With Edinburgh just an hour away on the train it makes for the perfect destination when checking out live music, as St Andrews is not exactly a hotspot for touring bands. Last week my friends and I made the most of our vacant Wednesday and headed to Edinburgh’s Picture House, a venue that is steeped in musical history, to see our favourite new band, Bastille.
When seeing a band in concert, you want more than just a live rendition of an album and in this respect Bastille certainly delivered. Their set was well thought out, reminding us of just how many hits they have. Crucially, they were careful to keep the number of new songs they played for us to a minimum (there’s nothing worse than going to see your favourite band and barely being able to sing along!) Only when seeing Bastille in the flesh did we realise just how attractive their lead singer, Dan Smith, is, making us go particularly weak at the knees when he jumped into the crowd during their performance of Flaws. The highlight for me was a toss up between Overjoyed, my favourite track of their album, which was even better performed live, and Pompeii, which they saved for their encore and during which their supporting acts, Dan Croll and Swiss Lips, joined them back on stage for an unforgettable performance. Their set finished in time for us to hop on the 11.30pm train home, a perk that allowed us to keep the overall costs at a minimum!