Jack Antonoff has spent the last decade making some of the biggest records on the charts, but he and his band Bleachers are spending this week into one of the smallest joints in LA.
The band opened a five-night Bleachers Forever residency at the world famous Troubadour in West Hollywood less than a mile south of the Sunset Strip on Thursday (9/10), returned Friday and Saturday, and will finish the run tonight and Tuesday.
Naturally every show was a quick sell out. This is a group who headlined Madison Square Garden in June, surely they could squeeze 500 fans a night into a cozy club in WeHo.
That intimacy is one reason big acts book "underplays," but also the sound is so much better for both the artist and the audience compared to booming basketball arenas.
The Troubadour shows have allowed Bleachers’ biggest songs, along with two drummers, two saxophonists and Antonoff’s bubbly personality to fully emote while seeing the whites of their fan's eyes.
The Troubadour, like the Roxy, the Whisky, and other iconic LA clubs that have been around since the '60s and '70s have always been a fun place for established acts to feel like a big fish in a small pond.
Metallica (5/23–5/24/88), Prince (5/11/11), (Mötley Crüe (10/7/24), members of Guns N’ Roses (3/23/26), and after their gig with ZZ Top at the Bowl was cancelled - Cheap Trick last month (8/5/26) have all brought their A-game to the teeny Troubadour, a block east of Beverly Hills.
What was interesting about the first three nights of the stay was the lack of special guests.
One would think a man who has produced the likes of Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Lorde, Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter, St. Vincent, Pink, Diana Ross, Florence + the Machine, The 1975, Clairo, The Chicks, Gracie Abrams, Sia and Troye Sivan, among others, would have a guest or two every night play with he and his band on Santa Monica Blvd.
So far the only guest he's had is Carly Rae Jepsen who sang an acoustic version with Jack of “I Wanna Get Better,” Bleachers’ breakthrough single from their debut album, Strange Desire (2014).
Carly and Jack go way back. She sang their song “Shadow” on Terrible Thrills, Vol. 2 (2015), which revisited Strange Desire tracks with female guest vocalists including Charli XCX, Sia, Tinashe and Sara Bareilles.
Jack must have loved it because he invited her to sing “Shadow” again as a guest on Bleachers’ MTV Unplugged episode in 2017.
He has stoked her as well, producing and co-writing “Want You in My Room” off of Dedicated (2019), followed by “This Love Isn’t Crazy” and “Comeback” on Dedicated Side B (2020) which featured Bleachers.
So yes, they return each others calls, especially when it's like, "wanna do a lil tune with me at the Troub on Thursday?"
She probably said, "heck yes, I played there just last year and it was amazing."
The setlist over the first three nights has been relatively consistent. One of the standouts is Bleachers covered Tom Waits' "Jersey Girl" at two of the shows.
Not only has the gravely singer entertained from that stage at least 11 times - all but once in the 1970s - but it has ties to Antonoff's new pal, Bruce Springsteen.
"Jersey Girl" was the first cover The Boss commercially released as a single when it appeared as the B-side of “Cover Me” in 1984.
And it just so happened to be the first song Bleachers played with Springsteen last month when they rocked The Stone Pony, which is synonymous with The E Street Band.
If the Boss is in town wouldn't it be nice if he poked his head into the club tonight or tomorrow to revisit that Waits tune.
God knows they know it:
Before they head to Europe, Bleachers will be playing all around the USA including stops at Red Rocks and ACL.
Get your tix here.
Bleachers Forever 2026 Tour
9/14–9/15 Troubadour, West Hollywood, CA
9/17 Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA
9/19 Dune Peninsula, Tacoma, WA
9/20 Hayden Homes Amphitheater, Bend, OR
9/23 Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO
9/25 Vibrant Music Hall, Waukee, IA
9/26 Armory, Minneapolis, MN
9/27 Landmark Credit Union Live, Milwaukee, WI
9/29 Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre, Sterling Heights, MI
9/30 The Andrew J Brady Music Center, Cincinnati, OH
10/2 Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater, Austin, TX
10/3 Austin City Limits, Zilker Park, Austin, TX
10/5 Coca-Cola Roxy, Atlanta, GA
10/6 Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh, NC
10/8 The Truth, Nashville, TN
10/10 Austin City Limits, Zilker Park, Austin, TX
