The Setlist Draft: Curating Our Perfect Bastille Show

Bastille have confirmed some big plans for the rest of 2025 in the shape of a huge arena tour that will celebrate the first 15 years of their career, bringing their blend of enormous pop spectacle and hard-won catharsis to a fanbase that has long proved its willingness to get on that wavelength.

The For All Sides shows, in Plymouth, Cardiff, Nottingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham, Brighton and London, will run throughout November and are also poised to raise money for Youth Music’s ‘Rescue the Roots’ campaign, which is seeking to protect grassroots initiatives for young people at a time of near-constant funding cuts. Tickets go on general sale at 10am on March 28.

In the latest edition of our Setlist Draft, we offer a few picks that we can’t see Bastille doing without once the lights go down, from massive hits to moments that offer a glimpse of who they were at a time when they’re reflecting on where they are.

When the moment calls for…going all the way back to the start

That Bastille’s first single has remained an important part of their setlist rotation isn’t a surprise given it does so many things that the band have made their bread and butter. Flaws has a synthy wonkiness that plays nicely off Dan Smith’s earnest delivery and garlanded, quasi-choral backing vocals that almost succeed in shrouding the self-critical sting in the lyrics. Given this tour is all about celebrating 15 years of the band, there’s nowhere else to begin.

When the moment calls for…the biggest hit of them all

Equally, you simply can’t overlook Pompeii in this sort of situation. It’s Bastille’s biggest hit and their signature song, so it demands inclusion in this sort of retrospective. It will be interesting to see if they have something unusual in store for its staging, though, as the track has shown over time that its interlocking hooks are entirely malleable. Whether it’s being performed by an orchestra with an arrangement by Hans Zimmer or belted to row Z with tumbling percussion, it’s got a way of connecting.

When the moment calls for…a bit of optimism

Smith has always delighted in undercutting pop structures with grimly introspective lyrics, but on Glory he found a way to balance sadness at lost moments with joy in finding the memory of others still clutched tightly in his grasp. This dynamic has made it a go-to dose of hope for many fans. “You make me laugh until I die / can you think of any better way to choke?” is one particularly blunt way of putting it, but seconds later there is a moment of real tenderness and, crucially, kindness directed inwards that switches the atmosphere around: “Not everything had gone to plan / But we made the best of what we had, you know?” Surrounded by many, many thousands of people, sentiments like this one take on a life of their own.

When the moment calls for…a lull in the storm

Released in 2024, ‘&’ was another big swing by Smith that leaned hard into the idea of storytelling by pulling together character studies, mythology and imagined biography. On Emily & Her Penthouse In The Sky, fingerpicked guitars underpinned a glimpse into the world of poet Emily Dickinson but, this being a Bastille record, even at its most delicate it retained a sense of drama. Live, this might serve as a pointed sequence of calm even as it keeps the tone and feel of the evening intact.

When the moment calls for…something truly massive

Good Grief is almost Bastille in a nutshell, with its glossy pop sheen and unmistakable pep in its step riding shotgun to a pretty bare-bones discussion of what it means to go on living without someone important. If you’re choosing a version to recreate at these shows, look no further than the band’s Live At Capitol Studios session, which accompanied their ‘Wild World’ LP. Here, with Smith seated at a piano and strings echoing the melody, they pull at some elegiac threads to create something that’s sonically grandiose in a whole new way. Get the crowd to handle the choral elements and you have a genuine moment.

Bastille Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:

Thu November 06 2025 - PLYMOUTH Plymouth Pavilions
Sat November 08 2025 - CARDIFF Utilita Arena
Sun November 09 2025 - NOTTINGHAM Motorpoint Arena
Tue November 11 2025 - GLASGOW OVO Hydro
Wed November 12 2025 - NEWCASTLE Utilita Arena
Fri November 14 2025 - MANCHESTER AO Arena
Sat November 15 2025 - BIRMINGHAM BP Pulse Live
Sun November 16 2025 - BRIGHTON Centre
Tue November 18 2025 - LONDON O2 Arena

Compare & Buy Bastille Tickets at Stereoboard.com.

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