It’s no coincidence that Turnstile’s NPR Tiny Desk concert dropped less than a week before they kicked off their biggest headlining U.S. tour to date. Unlike other artists who’ve played the venerable D.C. studio, Turnstile brought their own flair, crowd, and pit, and were presumably the first band to stage dive on the show.
The appearance, which quickly made the rounds online, was a strategic reminder that Turnstile’s fall headlining U.S. tour was just around the corner — a tour that doubled as a pivotal moment for the band. Can they capitalize on the critical acclaim and success that made 2021’s Glow On one of that year’s best? Will this live show, built around songs from new album Never Enough, take them to the next level? On Monday night in Nashville, the answer was a resounding yes.
Headlining the sweaty 4,500-capacity Pinnacle, just up the hill from Nashville’s string of honky-tonks, Turnstile brought the energy and intensity of a beer-on-the-floor basement show to one of the city’s largest nonarena venues.
Hardcore shows aren’t supposed to take place in venues of this size, but, at this point, Turnstile aren’t a hardcore band, even if their values are grounded in it. They’re a band, born from the eclectic Baltimore DIY scene, that melds specific, diverse influences to create a brand of rock uniquely configured to them. Never Enough mixes ethereal pop, Police-infused New Wave, and chainsaw riffs, all of it elevating Turnstile’s melodic sound to greater heights. Onstage, it translated extremely well.
Opening with the bombastic Foo Fighters-esque title track, Turnstile tore through their 75-minute set with ease. Combining crowd favorites like “T.L.C. (Turnstile Love Connection),” “Endless,” and “Real Thing” with the live debuts of “Ceiling” and “Hey You,” it was as seamless an integration as a band can get. Those songs felt as at home in the set as crowd-pleasing favorites “Mystery” and “Holiday.”
Singer Brendan Yates’ intensity — at one point leaping with abandon, at another frenetically thrusting — is what makes Turnstile cook. Throughout the night, the shirtless Yates had full control of the crowd. He picked the perfect moments to implore them to sing, encourage them to get wild, and several times, check on their well-being. Turnstile’s powerhouse rhythm section of bassist Franz Lyons and drummer Daniel Fang, and guitarists Pat McCrory and Meg Mills (who replaced founding guitarist Brady Ebert in 2022) are skilled musicians who allow Yates to soar while holding down the sound. That collective tightness, honed on their summer European run, was the impetus to get the crowd moving, and often surfing, through the venue.
As they did at their Under the K Bridge show in New York in June, Turnstile brough out a surprise guest for “Seein’ Stars”: collaborator, pal, and Nashville hometown hero Hayley Williams. Both with Paramore and her own solo career, Williams knows a thing or two about breaking away from a particular sonic corner while bringing her audience along for the ride. And, onstage in Nashville, she and Yates worked the crowd into a frenzy.
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For a band with Turnstile’s success, arenas (or at least rooms with capacity in the five figures) would have been the logical next step for the Never Enough tour. The group’s stage production, a minimalist/maximalist approach utilizing a single video screen that toggled between a technicolor background and shots of the sweaty crowd, certainly allows for that. No doubt fans would embrace the arena evolution as simply the next rung on the band’s inevitable, world-conquering trajectory.
But that’s not Turnstile. While the group is ambitious, the band continues to yearn for personal connection at its concerts and manifest the underdog spirit of its native Baltimore. Even in 2022, during the height of Glow On, Turnstile enlisted Snail Mail and JPEGMAFIA, both with Baltimore connections, to celebrate their hometown. Turnstile — the area’s most significant cultural export since John Waters — refuse to lose touch with their hardcore roots.
That was on full display during a show-closing “Birds,” when Yates implored the crowd to join them onstage. Within a minute, a hundred or so fans swarmed the stage, jumping along and occasionally diving back into the pit. But the chaos didn’t hinder Turnstile; rather, they thrived off it.
As the Never Enough tour rumbles across the U.S. this fall, before a return to Europe, and a just announced Coachella slot, Turnstile are on a mission — to show they’re the best American band working today. On Monday in Nashville, their dizzying live performance, arena-ready songs, and proudly rough edges helped make their case.
Set list:
“Never Enough”
“T.L.C. (Turnstile Love Connection)”
“Endless”
“I Care/Dull”
“Don’t Play”
“Real Thing”
“Drop”
“Light Design”
“Come Back for More/Fazed Out”
“Sunshower”
“Keep It Moving”
“Pushing Me Away”
“Fly Again”
“Sole”
“Ceiling”
“Seein’ Stars” (With Hayley Williams)
“Holiday”
“Look Out for Me”
“Mystery”
“Blackout”
“Birds”
From Rolling Stone US
