Bastille brought dystopian digi-defiance Give Me the Future tour to The Uptown

Bastille at the Uptown, May 29, 2022. // Photo by Allison Scavo

Bastille

Uptown Theater

Sunday, May 29

As one of the top-charting artists in recent years from the radio rock scene, Bastille is back again with their newest album, Give Me The Future. To celebrate the release of the album, the band has gone on the road with their Give Me The Future 2022 tour and brought the show to Kansas City on Sunday night where, with a futuristic feel, the entire show was themed around sci-fi imagery. In the background on a screen was a logo of “Future Inc.” and in between segments a computer system would “load” the next set of songs. 

Lead singer Dan Smith and the band began with the song “Stay Awake?” which gave an ominous but intriguing preview of the evening’s tone, and lead into an early vibe that leaned in on the dystopian paranoia and unease of the mise-en-scène. A few of the highlights in the early parts of the set included “Things We Lost In The Fire,” “Oblivion,” “Quarter Past Midnight,” and “Give Me The Future.” From there, the room switched into a high-energy dance party, encouraging a more kinetic, festival-goer energy. These matched appropriately to such hit tracks as “Pompeii,” “Happier,” “Good Grief,” and “No Bad Days.” Smith repeatedly engaged the audience in a celebration of the return to live shows, and an appreciation for their engagement with the new material, and the night as a whole.

Finishing off the night, the band came back for an encore of two tracks: “Hope For The Future” and “Shut Off The Lights.” All in all, top-notch performance from a group that has a mastery of calculated performance and tone mastery of a group far more road-hardened. 

All photos by Allison Scavo

Bastille setlist:

Stay Awake?
Distorted Light Beam
Things We Lost In The Fire
Laura Palmer
Oblivion
Those Nights
Blame
Quarter Past Midnight
Back To The Future
Plug In…
WHAT YOU GONNA DO???
survivin’
Good Grief
Give Me The Future
4AM
No Bad Days
Happier
Of The Night
Future Holds
Pompeii
-ENCORE BREAK-
Hope For The Future
Shut Off The Lights