Frank Sinatra’s, “My Way,” as smoke and golden yellow lights flooded the Armory stage.

The set flowed seamlessly, with an impressive vocal and instrumental performance, both receiving equal time to shine. I was impressed with how the the energy was maintained throughout the show. There wasn’t one song that felt “weak”, especially in terms of crowd reception. As Jack mentioned during the show, there’s no such thing as a casual Bleachers listener. It has been awhile since I questioned the strength of the Armory floor, but this show and the way in which the floor was shaking, made me form some doubts.

Throughout the set, multiple songs were dedicated to Alex Pretti and Renee Good and praise was given to the Twin Cities for their energy, their power, and their community. Jack even shared the back story of “Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call” and how it was recorded at Paisley Park. He recalled how, at the time, he was thinking that the song idea he wanted to record did not at all match the vibe of the space in which he was recording.

Once the setlist hit “Rollercoaster”, I was thinking to myself how the energy could possibly go up from there, arms were up, people were on each others shoulders, and Jack could not be spotted in one spot for more than a second. But boy was I wrong. The minute the first cords of “Don’t Take the Money” played, all limits were surpassed and a fire was lit inside every single person in that room.

Overall, it was a significantly solid show, and finishing second to last with the full band version of, “I Wanna Get Better” had the version of myself ten years ago feeling healed.

BLEACHERS FOREVER