A week after playing two sold-out shows for 20,000 fans at Alexandra Palace, Bombay Bicycle Club scaled down their performance for the intimate concert series Brits Week Together With O2 For War Child.
“We’re not usually this close together on stage,” said frontman Jack Steadman, who’s now bespectacled following the North London band’s four-year hiatus.
For the few hundred in attendance, it was evident that Bombay Bicycle Club are revitalised. Last month’s Top 5 album Everything Else Has Gone Wrong is brimming with ideas and sophisticated melodies. They were confident enough to open with lead single Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You), its mantra-like chorus punching through Jamie MacColl’s jangly guitars.
Their brisk set was a reminder of this underrated band’s ability to deliver affecting anthems — the joyous Feel, the kinetic groove of Overdone and the clubby Lights Out, Words Gone. Backing singer Emma Topolski’s harmonies added another element to the uplifting Luna and Carry Me.
When they returned to the spiky guitars of Cancel On Me and churning bass on Evening/Morning, the giddy juvenilia was a sign of how far these former indie kids have come. If this comeback is for keeps, they could be even bigger and better second time around.
