Under the K Bridge was steaming on Thursday night when Turnstile took over the park for their Never Enough album release show. The Maryland hardcore legends in the making brought all their friends along for the ride and packed the park with thousands of fans ready to sweat it out to the band’s new record- and maybe hear some old favorites along the way. Atlas was in the eye of the hurricane for a night no one in attendance will soon forget.
Industrial Brooklyn was teeming with fans making their way down to the park as Big Boy took the stage to really rile up the early crowd. Fans on the barricade clearly knew the band’s catalog, headbanging wildly and throwing themselves at security for a chance to scream into singer Brandon Flores’ mic- and he was happy to oblige. Flores spent more time on the barricade than on the stage (giving security a run for their money) while the rest of the band held down the group’s chugging rhythms all while bathed in the golden light of a perfect New York sunset.
Boy Harsher was a sharp departure from Big Boy’s rowdy energy but also provided an interlude for the crowd to conserve some energy and just dance along. Producer and multi-instrumentalist Augustus Muller kept the beat thrumming steadily while vocalist Jae Matthews’ unique tones surprised new listeners. Their hypnotic tunes turned the park from a moshpit into an electro-goth club as the crowd slowly found their tempo in the pulsating rhythm.
Rapper and singer Teezo Touchdown was the wildcard of the lineup, turning the stage into a photography studio, complete with timed flashes and an army of photographers and videographers to capture every second of a hype and introspective performance. Emerging in full denim- only to remove his pants to reveal the exact same pants underneath- and nestling his microphone in a bouquet of roses, Teezo Touchdown had the crowd locked in on his magnetic performance. Not only does his addition to the lineup showcase Turnstile’s reach as a band, it also notes the taste of their fans as so many of them were singing along to “You Thought”, “Too Easy” and more. He also treated the park to a plethora of unreleased material and exited his brief set having thoroughly hyped up the crowd.
The sun went down but that didn’t stop the temperature from going up under the bridge when Turnstile’s visual intro sent the crowd into a frenzy. The now completely full park moved as one when the band appeared through the smoke onstage, kicking off their set with the title track from the new album right into the breakdowns of “T.L.C. (Turnstile Luv Connection)”. Crowd surfers were flying over the barricade at a rate that had security sweating while the band simply powered through a performance that left no room for downtime.
Singer Brendan Yates kept his head low and his energy high, running and jumping across the stage all while belting out song after song from the band’s lengthy catalog. Guitarist Pat McCrory matched that energy, often stopping to shred in front of drummer Daniel Fang as he bashed away at the back of the stage. New member Meg Mills held down the rhythm behind bassist Franz Lyons as the whole band moved with the easy synchronicity that goes deeper than just colleagues or bandmates- Turnstile is a family.
As their new banner unfurled behind them, the audience picked up the pace, turning the middle of the park into a roiling mass of humanity during the aptly-titled “Keep It Moving” and “Fly Again”. The set pulled from every corner of Turnstile’s musical history, shining a particular spotlight on Glow On and- of course- the celebration of the new album. Yates spoke sparingly between songs, preferring to let the music do the brunt of the talking which was more than fine with the fans used to the band’s reticence over the years.
The main set ended with a flurry of Glow On favorites and the live debut of “Look Out For Me” before the band returned for a furiously energetic encore beginning with “Mystery” and “Blackout”. The shrieks that started at the barricade and made their way to the back of the crowd overtook “Seein’ Stars” when Paramore’s Hayley Williams appeared to back up Yates on the chorus- a longtime diehard fan through and through. The waves crashing onscreen signaled the end of an intense night of new music, celebration and community as the streets of Brooklyn were once again flooded with the sweaty, satisfied masses thrilled to witness the beginning of Turnstile summer.
