Turnstile played Paradise Rock Club – 5/7

Baltimore hardcore upstarts Turnstile concluded their spring North American tour with LA’s Touché Amoré, San Francisco’s Culture Abuse and Texans Razor Bumps at the Paradise last Monday night. 

Turnstile have generated their fair share of divisiveness from punk purists as their profile has risen, taking them from underground venues to jam-packed rock clubs with the release of February’s Time & Space, and I’m not here to address any of that. If the band’s boundary-pushing hardcore is not your thing, their live show seems unlikely to change your thinking. For their growing legions of fans and the open-minded yet-to-be converts among us, however, it was pure and joyous chaos. A thing of beauty, really. Vocalist Brendan Yates diving feet-first into a stage-side trashcan before pogoing right back out of it is a concert memory that I could sense being etched into my brain forever as it happened.

And the rest of this bill was pretty great, too. Touché Amoré’s emotive post-hardcore contrasted nicely with the scuzzy party vibes of Culture Abuse, and Razor Bumps’ retro-styled garage-punk served as an excellent appetizer for the night. It’s not every week you encounter a four-band bill on a Monday night and come away with nothing but good things to say.

Photos from all four sets below.