I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: May 23, 2023] PUP

When this mini tour was announced I was pretty psyched.  My son and I have seen PUP and loved them.  My daughter and I have seen Beach Bunny (twice) and loved them.  The only problem was that it was at Rooftop Pier 17–a massive pain in the butt to get to.

But I grabbed tickets anyway and surprised them earlier this month.

I assumed that PUP would go on last as they are the louder band.  But, in fact, they went on second. And that may have been wise as many of PUP’s more bro fanbase left after their set.

But as they were setting up, the sun hadn’t set yet and PUP came out to the orchestral version of their album (they just released some kid of answering machine version of their album from during the pandemic, which I’m pretty curious to hear).  They had a cool evening sky and marveled at being on a rooftop in New York City (it is a very cool venue).

And then they were off.  They opened with the two songs they closed the show with last time.  This being a shorter set, it was more of a greatest hits and less of a celebration of the last album.

There’s only one rule at a PUP show.  Look at your neighbors around you, have fun and look out for each other’s safety.  Then the moshing began in earnest.

I love “My Life Is Over and I Couldn’t Be Happier.”  Aw heck, I love all their songs. catchy and fast with lots of oohs and ahhs.

I didn’t expect any different songs than the previous show, but they played two.   First was “Dark Days” from their debut (and old school fans went nuts).  I laughed with my daughter saying that we hadn’t moved from when the show started.  But when we were first standing there, there were about twenty-five [rows of standing] people between us and the stage.  By this song, the mosh pit had filled up so much that there were at least fifty.

“Totally Fine” is probably my favorite song in the world right now.  It’s funny that a 35 year old is singing these words and that teenagers are singing along, when really, they apply to fifty year olds so much more.

Lately, I’ve started to feel like I’m slowly dying
And if I’m being real I don’t even mind
Whether I’m at my worst or I’m totally fine

Guitarist Steve Sladkowski shouted out the ongoing WGA strike, imploring the crowd to “go hard for the WGA” and saying the band were in the musician’s union and that there were many striking writer friends there today.  The crowd responded appropriately.

And also in unexpected ways.  During a quiet moment, Stefan looked down in the pit and said “holy shit, someone just got engaged.”  He looked at them and said “For the rest of your lives you get to say you got engaged at a PUP show, and that makes you a big fuckin’ loser.”

He was sorry to say that the next song was sad, but that they’d dedicate the next fast one to them.  “Robot Writes a Love Song” is also really fun, especially with the reference to “Black Hole Sun.”

They other song they hadn’t played last time was “Habits” off the new album, so that was fun.  Then they went old school with their thrashing “Reservoir.”

When we saw them last time, the show was longer, but they really crammed a lot into this 5o minute set.  There weren’t as many antics–no lengthy solo battles (last time, they played a huge portion of the Hotel California” solo together.  But there was plenty of jumping–it’s amazing the height Stefan gets.  And there was time for at least one shredding solo from Sladkowski during “Waiting.”  When the solo was over, Stefan, who had walked off the stage, came running back on stage, rolling to the mic and singing the chorus right on time.

Stefan announced that they had exactly two songs left.

They ended with two blistering old songs.  The wonderful “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will,” and the super fun “DVP.”

The show was loud and wild and fun.  And I was super impressed that my daughter hung with me in the middle of the crowd (we didn’t get close to the pit), despite the pushing and bumping.  My son was nearby but kind of on his own, and that worked to his benefit at the end of this set.