Rockhal, Esch sur Alzette, Luxembourg8th March 2019
Bastille, Lewis Capaldi
BASTILLE in Luxembourg? Yes, that attracts people! The British were in the Grand Duchy on Friday for the fourth time and made a lasting impression like back in 2017. As support for their “Still Avoiding Tomorrow” Tour the British brought along the likeable newcomer LEWIS CAPALDI, who is currently attracting attention with the single ‘Someone you loved’.
Lewis Capaldi
LEWIS CAPALDI is a Scottish singer-songwriter. The 22-year-old achieved mainstream successes throughout 2018, and in 2019, reached number one on the UK Singles Chart with his single ‘Someone You Loved’. The Scottish wunderkind released his first EP in October 2017 titled ‘Bloom’. The singer-songwriter from small Bathgate crafts highly intimate and powerful folk music that further adds to his mysterious aura. LEWIS CAPALDI’s debut single, ‘Bruises’, was his foray into the music scene, and what an absolutely amazing first foray it was.
Music & Performance
Support acts are rarely really good. Most of the time you just want the half hour to pass quickly to finally see the act you’re actually waiting for. But every now and then there are rays of hope. LEWIS CAPALDI is one of those guys who earned so much popularity with his warm-ups for RAG’N’BONE MAN, MILKY CHANCE and SAM SMITH. Quite normal that the mood became tenser and the screaming increased significantly for LEWIS CAPALDI’s performance. The songs are only lyrically sad, musically they make you rather happy. But definitely the Rockhal got a real treat with him and his band. But the most obvious treatment was his absolute goose bump voice. The no less important, but less conspicuous feature of his music is the absolutely great songwriting with clear, consistent style but nevertheless catchy peculiarities in every single song. With his charm, strengthened by his Scottish accent, he also showed true comedy skills. All in all CAPALDI set the bar very high for the rest of the evening with his performance.
Bastille
BASTILLE (stylised as BΔSTILLE) is a British band formed in 2010. The group began as a solo project by lead vocalist Dan Smith, but later expanded to include keyboardist Kyle Simmons, bassist and guitarist Will Farquarson and drummer Chris Wood. The name of the band derives from Bastille Day, which is celebrated on 14 July, the date of Smith’s birthday. After an independently released debut single and a self-released EP, the band signed to Virgin Records. Their first studio album, ‘Bad Blood’, was released in March 2013 and entered the UK Albums Chart at number one and included the hit single ‘Pompeii’ which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. The band was nominated for four Brit Awards at the 2014 ceremony, winning the British Breakthrough Act. As of February 2019, BASTILLE have sold over nine million records worldwide.
Music & Performance
About two hours after admission the tension of the fans rose immensely, because the last concert of BASTILLE was already two years ago. Reason enough to look forward to a Luxembourg comeback. The words “Still Avoiding Tomorrow” were displayed on a blood-red illuminated background until the light in the hall went out completely for a short moment and the silhouettes of the band members appeared. Singer Dan started the evening with a cover of CAT STEVENS’ ‘Wild World’ and gave the starting signal for the fans. In the hall, almost filled to the end, from the very first second an absolutely positive energy could be felt, which, put a smile on everyone’s face. And also the band around frontman Dan Smith gave everything in the usual manner. Songs like ‘Pompeii’, ‘Good Grief’ or ‘Things We Lost In The Fire’ were not missing - but also newer songs like ‘Quarter Past Midnight’ or feature tracks like ‘I Know You’ or ‘Grip’ found their way on the setlist.
A little highlight for the Luxembourgers: Dan tried himself in Luxembourgish between the songs and not like many other bands who speak to the audience in French. Very cool move, Dan. Another cool move: At ‘The Currents’ singer Dan became a little political and criticised among others Donald Trump and the Brexit. On the other hand, it took some time to get used to parts of the stage show, which was complemented by light effects and a back and forth moving and spinning platform, on which singer Dan was fooling around during some songs. When LEWIS CAPALDI entered the stage again to perform ‘Bad Blood’ together with BASTILLE, things got more serious again. At the end of the show the band and audience gave their all one more time: With the song ‘Of the Night’ from one of the band’s mixtapes the audience gave everything again, got on their knees and then jumped up during the refrain. After this song, BASTILLE left the stage, but came back for an encore. ‘Happier’ and ‘Flaws’ were played to their best. At the latter Dan jumped down into the audience and sang from the crowd - a worthy conclusion for a successful evening.
Setlist
01. Wild World
02. Quarter Past Midnight
03. Send Them Off!
04. I Know You (Craig David cover)
05. Things We Lost in the Fire
06. The Currents
07. Grip
08. Warmth
09. Blame
10. 4AM
11. World Gone Mad
12. Fake It
13. Bad Blood (with Lewis Capaldi)
14. Two Evils
15. Daniel in the Den
16. Million Pieces
17. Pompeii
18. Good Grief
19. Laura Palmer
20. Of the Night
21. Warmth
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22. Happier
23. Flaws
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 8.5 / 10
All Pictures by Elena Arens
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