Bastille played a secret set at Glastonbury 2022 tonight (June 23), backed by the 10-piece brass band Ol’ Dirty Brasstards.
The band were the surprise guests on the William’s Green stage and performed after festival founder Michael Eavis’ traditional covers set.
“Tonight we are Brasstille and the Brasstards… or something,” Bastille frontman Dan Smith joked as the expanded band took to the stage. As fans waited for the set to begin, they chanted the refrain from their hit single ‘Pompeii’.
The secret performance began with a version of the band’s 2016 single ‘Good Grief’, before Smith told the crowd: “We are so ridiculously fucking happy to be at Glastonbury.” Smith said afterwards, “I can’t believe we get to play after Michael Eavis, what the fuck.”
As the set continued, Bastille aired versions of ‘Things We Lost In The Fire’ and ‘Quarter Past Midnight’, both backed by rousing crowd singalongs. “This next song is incredibly sad but sounds happy,” the singer said as he introduced ‘Survivin’’, which featured on the 2020 EP ‘Goosebumps’.
The band also played their now-traditional mash-up of ‘Rhythm Of The Night’ by Corona and ‘Rhythm Is A Dancer’ by Snap!, dubbed ‘Of The Night’. Before each chorus, Smith conducted the packed tent in getting down to the ground before jumping up as one for a euphoric refrain.
To close the set out, Bastille finished with ‘Shut Off The Lights’ from their latest album ‘Give Me The Future’, an Americana-tinged version of Marshmello collab ‘Happier’, and ‘Pompeii’. Before the former, Smith instructed the crowd: “Feel free to dance around as bad as I am – I’m trying to set the bar as low as it can go.”
Bastille’s William’s Green secret set followed their massive appearance on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2019. It was their sixth performance at the festival in total.
Bastille played:
‘Good Grief’
‘Things We Lost In The Fire’
‘Quarter Past Midnight’
‘Survivin’’
‘Of The Night’
‘Shut Off The Lights’
‘Happier’
‘Pompeii’
Earlier this month, the band shared their new song ‘Remind Me’, a track started during the writing process for ‘Give Me The Future’. “We weren’t really sure what it would be for but always loved how different it felt,” Smith said in a statement. “Finishing it off in London with Mark Crew and the rest of the guys we’d wanted to make something sharp and minimal.
“The lyrics are about how our minds can taunt us with memories that play uncontrollably like scenes on a loop, so we set the track over this hypnotic, rolling guitar riff. We invited a bunch of singers to lend their voices to the track.”
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