British alternative-pop band Bastille has a way of helping people care about social issues by captivating fans through sad songs with happy-sounding beats. Their "Wild, Wild World Tour" commemorates their second full-length album, Wild World. The album is centered around depressing global news infused with electronic beats and samples from classic movies. Bastille brought the tour to Atlanta, GA at the historic Fox Theatre last Wednesday, May 10.

The show takes place in a dark, dystopian universe and is designed as a newscast called "Wild World Communications" to enhance the theme of the album. “We want this show to be entertaining and a bit unsettling at the same time,” says Dan Smith, lead singer of Bastille.

This show was the liveliest newscast I had ever experienced. Smith ran across the stage so much that at one point I got out of breath following him with my camera. By the time I moved to my seat in the back of the theatre, I enjoyed watching the people around me dance and sing along more passionately than I had ever seen before. As opposed to some pop music, the lyrics people sang along to were anything but empty and void of emotion. For example, while the hit single "Good Grief" is upbeat and easy to dance to, it's about experiencing the loss of someone close to you.

Each song is accompanied by various film footage on the screen behind them, ranging from multiple news anchors from different countries sharing the screen with subtitles of multiple languages to drive-bys of different cities and countries. However, one aspect remains the same throughout the film footage - a politician.

The grey-haired, bland looking politician is visible from before the opening act comes on to the very end of the show. During the break between the opening act and Bastille's performance, the politician sits in front of a green screen while reading, playing with food, singing to himself, and occasionally glancing at the audience. He then makes appearances throughout much of the video footage during the concert, including the entire video for "Fake It" where Smith sings in sync to the politician lip-syncing the words. Some of the politicians mannerisms mimic current political figures who are in the news we are surrounded by every day - both real and fake news.

"We don’t want to ram [the mad, post-truth world of politics] down people’s throat constantly, we just want it to look striking and, a bit like the songs on our album, to provoke rather than hammer anything home or impose an agenda,” says Smith.
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