Wednesday’s sold-out concert at Riviera Theatre was a career marker for Bleachers. Outside of festivals, including a stop at Lollapalooza last summer, frontman Jack Antonoff said that their Riv show was “the biggest we have ever played.” Judging from the band’s rousing performance, Bleachers’ next tour could find them heading to larger venues.
Antonoff, who is also the guitarist for fun., dropped a Bleachers single about a year ago in advance of the band’s debut album, “Strange Desire,” which was released last July. The material tips to the synth-drenched ’80s, and it aptly captures familiar high school emotions and also loss — and, ultimately, surviving both. As in his work with fun., optimism underpins Antonoff’s lyrics. He’s also a versatile songwriter, having penned tunes with Taylor Swift, Tegan and Sara, and Sara Bareilles.
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At the Riv, Antonoff’s penchant for ’80s stylings mingled with his New Jersey roots, with nods to Bruce Springsteen on songs such as “You’re Still a Mystery” — complete with Evan Smith’s winsome sax solo — and another nod in the form of Antonoff’s cut-off sleevless shirt. He and the band — in-unison drummers Jon Shiffman and Sean Hutchinson, bass/guitarist/keyboardist Mikey Hart and keyboardist/saxophonist Smith — adeptly navigated swaths of synth and raucous solos. Together, they married current musical textures with ’80s influences, adding danceable heft to songs such as “Rollercoaster” and progressively building layers in “Take Me Away.” Antonoff was a malleable singer, moving from darker, deeper intonations for the more brooding songs to more buoyant tones during the imploring chorus of “I Wanna Get Better.” And he was an energetic frontman who, along with his equally exuberant bandmates, ricocheted around the stage and on and off the drum risers during the set.
While Bleachers’ anthemic material encouraged sing- and clap-alongs, the stripped-down material was just as compelling, such as on the pensive “Wake Me,” with its sweet “I can’t believe I captured your heart” refrain, the moody “Reckless Love” and a cover of Kanye West’s “Only One.” The latter, which West wrote from the perspective of his late mother, befitted Antonoff’s own subject matter on the touching “Like A River Runs,” whose lyrics promise to remember the light of someone who has passed away.
In February fun. announced it was taking a hiatus so individual members could to pursue their own projects, a decision that came after a period of riding high on the charts and filling up pavilions. While Bleachers isn’t there yet, its performance pointed to arena-worthy potential.