
“New Jersey’s finest New Yorkers” performed a very sold out show earlier this week on the Boston stop of their latest headlining tour in support of their newest self-titled album, Bleachers. To say that Bleachers has some hardcore fans would be an understatement, as many came dressed in various tomato-adorned attire or old band merch. The tomato is New Jersey’s state vegetable, and frontman and Grammy® Award-winning producer Jack Antonoff will never let up an opportunity to bring some love to his home state.
The set started with a fun and down-to-earth set by singer-songwriter Samia. And though Bleachers fans may be dedicated to their band, they’re also some of the most positive, supportive fans I’ve seen in a while. Little to no chatter could be heard during Samia’s performance, and the cheers between songs were nearly as loud as the ones we’d hear for the main act later that night. She and her band performed for around forty minutes before the changeover took place to prepare the stage for Bleachers.
After playing a recorded version of “Drug Free America” over the speakers, Bleachers took to the stage, opening with “I Am Right On Time,” the first song off their newest album. This trend would continue with the second and third songs off of the album, “Modern Girl” and “Jesus Is Dead,” before transitioning into some older material. Antonoff’s father, Ricky Antonoff, even made an appearance on guitar for “How Dare You Want More.”
Though Bleachers is mostly known as the brainchild of Antonoff, he makes sure that nearly every instrument is represented on stage, either by permanent or touring band members. Pianos, horns, multiple percussion sets, guitars, and more could be seen spread across the stage, whose design included a tomato banner flag, black and white tiled floors, and multiple platforms to ensure all the performers on stage could be seen easily.
Hit song after hit song, Bleachers powered through their 24-song set, slowing it down only for a few acoustic songs near the end, during which Antonoff spoke about a time when his mother broke into the MIT Tennis Bubble when she was a student at Boston University, leading to her arrest by campus police. The singer made a callback to this story during the last song of the set, “Stop Making This Hurt,” where he changed the lyric from “Tryna break free of New Jersey” to “Tryna break free of the MIT tennis courts.”
The “From The Studio To The Stage” tour wraps up this weekend with a performance at the sold-out Shadow of the City music festival, curated and hosted by Bleachers and Antonoff themselves. Taking place outside of the iconic The Stone Pony in Asbury Park on June 15th, the lineup includes fellow Dirty Hit artists The Japanese House and Been Stellar along with Samia, The Wonder Years, Bartees Strange, and Grace Ives.
Setlist
I Am Right on Time
Modern Girl
Jesus Is Dead
How Dare You Want More
Wake Me
Everybody Lost Somebody
Goodmorning
I Miss Those Days
Call Me After Midnight
Me Before You
Chinatown
Don’t Go Dark
Self Respect
Wild Heart
Rollercoaster
Let’s Get Married
91 (Acoustic)
Who I Want You to Love (Acoustic)
Dream of Mickey Mantle (Acoustic)
Ordinary Heaven
Tiny Moves
I Wanna Get Better
Don’t Take the Money
Stop Making This Hurt

Julia Finocchiaro
Julia Finocchiaro is a photographer based in Boston MA. More of her work is at jfinophoto.com.