Turnstile Sells Out The Anthem in D.C.
Review By Madalyn Schaller
There’s a first time for everything right? On October 9, punk-rock band Turnstile made their Anthem debut in Washington D.C., selling out the 6,000 capacity venue. Despite having been to D.C. multiple times, this concert was also a first for me at The Anthem. And after chatting up with other fans throughout the evening, it turns out there were many who were having their first time experiences seeing the band live.
Turnstile’s fan support is like no other and the range of fans stretches wide across generations. Looking into the crowd and seeing groups of families and parents shows that punk can be for anyone and everyone. There’s no doubt that the kids are going home with a new core memory unlocked, and making for a great story to pass down to the next.
Based in Baltimore, Turnstile shows in D.C make up for what are fundamentally their hometown performances. The group is composed of vocalist Brendan Yates, bassist Franz Lyons, drummer Daniel Fang, and guitarist Pat McCory, and they know exactly how to get the crowd pumped for the night. Before entering the stage, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston played and people had already begun crow surfing. Opening with a fan favorite, “Holiday,” which is off of their newest album Glow On made little to no time for the fans to form mosh pits. As the evening continued, you could feel the ground moving, and standing still at this show was not an option. For the photographers, that “first three” photo policy goes by in the blink of an eye at a show like this. The band's energy was haywire from the start and as soon as Turnstile began to play, all photographers were locked into getting those quick motion shots while simultaneously also making sure to get those fan shots––showing the true exhilarated motion of the fans. Following from the first song the band continued on with two older hits “Real Thing” and “Smile”.
Taking a moment to catch their breath, the band brings the mayhem to a lull and begins to play the instrumentals for “Underwater Boi”. During the song, Yates holds up his microphone, allowing for the crowd to sing along; hearing the crowd’s voices blend so collectively created together such an angelic sound in the venue. Then, kicking things back into gear, the band transitions into “Don’t Play,” causing the people to revert back to their ballistic energy for the rest of the night. They continue to predominantly perform songs from Glow On, but didn’t neglect to include classic hits like,”The Things You Do”, “Drop”, and “Moon” from their previous albums.
As the fans continued to jump for the rest of the night, many (including myself) also participated in crowd surfing––don’t worry, I’ll get back to that decision in a minute. All night long, people surfed their way up to the barricade just to run back into the pit to do it all over again. As we neared the end of the concert, Turnstile decided to slow it down one more time with their song “Alien Love Call,” which features the band Blood Orange. Once again, directly after this song, the stamina shot right back up at the start of “Endless”. During this song was when I decided, “Why not try and crowd surf?”. It has always been something that has been on my bucket list of things to do at a concert, but I never came across the opportunity until that night. While it looks intimidating, crowd surfing was very fun to do and I now understand the avid people who are always up in the air, as it really does make the concert experience just a tad bit more intriguing.
Closing out the night with another fan favorite, Turnstile played “Mystery" and the opening sound of the track evokes the feeling of entering another dimension––one could easily say that about how it feels to be at a Turnstile show. Finally, the concert ended with “TLC (Turnstile Love Connection)”, setting off a storm of confetti that poured from the ceiling. Hundreds of cheers amplified throughout the venue, and the feeling of not wanting the night to end began to fill the room. The band has trekked all across the U.S., and continue to do so until November. If what you just read sounds like a show for you, don’t miss your chance and come see The Turnstile Love Connection Tour. It’s an experience you won’t want to miss.
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