Jack Antonoff, the producer, finally got a night off on Friday. As his band Bleachers kicked off a new tour at Salt Shed, for once the focus turned away from the nonstop work he’s done for other artists to his main gig: the indie pop project he founded in 2013, before he was building up his cache of pop star cohorts.
OK, yes, Antonoff did just drop the new Taylor Swift “Toy Story 5” song, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” the same day and managed to slip in an acoustic cover of Lana Del Rey’s “Margaret” into the set. But still, the heart of this 105-minute concert was Antonoff’s strong acumen as a songwriter and the unbridled joy he always brings to the art of making music.
The night’s draw was promoting Bleachers’ latest album, “Everyone for 10 Minutes” (also the name of an AirDrop setting for file sharing on mobile devices, which only a producer like him would think of). Accompanied by a passionate squad made up of multi-instrumentalist Mikey Freedom Hart, drummers Sean Hutchinson and Mike Riddleberger and keyboardists/saxophonists Evan Smith and Zem Audu, the six-piece band tore through nearly every song on the album.
Jack Antonoff riles up the crowd during Bleachers’ show on Friday. “The sun’s going down, everyone is sweaty, you have a few drinks in you, now get the f— out of your shells!” he commanded at one point. The crowd heeded the call as Antonoff proudly declared, “Now that’s how you start a f—— tour!”
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Among the top picks were high-spirited takes on “You and Forever” and “Dirty Wedding Dress,” Antonoff’s odes to his wife, Margaret Qualley, as well as the more reflective harmonica track “The Van,” a throwback to early days of life on the road when they were novice touring musicians with so much to learn.
Antonoff has always filled Bleachers with this kind of wanderlust nostalgia. The bedrock of the band is an homage to John Hughes soundtracks and the New Jersey sound made famous by his hometown hero, Bruce Springsteen, a time when music was more about raw energy than the studio tools Antonoff has grown accustomed to using. The latest Bleachers shows also fall in line with this air of looking back to when the going was good.
Ahead of this latest tour, Bleachers did a warm-up gig at Jersey’s storied musical breeding ground, The Stone Pony, releasing the live concert on Friday. And kicking things off in Chicago was also no accident. “We wanted to be in a place that is a home for Bleachers,” Antonoff said, running through a short list of memorable past gigs in the city, including “very under-attended shows” at Schubas, the Fireside Bowl and Bottom Lounge.
“There were days of our life when the Metro was completely unattainable, only for huge bands,” he added. “But we got to play the Metro and then the Vic, that was the coolest. And then there were all those Bottle shows, which were legendary. … It reminds me of when I first started this band and you all were a dream. It’s proof anything can happen.”
You could also add to that list Bleachers’ showdown at Lollapalooza last summer, which likely helped to sell out the Salt Shed. A crowd overflow took shape on the river where kayakers and pontoon boats stopped to get in on the action of hits like “I Wanna Get Better.”
Hallmarks of Lolla carried over to Friday night too, which had another guest appearance from Jack’s dad, Rick Antonoff, on “How Dare You Want More,” as well as the communal exchange of “Everybody Lost Somebody” that again stole the show and the same studio-to-stage interpretation used as a stage backdrop — one where reel-to-reel tape, vintage stereo systems and a huge arsenal of instrumentation gives a glimpse into what might go on behind the scenes at Antonoff’s Electric Lady Studio in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
The musicianship of Bleachers cannot be overstated, and it’s a marvel to see live. This is a band that uses two of everything to get the job done — dual pianos, saxophones and drums — adding to a layered sound and fury on songs like “Modern Girl,” “Rollercoaster” and “Jesus Is Dead,” where a large banner declaring “Bleachers Forever!” cascaded down at the last note like a mic drop.
And then there was Antonoff’s boundless energy — perching on speaker stacks, throwing his guitars at techs and riling up the crowd — that was pleasantly exhausting. “The sun’s going down, everyone is sweaty, you have a few drinks in you, now get the f— out of your shells!” he commanded. The crowd heeded the call with mass sing-alongs, pogo dancing and an endless eruption of cheers that reverberated all the way through to the final notes of “Stop Making This Hurt” as Antonoff proudly declared, “Now that’s how you start a f—— tour!”
Bleachers returns to Salt Shed on Sunday.
Bleachers set list for June 5, 2026 show at Salt Shed in Chicago
Sideways
The Van
Modern Girl
Jesus Is Dead
Wild Heart
Everybody Lost Somebody
Goodmorning
Dirty Wedding Dress
We Should Talk
Chinatown
Don’t Go Dark
You And Forever
Margaret (Lana Del Rey song)
Isimo
Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call
Take You Out Tonight
How Dare You Want More
Rollercoaster
Tiny Moves
Don’t Take the Money
Upstairs At Els
I Wanna Get Better
Stop Making This Hurt