Bleachers Kick Off Their Forever Tour at Salt Shed Chicago

By Colette Custin Bevard

“You know this tour didn’t just randomly start in Chicago,” noted frontman Jack Antonoff at the start of indie-rock superstars Bleachers first night at the Salt Shed—and first night of the Bleachers Forever tour. “It’s a place we love more than anything in the world!” The sold-out crowd’s rapturous response was all the confirmation one needed to realize what a force of nature Antonoff’s once-solo project has become over the course of five albums (their newest, everyone for ten minutes, was released earlier this year).

The band’s genre-defying sound, incorporating horns and elements of classic rock n’roll (they are from Jersey, after all!) alongside Antonoff’s poetic, personal observations, continue to give Bleachers a body of work that is uniquely theirs—no one else sounds like them, and the band seemed to know it, all interacting joyfully with the crowd on a stage that resembled a giant recording studio—branded tube lights, reel-to-reel recorders, wood paneling.

“Back when we were playing the Fireside Bowl, I remember how the Metro felt unattainable,” Antonoff quipped, leading into “Isimo” with it’s chorus refrain of “look at you, you made it out!” Encouraging the crowd to get on each other’s shoulders as the band launched into “Rollercoaster,” Antonoff’s energy seemed only to increase as the show went on, and by the time he climbed on top of the amp stack to triumphantly lead the crowd in a massive singalong of “I Wanna Get Better,” the catharsis provided by the band’s signature blend of anthemic rock was complete. 


Bleachers. Forever. “For anyone, not everyone.”

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Setlist:

sideways

the van

Modern Girl

Jesus is Dead

Wild Heart

Everybody Lost Somebody

Goodmorning

dirty wedding dress

we should talk

Chinatown

Don’t Go Dark

you and forever

Margaret (Lana Del Rey)

Isimo

Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call

take you out tonight

How Dare You Want More

Rollercoaster

Tiny Moves

Don’t Take the Money

upstairs at els

I Wanna Get Better

Stop Making This Hurt