BLEACHERS @ SOUTH SIDE BALLROOM

MAY 25TH, 2022

 

Words & Photographs by Cassie Preston

          Six months after canceling their scheduled stop in Dallas, TX, due to a COVID diagnosis, Bleachers is fucking back. The crowd navigates the black and white, post-pandemic world, shuffling for vaccination cards and dated COVID test results. Staff unapologetically turn away concertgoers who can’t provide the necessary paperwork. Vaccinations are the official gateway drugs to live music. Dallas native turned NYC transplant, Alison Pontheir - who has yet to release a full-length album -  is the opener for Bleachers. Her blue baby doll dress, curly ginger locks, wrapped into pigtails, and bubbly, amicable personality is a juxtaposition of her craft. She ebbs and flows between dreamy, feminine vocals as made popular by Kacey Musgraves, and a slightly raspy singing voice.

          Bleachers is led by who I believe to be the single most talented person in music today, Jack Anatoff. He has thick black Seymour Krelborn glasses, a black tuxedo jacket, and a light gray graphic tee. The show opens with “91”, the most recent album-opening song. I have always felt a connection with this song, maybe it’s because I missed ‘91 by hours. My mother dances around like there ain't no rip in the seam While she waltzes with ghosts, I can feel what went wrong And she's here but she's not, just like her I'm not home.

          By “Wild Heart”, Anatoff has lost both the tuxedo jacket and his thick glasses. There are so many people living through their phone screens. Recording, saving, filtering, posting … and repeat. I don’t care what model of iPhone you have, there is no way the capabilities can do reality justice. Anatoff changes the line to, “I was sixteen in a van driving myself to Deep Ellum”. As the getaway driver, every moment is fleeting, running against the clock is my baseline. He covers “Jersey Girl” by Tom Waits, and substitutes the line to “Cross the Trinity River to the Deep Ellum sign” and “I’m in love with a Texas Girl”.

          Now, thoroughly drenched in his cut-off gray shirt that reads, “even if u go 2 jail u still have 2 eat”. What does it mean? I don’t know. He asks, “Have you ever had someone you have to get the fuck away from?”. There is this humming noise that fills the airwaves of the South Side Ballroom. It’s warm and low, encapsulating your heart in comfort, like a cat purr. And Anatoff cuts to silence suddenly and drastically. He explains that he wrote his 2014 debut album, “Strange Desire'' during the worst time of his life. The desperation, anxiety, self doubt that he experienced was like the radio silence of the room. He identified this low murmur as created by his Roland Juno 106 keyboard. He explains that this sound is the foundation on which many Bleachers songs are based. The double set of drums on stage officially begins, “Rollercoaster”. We only make it to “killer queen you are'' until Anatoff calls for a restart, that people need to get on their friends' shoulders, and this is our moment to “run away from someone with me”. Now I'm running and I can't stop anywhere I go I think about it every day and night I can't let go Man, I'm never the same We were shotgun lovers I was shotgun running away.

          “We were in Houston last night” which was met with instantaneous boos from the crowd. To be fair, I imagine it’s fairly difficult to not be born in the best city in the world. He says, “hold your thoughts … Houston said that they wish they lived in Dallas, so fuck you for your conclusions”. You can see that there is suddenly a heaviness on Jack Anatoff’s shoulders, it’s the burden all of Texas is feeling. I fill with pride as he describes my home, filled with tough, protective, loving people, who set up shop, support local communities, and local musicians, and most importantly, have the endurance to withstand. He says slowly and intentionally, “It is a devastating time in the world, in this country, and in Texas, continue to care for each other and your children”. My heart aches because we haven’t done this. We have continually - and tragically - proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms have granted us. 

          At the end of the Foreign Girls and the repeated, “I love you all”s, Anatoff screams into the mic, “We love you so much Dallas, we are not going to walk off this stage and come back! We are going to give you all fucking we got.” We hear the audio and introduction to “You’re Still a Mystery”, I really want to be grateful for the experiences that I’ve had. While my heartbreak is written across these songs, I’m so lucky to have been loved in so many different ways.

          “You’re Still a Mystery” leads directly into “I Wanna Get Better”, the very first single for Bleachers, off their 2014’s record, “Strange Desire”. And with the cymbal crashes of the drum set, I’m transported. I was losing my mind 'cause the love, the love, the love, the love, the love That I gave wasted on a nice face. Left hand on the UHAUL steering wheel, the weight of my engagement ring never felt heavier. The Corn Kits silo in the rearview mirror, “it’s too difficult to love you” echoed in my mind. The leveling of life after his military service, and somehow, I was the fallout. I remember looking at my best friend in desperation, “What just happened to my life?” and the sheer shock in her eyes. 10 years of love, dedication, and perseverance … gone in an instant. Absolute, radio silence.

          Bleachers end the show with “Don’t Take the Money” and “Stop Making this Hurt” and a huge tomato bouncing atop the crowd. My life - in times of sorrow, desperation, and defeat - is sprinkled with these songs. It is so important to remember that you can do hard things, you can get through these difficult seasons of life. Other people feel this way too, we are not alone. In fact, we are all piled into the Southside Ballroom. In Bleacher’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concert from August of last year, Anatoff explains, “The second you don’t know if you’re allowed to play live, changes the way you play, and I don’t think I’ve experienced that in my life before … [the] sound - to me - was like a group of people who didn't know if they were ever going to play again.”

 

I really want to be grateful for the experiences that I’ve had.

 

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