With three UK number-one albums, a string of major hits, and—impressively—their original core line-up still intact since forming in 2010, now seems the perfect moment for Bastille to take stock of everything they’ve built. Their “Songs from the First 15 Years” tour arrives as a full-scale celebration of the band’s evolution. Support at the O2 came from Bradley Simpson (The Vamps) and Sofia Camara.
From the second they stepped onstage, Bastille delivered exactly what the night promised: nostalgia, emotion, and a reminder of just how many defining songs they’ve released since Bad Blood took over the charts. Now performing as a seven-piece live band, they opened with “Things We Lost in the Fire,” Dan Smith’s voice cutting cleanly through the O2 with his usual mix of energy and unassuming sincerity. “Shut Off the Lights” followed with a euphoric sax-led surge, instantly lifting the room.
The emotional temperature shifted with “Good Grief,” its meditation on loss amplified by the original music video playing above the stage—nearly a decade old now, and still gut-punchingly effective. “Quarter Past Midnight” then detonated into one of the night’s biggest moments, rising from a soft piano intro into a full-blown anthem that had all 20,000 fans on their feet.
Bastille honoured Bad Blood with real imagination. The once-unreleased “Sleepsong” appeared as a brief, beautifully executed snippet within a haunting performance of “Oblivion,” supported by a stirring, mournful violin line that sent thousands of phone lights into the air.
With a catalogue this rich, pacing becomes a craft of its own. The band shifted gears after “Oblivion” with the taut “Blame,” before unleashing the chaotic brilliance of “WHAT YOU GONNA DO???,” a jagged, punk-tinged blast that carried echoes of the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Bullet With Butterfly Wings.” The first confetti drop of the night—one of three—locked it in as a future Bastille classic. “Doom Days” kept the adrenaline high, its stark lyric caption—“Think I’m addicted to my phone… I’m livestreaming the final days of Rome”—capturing the uneasy pulse of the digital era with uncomfortable accuracy.
The two-hour set (before the encore) spanned the full width of the Bastille universe. Alongside their four albums came EP cuts like Goosebumps, their Marshmello collaboration “Happier,” and the always-ferocious mash-up “Of the Night,” fusing Snap!’s “Rhythm Is a Dancer” with Corona’s “The Rhythm of the Night” in the way only Bastille can. A short medley of covers—including En Vogue’s “Don’t Let Go”—offered a refreshing detour before the night reached its inevitable conclusion: the communal, wall-shaking “Pompeii.”
Dan Smith proved once again why he’s one of the most compelling frontmen of his generation—warm, charismatic, and quick-witted, yet capable of anchoring the biggest emotional blows in Bastille’s catalogue. Guest appearances from rising artists Myles Smith and Ruti added welcome texture to “Flaws” and the new song “Save My Soul,” showing the band’s continued commitment to spotlighting younger voices.
The only element that felt slightly out of place was the use of politically leaning artwork and symbolism displayed between sets and on Smith’s piano—an unexpected diversion during what was otherwise an apolitical greatest-hits celebration. These visuals may have landed more naturally in a show explicitly centred on activism rather than one built around nostalgia and unity.
But taken as a whole, Bastille’s “Songs from the First 15 Years” was a triumphant retrospective—an expertly paced reminder of how deeply their music has seeped into the last decade and a half. A powerful celebration from a band still clearly in love with what they do.
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