British indie pop band Bastille may be known for their upbeat radio singles such as “Pompeii” and “Good Grief,” but singer Dan Smith has taken his band in an entirely new direction with their most recently project and release, & (pronounced Ampersand).

The record has allowed the singer and songwriter to tap into what he does best: tell stories, both of his own and of other people. The album was born of a collaboration with Emma Nagouse, who helped Smith find subjects – both real and fictional – to write his songs about, and the two later created the podcast MUSES together to further discuss these individuals. Though 2024 was meant to be a year of rest for Bastille, Smith found himself on a short tour across Europe alongside just a handful of United States concerts, finishing up at The Town Hall in New York City on November 25 to celebrate the special and intimate collection of songs.

The evening began with an incredibly special and unique presentation from the Emily Dickinson Museum. Brooke Steinhauser, Senior Programs Director of the museum, told stories of Dickinson’s life and gave context to some of her poetry, which musician Adrian Blake Enscoe of the Apple TV series Dickinson performed set to music. The pair made for a truly breathtaking spin on Dickinson’s work, and was the perfect introduction for an evening of storytelling in all its forms.

Singer/songwriter Moira Mack then treated the audience to a short set of her own original music; Mack is known to Bastille fans for her work on & as well as her place in the unique arrangement of Bastille’s set to follow. Though Mack did admit most of her songs are quite sad, she expressed her sincere joy and gratitude for the opportunity Smith had given her on this tour. She even noted that she hails from New Jersey, and her parents were in the audience for the show that night.

Bastille then took the stage to perform & in full, though in a setup drastically different from previous tours. The arrangement saw just singer Dan Smith and guitarist Charlie Barnes from the standard band lineup, alongside a supergroup support cast of talented musicians who all played varying parts in the production of &.

Drummer Florrie, guitarist Merrick Winter, violinist and pianist AK Patterson, and Moira Mack all lent their instrumental and vocal expertise to present a set full of incredibly thoughtful arrangements, delivering the stories of these characters in the most honest and tactful way possible. Not quite fully acoustic but not quite fully electric either, the “living room,” sit-down presentation was the perfect environment for the night.

Some highlights from the & album performed live included the track “Eve & Paradise Lost,” during which Smith came to the center of the stage from his seat to pour his heart out into a song that palpably meant so much to the many women in the audience. Beloved to his fans for his tendency to ramble on a bit about the backstory of songs, Smith told a heartfelt story about creation of “Telegraph Road 1977 & 2024;” when he first began writing songs, Smith’s father handed him a journal full of poems he had written to his wife and Smith’s mother to draw inspiration from, which formed the beginnings of Smith’s first ever songs and later found their way into this new track. Smith’s mother even sang on the original demo years ago and once again on the final album recording. Towards the end of the set, Bim, a longtime collaborator of Bastille, joined the band to perform a jaw-dropping rendition of “The Soprano & Midnight Wonderings.”

Alongside the & album tracks, Bastille also performed their commercial hits “Pompeii” and “Good Grief.” “Pompeii” was given a quieter, stripped down treatment that fans new and old could appreciate, while Smith took “Good Grief” as an opportunity to give all his supporting musicians a chance to shine by having each of them solo on part of the song. The two tracks, though perhaps some of Bastille’s most performed singles, were breathed entirely new life by the reimagining that such a unique arrangement allowed for, leaving even fans who have been seeing Bastille in concert for over a decade truly speechless.

The band ended the night with an uplifting performance of “Blue Sky & The Painter,” an exploration of the artist Edward Munch, his relationship with his depression, and the role that painting has had in his life. At its core a hopeful song, the band made a tasteful choice to wash their stage in bright blue light right as the first chorus hit – a noted changed from the moody and subdued lighting throughout the evening – the perfect, positive note to end a beautiful evening with.