Photo via Bleachers’ Facebook page

Last Friday, Bleachers rolled into Columbia, MD’s Merriweather Post Pavilion as part of a run supporting their fifth LP, Everyone for Ten Minutes. The Bleachers Forever tour has already featured a mix of guests from a variety of scenes since kicking off in May, including Chris Thile in Chicago.

Partway through their recent show at Merriweather, Bleachers invited out singer/guitarist and past collaborator Bartees Strange to play on “Dirty Wedding Dress,” a key track from Everyone for Ten Minutes. Though born in England, and despite having come of age in Mustang, Oklahoma, Strange has resided in the nearby Washington, D.C. area for a number of years and even worked for a nonprofit environmental organization before fully shifting his focus to music. 

Then, later on during his show, Bleachers frontman Jack Antonoff brought out his lifelong friend and former Steel Train bandmate Evan Winiker to play baritone guitar on another Everyone for Ten Minutes tune, “Upstairs at Els.” Winiker served as Steel Train’s bassist from 2002 until their final show in 2013 and has collaborated with Antonoff in a mix of settings since then, including playing bass with fun. at their breakout Coachella set in 2011. He most recently sat in with Bleachers during a Ally Coalition Benefit in December 2024, joining on versions of Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine” and the Bleachers original “Me Before You” that also spotlighted Trey Anastasio. Steel Train had made an unannounced reunion appearance earlier that evening.

Bleachers will perform at Cleveland, OH’s Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica tomorrow.