On the morning of Friday, May 22, Bleachers returned to the TODAY Plaza for their second-ever Citi Concert Series performance. Celebrating the release of their fifth studio album, everyone for ten minutes, Bleachers started off the Memorial Day Weekend celebrations early for their most loyal fans.
Debuting in 2014 with the platinum track “I Wanna Get Better,” Bleachers is the project of fourteen-time Grammy Award winner Jack Antonoff. A frequent collaborator and producer of today’s top artists, including Sabrina Carpenter, Lana Del Rey, and Taylor Swift, Antonoff started Bleachers as a solo endeavor. The band expanded in 2023 to include touring musicians Mikey Freedom Hart, Sean Hutchinson, Mike Riddleberger, Evan Smith, and Zem Audu in the official six-piece lineup.
Bleachers’ pretaped song, “Don’t Go Dark,” is a fan-favorite from 2021’s Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night. The jam-band feel of the tune is classic Bleachers, including plenty of saxophone solos, glockenspiel chimes, and guitar strumming. During the chorus, Antonoff started a call and response. While singing “If you’re holdin’ on to me,” fans continued the line with “you’re holdin’ onto nothing!” A perfect way to energize the crowd at the start of the morning, the song was aired later for TODAY’s 3rd Hour.
The notes of “You and Forever” began as Antonoff kneeled on the stage shaking sleigh bells. The song was heavily instrumental, with some band members playing multiple instruments at once – most notably Smith, who effortlessly switched between saxophone and piano. While the other musicians stayed in their respective positions, Antonoff moved closer to the catwalk to sing the chorus directly with front-row fans.
Shouting “Thanks for waking up!” Antonoff led the band into “The Van.” The pleasant, nostalgic tune tells the story of Antonoff’s early days as a musician, escaping loneliness through the comical antidotes of being a Jersey kid on the road.
“Dirty Wedding Dress” was the final live song of the morning. The self-referential, high-energy song includes allusions to Lana Del Rey’s “Margaret,” which tells of the night Antonoff met his now-wife, and Bleachers’ 2021 album titled Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night. Playful yet deeply personal, the track explores the chaos of fame and knowing your true people, inspired by Antonoff’s own wedding to Margaret Qualley, where New Jersey weekenders swarmed and nearly blockaded their intimate venue to catch a glimpse of their star-studded guestlist.
The bandleader sang about the positive relationship between “him and his people,” which includes the Bleachers fans that woke up early for the Friday concert. Clearly a crowd favorite, the chorus of “Dirty Wedding Dress” had fans waving their TODAY themed Bleachers paddles in the air. They even counted down the end of the song with Antonoff, all making the same “1-2-3” hand gesture to indicate the song’s finish.
When asked by TODAY Anchor Craig Melvin if he’d be attending any big weddings this summer – more specifically, Taylor Swift’s incoming summer nupitals to Travis Kelce – the frontman left it open, awkwardly saying “I hope.” When Melvin prodded for more, Antonoff laughed it off with a “No, no, no!”
Bleachers made heavy use of Memorial Day Weekend festivities. With the album release and Citi Concert Series on Friday, the band decided to keep the fun and world-tour prep going. Later in the day, Antonoff stopped into Rough Trade to do a solo acoustic performance. On Saturday, Bleachers played a free show at Antonoff’s old stomping grounds, The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ. In both the early morning and later in the pouring rain, the band played their music just as it’s meant to be played: for their people.
The band will be back in New York for two dates on their Bleachers Forever Tour. They will play at CMAC in Canandaigua on June 20th and return to NYC’s Madison Square Garden on June 23.
Setlist: Don’t Go Dark (Pretaped), You and Forever, The Van, Dirty Wedding Dress
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