
Story and Photos: Spencer Fleming
The Indie-Pop band Bleachers made their way to Omaha Wednesday (5.22.24) on their "From The Studio To The Stage" tour. Fronted by Jack Antonoff, Bleachers have been steadily building their fanbase over the last few years and Wednesday's show proved Omaha fans love the band. The Steelhouse filled in to near-capacity for the New Jersey-based sextet.
I'm not going to get into Jack's full musical resume, just know he's a big deal. Just google the band Fun, or see his 24 Grammy nominations and 10 wins. He's produced music for Lorde, The 1975, Florence and The Machine, and a little artist you may have heard of... Taylor Swift. So yea, the guy knows how to write hits and let me tell you the setlist was full of them!
Before Bleachers we were treated to opening act Samia. The young singer songwriter and her band had the crowd swaying to some pop-rock indie tunes. There were several young girls in the crowd singing along and they even had signs for Samia. One of her songs Fit N Full had a big pop of energy and got the first few rows jumping. I just learned that Samia's mom is Kathy Najimy from Hocus Pocus, way cool! You can check out Samia on all streaming platforms.
As the lights went down a big sign hung above the stage that said "Recording In Progress" and there was a banner reading "Bleachers: From The Studio To The Stage". Decked out with stairs and platforms Bleachers' stage setup looked really cool. With two drum sets and keyboards galore I knew this would be an eventful shoot. It was certainly a feast for the crowd's eyes as Jack and his band took the stage starting off with "I Am Right On Time", the opening track from the new self-titled album. This was a great opening song as it starts with a single piano note and starts adding in instruments and slowly building. Jack moved from the piano to the middle of the stage looking up shrouded in darkness with a single light shining down.

Following the track list of the new album, the band continued on with "Modern Girls" and this is where the party really kicked off. The song is about going out on the town and having a good time. A pretty universal concept, but Bleachers do it in style. With a killer rhythm and horn section you'd think you died and went to Springsteen heaven! There's a lot of parallels between Jack and the boss, both from New Jersey, both prolific songwriters, both superb entertainers.
Jack had a lot of crowd interaction throughout the show but the best part had to be the exchange of some home made clothing for tickets. Some fans were holding up a sign to get Jack's attention and he noticed. "What does that say? Trader Joes?" The fans got him the sign and it read "Trade two hoodies for MSG (Madison Square Garden) pit tickets?" Jack looked to someone on the side of the stage and said "Can you take care of this?" That sounds like a pretty good trade". So cool! I'd love to catch up with the fans that got the tickets. Talk about an adventure to tell your grandkids about.
Bleachers put a lot of focus on songs from the new album but made sure to work in all the classics like "Roller Coaster", "Wake Me", and "All My Heroes". The biggest pop of energy came from Bleachers first big single "I Want To Get Better". I had seen this song live once before and listened to the recording a good 15 times, but seeing everyone leap to their feet and connecting under one roof was so awesome. It gave me a much bigger appreciation for the song.
Rather than opt for an encore the band finished out with "Don't Take The Money" from their second album Gone Now and "Stop Making This Hurt" from the album Taking The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night. As I mentioned I had seen Bleachers once before at a festival but this show put them in a whole new stratosphere for me. I've got to put this band on my ever-growing list of can't miss shows! This was only Bleachers third stop on the tour. If you have the means make a little road trip and try to catch one of these dates, they're truly on fire right now.
A huge thanks to Bleachers management for photo access and Steelhouse Omaha for the gracious hosting. We'll see you at the next one!
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Bleachers
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