Bombay Bicycle Club, Great Hall, Cardiff

Some bands are just destined for festivity. Two songs into their return to Cardiff University’s innocuous Great Hall, Bombay Bicycle Club have wheeled out a three-piece horn section. Bringing the total number of bodies on stage up to nine, the carnival atmosphere on both stage and floor goes through the roof.

This inclusivity has become key to Bombay’s mantra. This year’s ‘So Long, See You Tomorrow’ is a melting pot of influences from frontman Jack Steadman’s worldwide travels, and it flourishes in the live environment. Backed up by a series of projections that mirror the artwork of the album, it’s a damn sight more interesting than your schoolmate’s endless Instagrams of Thailand.

The intricacies of their instrumentation are present throughout, with cowbells and tambourines offering an almost permanent layer of shimmering percussion, and a glimpse into just how far Bombay’s sound has come from their early days as the poster boys of bristly British indie. Set highlight ‘Feel’ is probably the best illustration of this change, the Bollywood-esque intro segueing into a synth line as thick as the layer of sweat the crowd is slowly gathering.


The classics get an airing too, with ‘Evening/Morning’ and ‘Always Like This’ prompting a predictable mass of poorly timed clapping and people clambering onto their mates’ shoulders. If one gripe is to be made, it is with the pacing of the setlist – every time the festival atmosphere is risen by a ‘Shuffle’, it’s quickly brought crashing back down with the slow build of an ‘Eyes Off You’ or ‘Whenever, Wherever’ (which Steadman dedicates to Shakira with a wry smile). These kinks are soon forgotten though, as an explosive ‘What If’ opens the encore, defending its post as the definitive festival anthem and indie club-night staple.

Ending with a ferocious, jarring rendition of ‘Carry Me’, Bombay display a wholly deserved faith in their new material. Harnessing the age-old cliché of ‘twenty-something goes traveling; finds self-improvement’ in a way most gap year offspring could only dream of, Bombay Bicycle Club have returned from their sabbatical bigger, better and brighter than ever. With the run-up to festival season gathering momentum, let’s just hope they’ve brought the weather with them.