Bleachers tour – Jack Antonoff kicked off Bleachers’ new tour Friday at Chicago’s Salt Shed with a high-energy, nostalgia-soaked set that ran nearly every song from “Everyone for 10 Minutes,” stitched in covers and crowd-igniting moments, and even brought his father Rick Anton
Friday night at Chicago’s Salt Shed didn’t feel like the start of a tour so much as the moment the room finally exhaled. Jack Antonoff—better known to many for the relentless work he’s done producing for other artists—stepped forward with Bleachers and. for 105 minutes. let the focus land squarely on his own band.
Antonoff dropped the new Taylor Swift song “I Knew It. I Knew You” the same day. and he also slid in an acoustic cover of Lana Del Rey’s “Margaret” during the set. But the center of the show stayed with Bleachers’ latest album. “Everyone for 10 Minutes. ” which drew the evening’s biggest push. The title even landed as a wink at life offstage. because it’s also the name of an AirDrop setting for file sharing on mobile devices.
The six-piece band tore through nearly every song on the album, powered by a lineup that felt built for momentum. Antonoff was joined by multi-instrumentalist Mikey Freedom Hart. drummers Sean Hutchinson and Mike Riddleberger. and keyboardists/saxophonists Evan Smith and Zem Audu. Together they kept the night moving—from bright. romping numbers to reflective turns—without ever letting the crowd sink into the seams.
When Antonoff spoke to the audience, it was the kind of direct, lived-in command that made the room respond instantly. “The sun’s going down. everyone is sweaty. you have a few drinks in you. now get the f— out of your shells!” he told the crowd. Later he doubled down on the tour-launch vibe: “Now that’s how you start a f—— tour!”.
The set leaned hard into album standouts. including “You and Forever” and “Dirty Wedding Dress. ” Antonoff’s odes to his wife. Margaret Qualley. It also made room for the more wistful pull of “The Van. ” a harmonica track described as a throwback to early days on the road. when Antonoff was still learning what touring demanded.
That sense of wanderlust nostalgia has always been part of Bleachers’ appeal. The band’s bedrock. as the night suggested. comes from an admiration for John Hughes soundtracks and the New Jersey sound associated with Bruce Springsteen—an era when music felt driven more by raw energy than by the studio tools Antonoff has spent years becoming known for. The evening carried that same look back at “when the going was good,” as the tour began.
Before Chicago. Bleachers tested the waters with a warm-up gig at The Stone Pony in Jersey. releasing the live concert on Friday. Starting in Chicago was also deliberate, Antonoff said, aiming for a place he considers home for Bleachers. He ran through a list of past stops that mattered to him. including “very under-attended shows” at Schubas. the Fireside Bowl and Bottom Lounge.
He also remembered what it was like to chase bigger rooms. “There were days of our life when the Metro was completely unattainable, only for huge bands,” he said. “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.”.
That promise wasn’t theoretical. Bleachers’ showdown at Lollapalooza last summer likely helped set the tone for the sellout energy at Salt Shed. A crowd overflow built up along the river. where kayakers and pontoon boats stopped to take part in the action around hits like “I Wanna Get Better.” Friday night carried some of that same communal electricity into the room.
The show also leaned into family and shared history. “How Dare You Want More” featured another guest appearance from Jack Antonoff’s dad, Rick Antonoff. “Everybody Lost Somebody” returned as a communal moment. again stealing the show. with the kind of studio-to-stage design that has become part of Bleachers’ visual language. Behind the musicians. the backdrop used reel-to-reel tape. vintage stereo systems. and a huge arsenal of instrumentation—imagery that pointed to what might be happening inside Antonoff’s Electric Lady Studio in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
Musicianship did the work, too. It was hard to miss the way Bleachers stacked their sound live—using two of everything to get the job done. from dual pianos to saxophones and drums. Songs like “Modern Girl,” “Rollercoaster,” and “Jesus Is Dead” hit with layered sound and visible force. At the end of “Jesus Is Dead,” a large banner reading “Bleachers Forever!” cascaded down like a mic drop.
By the final stretch, Antonoff’s energy felt almost exhaustingly real. He perches on speaker stacks. throws guitars to techs. and keeps riling up the crowd until the room turns into one big chorus. Mass sing-alongs. pogo dancing. and a steady surge of cheers carried through to the last notes of “Stop Making This Hurt. ” where he again framed the moment like a beginning: “Now that’s how you start a f—— tour!”.
Bleachers returns to Salt Shed on Sunday.
Set list for June 5. 2026 show at Salt Shed in Chicago (as performed Friday):
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.
Bleachers Jack Antonoff Salt Shed Chicago Everyone for 10 Minutes Taylor Swift I Knew It I Knew You Lana Del Rey Margaret Margaret Qualley Rick Antonoff Lollapalooza Electric Lady Studio