George Wainwright

Bleachers frontman Jack Antonoff is often heard yet seldom seen. The 39-year-old New Jerseyan is the veiled mastermind behind some of the most acclaimed pop albums of the last decade, a recurring collaborator with Taylor Swift, Lorde and The 1975. Antonoff’s standalone project, Bleachers, is fast emerging as one of the most exciting acts from North America. What started as a one man homage to 1980s pop culture has grown to spearhead a new era of indie pop, spanning four studio albums. 

Hoards of fans and punters alike cram themselves wall to wall in the hope of getting an unobscured view of Yard Act’s James Smith. The Manchester born frontman is frantically scrambling at the many dials atop a mixing desk under the watchful eye of bandmate Jay Russell. The crowd continues to grow until faces begin to peer in from the windows at the back of the room, eager to be involved in the chaos inside. It’s a beautiful, sweaty, hot mess in celebration of Yard Act’s all day residency across the city. The plot twist; this is only the afterparty.