By Syd Abad
I saw a full house of PUP and Joyce Manor fans tonight as I walked into the main room at The Catalyst. Both left and right balconies were filled with people of all ages and edginess— everyone and their dad is here tonight for Pool Kids, Joyce Manor, and PUP. Joyce Manor stirred up an energetic start with an immediate rush to the front of the venue as they began playing. Those most visibly excited consisted of the more millennial-aged crowd. The abnormal amount of tall people made it difficult to see at first, however my shortness allowed me to bust through the wall of people and head toward the front with my also-short girlfriend.
PUP started their set with a DJ blasting some 70s disco before the boys joined the stage. Rowdier than I thought it would get, the crowd instantly started moshing. A deep elbow to the rib I broke in 2019 convinced me that I probably should take a breather to the side of the stage. After vacating the mosh, the crowd continues moshing building with more and more intensity as they keep playing.
What sparked a lot of interest to me was the abundance of Folk punk-adjacency in the crowd; seeing various attendees standing in the back repping band shirts like Mischief Brew and Adult School.
Midway through their set, the frontman of PUP points out that it’s quite the large and rowdy audience especially for a Monday. Additionally, he also paused the crowd to ask who was missing a shoe that flew on stage. How polite of him!
It was a fun and rowdy show— something I haven’t experienced in many months. The artists were all super interactive with the crowd, and I could tell the majority of people in the audience had a blast.