Bleachers: From The Studio To The Stage
On the sensuality of the saxophone, album track order as art and how Jack Antonoff helps me Wanna Get Better :)
I started this substack with the intention of writing about the MANY gigs I’m fortunate enough to go to living in our wonderful capital city. So, today I am sitting down to do just that. Write about a gig. I’m going to start with the one that’s freshest in my mind because it happened last night - actually now last week by the time I’m finalising this piece(!) - Bleachers at the Forum in Kentish Town, their second night in London for the From The Studio To The Stage tour.
As we were having our pre gig honest burger I remarked to Lou that I have no idea what the Bleachers fanbase is like. I wondered what it is that unites or defines a Bleachers fan, if we’ve any characteristics in common? Having now been to the gig, I’m not sure I’m any closer to answering that question other than to say there were definitely more middle aged men in attendance than I’d see at most of the gigs I go to. The six music daddies were out in force! I’ve seen Bleachers once before this gig, last summer at Finsbury Park as part of the 1975’s day festival line up. Bleachers were phenomenal. The 1975 were not - I left after only a couple of their songs, unable to fathom Matty Healy. I’m satisfied I’ve now made enough effort and can live the rest of my days peacefully trusting my dislike of the 1975.
Whenever I’m describing Bleachers to someone who hasn’t heard of them (which I think is the majority of people I speak to about them?!) I start by saying they are Jack Antonoff’s band. In recent years Jack himself has become more well known as he’s risen to become one of the most prolific pop music producers working today. He’s most famous for producing ALOT of Taylor Swift’s output from 1989 onwards. He’s produced some of the most beloved pop girls of my generation, everyone from Lorde to Lana to The Chicks, Florence & The Machine and St. Vincent.
I first started listening to Bleachers several years ago, I think back when Jack was dating Lena Dunham and I was obsessed with her (classic). I remember the white album cover of the Gone Now era, Jack in full brass band getup on the front and me dancing around my flat to Let’s Get Married, which was delightfully included in the set list last week. More than anything, what I tell people about Bleachers is that they are a group of MUSICIANS. The star of their show is their instruments and the feelings they’re able to elicit in us using them. They have TWO drummers (Mike Riddleberger and Sean Hutchinson) and TWO sax players (Evan Smith and Zem Audu). It’s a gigantic YES from me. Any band that has one sax (let alone two!) is ELITE in my view. There is something so sexy about the sax. She’s a sensual instrument. Her shape, her sound, the way the person playing her has to completely surrender to her. She’s top tier. My favourite instrument. There we go, I’ve admitted it. I FUCKING LOVE THE SAXOPHONE. Go play Jesus is Dead for a particularly perfect example of the Bleachers sax infused sound.
Anyway, the point of this sax sidebar is - I think it’s rare to see a band with as much musicality as Bleachers. They improvise, they jam and they vibe constantly making them a complete joy to watch. The night of the gig, we arrived at the Forum about half an hour before Bleachers were due on stage to a packed out crowd. I played my favourite “waiting for the gig to start” game of trying to guess what song they’d open with. I really wasn’t sure BUT am happy to report, from the hot bath in which I’m re-listening to the setlist and writing these musings, that they opened with I Am Right On Time into Modern Girl followed by Jesus Is Dead. The 3 opening tracks from the latest album (Bleachers, B4 for short) IN ORDER. This is another glorious detail I’ve come to appreciate more and more these past years, album track order as an additional art form engaged in by artists. ALBUMS SHOULD BE LISTENED TO IN ORDER. When we get bursts of tracks in album order at a live show I am electrified. I get goosebumps. These 3 tracks provided the first tingling moment of the evening. YES JACK, thank you & I love you.
As I write I’m asking myself what it is I want to record about this gig. What is it I want to remember about spending the evening of 20th March 2024 with Bleachers in 10, 20, 30+ years from now? Selfishly I think it’s the unusual connection I feel to Jack in terms of his brain and how music seems to impact and move through it. The way I feel about music and how it affects me seems to be very similar to how Jack experiences it. I’ve never felt such an affinity with someone else’s description of how they feel and experience music. Both times I’ve seen Bleachers Jack has told his origin story of the band. How when he was dealing with a particularly deep bout of depression he ordered (I think) a particular type of keyboard. I can’t quite remember the specifics as I was mesmerised by the note Jack kept flicking on and off, observing that when we can hear the note we have hope. Sound = hope. Silence = despair. I am completely and utterly convinced that the hum of an electronic sound changes my brain chemistry. I get the sense it does something similar for Jack.
My favourite Bleachers song, BY A BLOODY MILE (which is saying something because I am a huge fan of MANY of their songs) is I Wanna Get Better. This song is so significant to me it’s absolutely on my list of top 10 most life altering songs. It’s a song I always lose my shit to when I hear it, in the best most cathartic way. When I’m having a shitty day or my mental health is especially fragile this song has the ability to penetrate the fog and convince me to open my mouth and scream/sing. I’m so grateful to Jack and Bleachers for that. Screaming I Wanna Get Better in a room full of music lovers, accompanied by Bleachers themselves, on my own on a stupid “mental health walk” or with my friends whilst we ride bikes that go nowhere in a dark sweaty room, will always be a way for me to come back to myself whilst connecting to a sense of something bigger than me. The best songs allow us to feel our humanity whilst connecting us to the vast humanity in all of us. In that Wednesday night crowd I felt ties to all the individual moments in which I’ve NEEDED that song. I screamed my wild heart out, hoping Jack might hear me/feel my contribution to the energy of the room and know how much his damn ear-worm of a song has helped me WANNA GET BETTER.
(From when I saw Bleachers last summer as this time I was determined to BE IN THE MOMENT and not film my fave song!)
As usual, I’m signing off with a playlist. Here is a DEEP dive into the Bleachers archive, complete with every recorded version of I Wanna Get Better and a selection of faves from the Bleachers cover album (Terrible Thrills, Vol. 2), curated by Jack and made up of all women artists covering the Strange Desire album in its entirety. See here for details of the Bleachers series of amazing cover projects!!! I am today year’s old when I am learning about Terrible Thrills, Vol. 3 which includes covers by MUNA (be still my beating heart!), Julien Baker and Mitski. I shall be tracking down this vinyl only limited edition release for my collection ASAP!
THE MUNA COVER OF ALL MY HEROES!
ONE LAST THING, if you’re at all interested in reading more about the Jack Antonoff/Bleachers sound, this is brilliant!
