Live Review: Jack Antonoff brings Bleachers to Birmingham for sold out Institute gig

Some people will only know Jack Antonoff for winning three consecutive Producer of the Year Grammys and for his long-time collaboration with Taylor Swift.

They’re undoubtedly missing out on a supremely talented musician as his sell out show with his band Bleachers testified at the O2 Institute.

Maybe Antonoff is all too aware of the dichotomy of his fame.

Naming the tour ‘From the Studio to the Stage’ suggests he’s very aware that most people just know him for his work behind the mixing desk.

To characterise him as some sort of super producer is unfair, just as it is unfair to recognise only Antonoff for the excellence of Bleachers.

The band showcased the depth of their discography in their 95-minute, 22-song set including three surprise acoustic inclusions to their setlist.

Support was provided by Scottish songwriter Kaeto whose sound blended elements of synth-pop with rock sensibility.

The highlight of her set was 2023 single ‘No Body’, which saw Kaeto at her most expressive singing about smartphone obsession and modern vanity.

Bleachers kicked off their set with three opening tracks from their recently released eponymously titled fourth studio album.

Antonoff sang ‘I Am Right On Time’ from the rear of the stage to loud cheers from the crowd, coming to the front for the almost anthemic ‘Modern Girl’ and ‘Jesus is Dead’.

For ‘How Dare Do You Want More’, Jack Antonoff was joined on stage by his father Ricky, who has performed the song every night on tour since first appearing at the Bowery Ballroom in New York on March 6.

The set then slowed down with a trio of songs from older albums.

While ‘Wake Me’ celebrated the feeling of being in love, ‘Everybody Lost Somebody’ and ‘Goodmorning’ tell of some of the pain in Antonoff’s life.

The introduction of an acoustic guitar changed the sound a little, with Antonoff playing a snippet of ‘45’ before launching into recently released single ‘Me Before You’.

It’s clear Antonoff is proud of his New Jersey roots and he offered a little banter with the audience, comparing how Birmingham is unfairly denigrated in the same way his home state is in the introduction to ‘Chinatown’.

Bleachers have talked in the past of the influence of the 80’s coming of age John Hughes movies in their songwriting, something that seemed especially apparent in the lyrics of ‘Self Respect’ and ‘Wild Heart’.

In the break before introducing crowd favourite ‘Rollercoaster’, Antonoff talked about how he was writing the song and found hope in a synth sound created in England, encouraging the crowd to get up onto each other’s shoulders for this song and ‘Let’s Get Married’.

A second acoustic break saw Bleachers give a tour debut to ‘Alfie’s Song (No So Typical Love Song)’ and ‘Alma Mater’, the latter which saw Antonoff attempt to sing in falsetto while singing Lana Del Rey’s parts to the song.

The second acoustic section was rounded out by ‘Foreign Girls’ before the band picked up the pace with a raucous five-song end to their set.

The sing-along anthems ‘You’re Still A Mystery’ and ‘I Wanna Get Better’ from their debut album got the crowd bouncing, while ‘Tiny Moves’ got the crowd waving arms in time with the band.

Bleachers rounded off their set with ‘Stop Making This Hurt’ and ‘Don’t Take the Money’ to finish off what had been an excellent gig.

The show only went to prove further how much impact Jack Antonoff has had on music in the last decade.

Such was the popularity of this gig on Bleachers’ first visit to Birmingham it wouldn’t be surprising if they played an arena on their return.

Bleachers played:

I Am Right On Time

Modern Girl

Jesus Is Dead

How Dare You Want More

Wake Me

Everybody Lost Somebody

Goodmorning

45

Me Before You

Chinatown

Self Respect

Wild Heart

Rollercoaster

Lets Get Married

Alfie’s Song (Not So Typical Love Song)

Alma Mater

Foreign Girls

You’re Still A Mystery

I Wanna Get Better

Tiny Moves

Stop Making This Hurt

Don’t Take The Money