Bombay Bicycle Club at The Opera House

Currently on the North American leg of their tour before heading back to Europe, Bombay Bicycle Club dropped by Toronto’s Opera House for a Thursday night performance. Packed in, nice and cozy, eager fans welcomed the four band members who took the stage along with accompanying musicians. Above them, a set of five round screens displayed beautifully stylized cartoons that jumped from one screen to the next, in one fluid picture. Instrument-wielding skeletons along with a canoeist and dandelions blowing in the wind were just some of the featured animations.

Frontman, Jack Steadman, commanded the performance with a smooth sound and arms that hovered above the crowd, in a very “reverend” kind of way. Drummer, Suren de Saram, was visible on a raised platform that afforded him an equal stage presence along with the other band members.

Opening with prominent tracks “Lights Out, Words Gone” and “Shuffle”, BBC played an array of uninterrupted songs from their earlier and most recent albums, as well as a range of covers including Robyn’s “With Every Heartbeat”. A highlight performance of “Evening/Morning” from their first album was slowed down enough to feel like a completely different song, with a long, wonderfully drawn-out pause.

The London based band’s live music is as charming as their onstage presence, and the venue proved a great location to create a self proclaimed “hoe down” during their more roots-oriented numbers. While they’re still quite young in age, their four album-deep discography is impressive and easily sways between techno-indie and folk.

Besides the overpowering strobe lights that punctuated the end of nearly every song, BBC’s performance was warm, on point, and well worth seeing.

Looking forward to seeing these lads (and, according to Steadman, a Toronto-based music video) in the city again soon!