Bastille at The Anthem
OKAY! I'm sitting down right now and I'm posting this dangit! It's been over a week since this concert and I need to document the memories!
This was my first visit to The Wharf in D.C. and what a visit it was. It's a swanky part of town, right on the water. Honestly, if we hadn't of ridden the Metro to get there, I wouldn't not have known I was in D.C. - it did not feel like it at all.
We lucked out on weather, it was on the warm side but gorgeous otherwise. Blue skies and sun, bit of a breeze. The place was hopping due to some kind of fundraiser for the Humane Society and a Wiener Dog race LOL. So many good dogs all over the place, walking among the people.
It was also on Maine St. so of course there is memorial for the Maine Lobstermen:
My Mom and I got there around 4 and just took our time wandering around. The Wharf is pretty much all eateries and bars. I expected some shopping, but nope, it was all about the food. So we ate! We just wanted to start with something light, knowing real dinner would have to wait, so we stopped in to the The Rhappahannock Oyster Co. (which I'm just finding out now is a very well known place in D.C. so look at us, being all hip and with it!)
We had a sampler platter of the oysters - one of each for each of us. And some delicious grilled quid in with mushrooms.
The concert had general admission seating along with paid seats (which is what I got because I've just had bad experiences the last few GA shows I went to). The GA people were lined up outside when we arrived downtown! By time we had eaten, the line had overflowed to the other side of the building. But I looked at my email and it said since I had purchased "Super Excellent Seats", that I got to go in the special back door.
Oh, and not to be forgotten, but for dinner we ended up grabbing Shake Shack LOL. There were lots of restaurants but because the concert didn't start until 8pm, people were just settling in at 6 and they were not moving. Mom picked out Shake Shack (it was her birthday weekend, after all). This was our first Shake Shack experience but the line was super long so we had plenty of time to peruse the menu. I got the "SmokeShack" Burger and my Mom got the "Shack-cago" hot dog. Both hit the spot, and we sat outside, people watching, waiting for the doors time to finally come around.
(Mom said this was her first selfie.)
Let me tell you, if you are going to The Anthem, get the Super Excellent Seats. The special entrance around the back got us into the building very quickly and we were right next to the merch booth (got Mom and myself a "Doom Days" pin). In their email, Anthem also recommended getting the "Rooam" app, which lets you set up a bar tab with your phone. At first, I thought this sounded silly, but with drinks 20% off before the show started, I figured why not give it a try. It really did make it easier to order a drink, instead of handing over your credit card and waiting for them to run it, coming back to you etc. - you just show the bartender your phone with your unique number for the event. So I would recommend it.
Joywave was the opening band. They were alright, I actually enjoyed a few of the songs but the lead guy was sort of obnoxious. I'm still not sure if he actually is an asshole OR thought it was cool/funny/ironic to be so full of himself? I dunno. Might give their songs a listen on Spotify but his attitude really was a turn off.
While the stage crew switched everything out, we dashed to the bathrooms and then got water and coffee because there was a coffee bar and it was 10pm and we had had two adult beverages and needed some caffeine.
Well, not really, once Bastille came on stage, I was INSTANTLY AWAKE. And bouncing in my seat.
They had a "set" for the show, with lots of things for Dan (the lead singer) to bounce/jump/lie down on. After running and jumping for a couple songs, Dan went backstage and put on a jacket to get "in character" for Doom Days and I gotta applaud his commitment because he had to be hot on stage.
Favorite moment was the "JUMP!" during "Of the Night" when Dan asked everyone in the audience to crouch down and then jump on queue. It was pretty great to see, so many people together, happy, joyous:
My Mom even texted me afterwards to ask for the video clip.
I didn't take a ton of photos, I wanted to enjoy the concert but I was at a pretty amazing angle to snap some pictures so I took a few you can see here.
It was a lovely night, I can't remember the last time I got home at 2am and still felt so wired I was up until 3am. Just a great concert. Everyone was awesome. The venue was great, seats were worth every penny.
If you have a chance to see Bastille live, I highly recommend them.
This entry was originally posted at https://orangerful.dreamwidth.org/1337017.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
This was my first visit to The Wharf in D.C. and what a visit it was. It's a swanky part of town, right on the water. Honestly, if we hadn't of ridden the Metro to get there, I wouldn't not have known I was in D.C. - it did not feel like it at all.
We lucked out on weather, it was on the warm side but gorgeous otherwise. Blue skies and sun, bit of a breeze. The place was hopping due to some kind of fundraiser for the Humane Society and a Wiener Dog race LOL. So many good dogs all over the place, walking among the people.
It was also on Maine St. so of course there is memorial for the Maine Lobstermen:
My Mom and I got there around 4 and just took our time wandering around. The Wharf is pretty much all eateries and bars. I expected some shopping, but nope, it was all about the food. So we ate! We just wanted to start with something light, knowing real dinner would have to wait, so we stopped in to the The Rhappahannock Oyster Co. (which I'm just finding out now is a very well known place in D.C. so look at us, being all hip and with it!)
We had a sampler platter of the oysters - one of each for each of us. And some delicious grilled quid in with mushrooms.
The concert had general admission seating along with paid seats (which is what I got because I've just had bad experiences the last few GA shows I went to). The GA people were lined up outside when we arrived downtown! By time we had eaten, the line had overflowed to the other side of the building. But I looked at my email and it said since I had purchased "Super Excellent Seats", that I got to go in the special back door.
Oh, and not to be forgotten, but for dinner we ended up grabbing Shake Shack LOL. There were lots of restaurants but because the concert didn't start until 8pm, people were just settling in at 6 and they were not moving. Mom picked out Shake Shack (it was her birthday weekend, after all). This was our first Shake Shack experience but the line was super long so we had plenty of time to peruse the menu. I got the "SmokeShack" Burger and my Mom got the "Shack-cago" hot dog. Both hit the spot, and we sat outside, people watching, waiting for the doors time to finally come around.
(Mom said this was her first selfie.)
Let me tell you, if you are going to The Anthem, get the Super Excellent Seats. The special entrance around the back got us into the building very quickly and we were right next to the merch booth (got Mom and myself a "Doom Days" pin). In their email, Anthem also recommended getting the "Rooam" app, which lets you set up a bar tab with your phone. At first, I thought this sounded silly, but with drinks 20% off before the show started, I figured why not give it a try. It really did make it easier to order a drink, instead of handing over your credit card and waiting for them to run it, coming back to you etc. - you just show the bartender your phone with your unique number for the event. So I would recommend it.
Joywave was the opening band. They were alright, I actually enjoyed a few of the songs but the lead guy was sort of obnoxious. I'm still not sure if he actually is an asshole OR thought it was cool/funny/ironic to be so full of himself? I dunno. Might give their songs a listen on Spotify but his attitude really was a turn off.
While the stage crew switched everything out, we dashed to the bathrooms and then got water and coffee because there was a coffee bar and it was 10pm and we had had two adult beverages and needed some caffeine.
Well, not really, once Bastille came on stage, I was INSTANTLY AWAKE. And bouncing in my seat.
They had a "set" for the show, with lots of things for Dan (the lead singer) to bounce/jump/lie down on. After running and jumping for a couple songs, Dan went backstage and put on a jacket to get "in character" for Doom Days and I gotta applaud his commitment because he had to be hot on stage.
Favorite moment was the "JUMP!" during "Of the Night" when Dan asked everyone in the audience to crouch down and then jump on queue. It was pretty great to see, so many people together, happy, joyous:
My Mom even texted me afterwards to ask for the video clip.
I didn't take a ton of photos, I wanted to enjoy the concert but I was at a pretty amazing angle to snap some pictures so I took a few you can see here.
It was a lovely night, I can't remember the last time I got home at 2am and still felt so wired I was up until 3am. Just a great concert. Everyone was awesome. The venue was great, seats were worth every penny.
If you have a chance to see Bastille live, I highly recommend them.
This entry was originally posted at https://orangerful.dreamwidth.org/1337017.html. Please comment there using OpenID.