Bombay Bicycle Club @ Beanfield Theatre▪

It’s been a real feast-or-famine situation for Bombay Bicycle Club and me over the years. After waiting a long time to see them, I saw them three times in two years between 2012 and 2014…. and then nothing again for another ten years—until tonight!

Touring in support of their sixth full-length, My Big Day, things have gotten a little crazy for the band over the last few days. Regular drummer Suren de Saram had to fly back to their native England due to a family emergency, and so stepping into the breach is their drum tech Josh, who, according to frontman Jack Steadman, “learned all our songs in 24 hours!” The true hero of the show!!

It’s a sonically diverse 70 minutes and truly showcases how expansive the BBC sound has gotten over the years. Tekken 2 was recorded in collaboration with Chaka Khan and has an unmistakable funk vibe to it. In contrast, Diving, recorded with Holly Humberstone, draws a surprisingly huge singalong for such a new song (but alas, neither Chaka nor Holly is with us tonight). Feel could have been pulled right from a Bollywood movie with its Middle Eastern musicianship, and it sounds amazing – I forgot how much I loved this song! The band tour as a 6-piece, so there’s all kinds of additional instrumentation added to the typical guitar band sound. We get saxophone on Diving and the classic Always Like This, which also features trumpet from Leo Cattani of opening band Mustard Service, an honorary 7^th member for the evening at times!

On Flaws and You Already Know, the show strips down to just an acoustic Jack and the touring female vocalist (who I never quite caught the name of, Olive maybe?), under a spotlight each in the pitch black, and things thin out even further to start the encore, with Jack alone singing Dust On The Ground on his acoustic all by himself, to spectacular effect. Luna goes to the other extreme, doubling up the drums to thunderous effect, and the titanic bass riff that detonates Evening/Morning will never get old, blowing the roof off Theatre Beanfield when it drops! The floor turns to a veritable mosh pit by the time Eat Sleep Wake (Nothing but You) arrives, before turning to a carnival during the calypso vibes of Always Like This. So many sounds in just 70 minutes!

The crowd response is immense throughout, to the point where Jack points his mic towards the crowd during the chorus on Lights Out Words Gone, admitting at the song’s conclusion, “That’s the first time I’ve done that this tour!” He does the same thing 2 songs later on, “How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep,” effusing afterwards, “Thanks so much, this feels cathartic after such a crazy couple of days, it’s so good just to play!” It truly feels like some kind of homecoming, such is the warmth between band and crowd.

As the show wraps up, Jack promises: “Thanks for coming, sorry it took us so long, we won’t leave it so long next time!”

Let’s hope tonight marks the start of another feast of Bombay Bicycle Club over the coming months then!