BAKAR - MANCHESTER, UK.
Bakar at the Albert Hall, Manchester, UK (29/11/2023).
with support from EkkStacey!
It's been a while since my last time seeing Bakar - introduced to him when ‘Hell N Back’ started gaining traction; I've followed his journey through ‘Nobody's Home’ and his most recent project ‘Halo’. The latter has quickly become one of my favorite albums of the year - the seamless blend of styles creating a captivating and catchy listen. The subsequent tour reached Manchester's Albert Hall for two nights at the end of November 2023 and we were lucky enough to be in attendance for both shows.
Support for both shows came from EkkStacy. He was an odd choice for support, his heavy emo tunes never quite landing with the crowd but he gave it his all and delivered his set with as much energy as he could. There was some incredible moments of heavy - yet almost shoegaze - instrumentation.
Bakar's set started with a large white circular object (symbolizing the ‘Halo’) taking center stage, illuminating Bakar's silhouette behind it as the opening chords to ‘One In, One Out’ opened the show. From here Bakar took us on a journey through his short but acclaimed career so far.
The Halo rose to reveal Bakar as he went straight into ‘I'm Done’. Bouncing around the Albert Hall stage with an unmistakable charisma as the crowd sang along to every word. ‘All In’ led nicely into some older tracks from ‘Nobody's Home’ - those being ‘Reclaim’, ‘Ginger Pubes' and ‘The Mission’.
As the set went on, the energy never faltered. Picking up for tracks like ‘Right Here, For Now’ - featuring a short snippet of Dominic Fike's ‘Three Nights’ - while crowds belted every word to slower tracks such as ‘Stop Selling Her Drugs’. It was nice to see the unreleased track ‘Pitstop’ make its way onto the setlist before the fan requested ‘Dracula’ - Bakar pausing and discussing with his team if it could be played (note: Dracula was played earlier in the set on Thursday)
Following the raucous energy of ‘Alive!’, Bakar scaled the side of the Albert Hall and perched himself on the balcony ledge for ‘Small Town Girl’. It was a cool sight before he dropped back to the stage for ‘Hell N Back’. The crowd lapping up the energy in the final moments of the set. The encore consisted of a single song ‘Big Dreams’ - another energetic track to keep the crowd engaged as Bakar's set came to a close.
It doesn't look like Bakar is slowing down any time soon, already with a few festival announcements under his belt for 2024. He consistently proves to be one of the most in demand artists right now and his live show delivers home that fact.
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