If you believe cross-pollination of genres/styles are a good thing (and really, why wouldn’t you?), then the Aragon Ballroom was definitely the place to be on October 23rd at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom. Indeed, between the critically-acclaimed indie-rock of Snail Nail, along with hard-hitting experimental hip-hop courtesy of JPEGMAFIA, and of course crossover alternative hardcore heroes Turnstile heading up the top of the bill, Sunday night promised to be nothing short of epic for the thousands in attendance to witness the virtual smorgasbord of dopeness on display.
And if that eclectic group of artists seems like odd bedfellows, that’s kind of the point, and frankly, a big reason why headliners Turnstile have emerged as perhaps the hottest band on the planet over the past year (that and the fact their 2021 album Glow On is a modern-day classic, but I digress). Never ones to shy away from different styles and audiences (as evidenced by past tours with the likes of $uicideboy$ and Chief Keef for example), Turnstile genuinely embraces the notion that music should have no boundaries, no rules, and should bring every one of all stripes together to partake in their uniquely exuberant and positively infectious brand of “T.L.C.” (Turnstile Love Connection).
It’s a beautiful concept really, and no doubt a large part of the band’s broader appeal, but that in and of itself wouldn’t hold much water if it weren’t for the fact that Turnstile has been consistently churning out legendarily unhinged live performances for roughly a decade now. Indeed, like all great bands that started in the hardcore scene, Turnstile paid their dues for years playing to small crowds at basement shows and other modest venues, eventually working their way up the festival circuit, to performing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and even securing a slot with Blink 182 (talk about odd bedfellows) for a massive tour scheduled in 2023.
And none of that happened by accident of course. The band’s penchant for adding in dashes of color, melody, and experimentation to their sound has helped push the boundaries of what hardcore-centric music can sound like, which has led the band’s sound to some truly exciting places, with stellar results to boot (case in point the aforementioned Glow On).
Throw in some good timing (pent-up demand for cathartic live music during COVID + 90s resurgence), and it’s no wonder Turnstile have absolutely blown up over the past year or so, and for old-school fans like this reviewer anyway, it’s a beautiful thing to behold. But given all the band’s success of late, one could be forgiven for wondering how their notoriously raucous live performances would translate to such a massive venue the likes of the Aragon Ballroom, which was filled to its almost max capacity of 5,000 people Sunday night.
In a nutshell, it translated quite emphatically, with virtually everything about Turnstile’s performance feeling properly bigger and more powerful, which suited the stage and venue of course. Kicking off their set with the celebratory “Holiday” (which was preceded by “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” by Whitney Houston as their entrance music), the band rightfully launched the crowd into a sea of exuberant moshing and crowd-surfing that had all the hallmarks of a typical Turnstile club show, just on a larger scale.
The band kept the energy levels fittingly high throughout their set, by borrowing heavily from Glow On and delivering exhilarating performances of fan favorites like “Blackout”, “Don’t Play”, and “Endless”, along with stellar renditions of more nuanced/dynamic tracks like “New Heart Design” and “Underwater Boi”. Old-school fans were treated to the ridiculously danceable breakdowns of “The Things You Do” and “Drop”, which naturally produced some of the most epic pits of the entire evening, which made the arrival of more subdued songs like “Alien Love Call” a bit of a godsend, offering the crowd on the floor a welcome reprieve from all the action.
Speaking of reprieve, there was also a pretty epic (dare I say John Bonham-esque) drum solo from Daniel Fang towards the end of their set that was pretty impressive to behold, and actually spurred a bit of moshing in its wake, which speaks to the quality/intensity of his performance. Add in a shower of confetti that accompanied their performance of “T.L.C.” to close out their set, and it was safe to say that Turnstile has fully made the transition from hardcore nightclub warriors to bonafide arena-ready rockstars, which certainly brought a smile to this reviewer’s face, along with practically all those in attendance Sunday night.
And that really speaks to the essence of the Turnstile experience, and what makes them a truly special band of the moment: people losing their shit to aggressive music is nothing new, but Turnstile manage to execute their attack with a refreshing amount of positive and freeing energy, which promotes a distinctly communal and uplifting feeling that is unique to the band and the scene as a whole. Who knew such heavy music could have so much love in it? Thanks to Turnstile for pushing boundaries and letting us be ourselves.
Lastly, would be remiss without giving a shoutout to those aforementioned “eclectic” openers:
Snail Mail proved to be the perfect warm-up for all the intensity to come, delivering a quality set of generally chill (relatively speaking) indie-rock, and was warmly received by the crowd at large. Props to Lindsey Jordan for pushing through some equipment issues (they didn’t miss a beat from this reviewer’s perspective).
JPEGMAFIA came out hard with “Jesus Forgive Me” and delivered a pretty intense, high-energy performance for the most part. The dude had the crowd hyped up for the majority of his set, and his kind of fragmented/industrial-flavored approach to hip-hop resonated strongly in a live setting. Overall, he proved to be a magnetic performer, and similar to the headliners, clearly has a penchant for experimentation and pushing genre boundaries, so a fitting pairing in that respect.
