Words and Photos by Maddie Barkocy
“The world fucking sucks, it’s garbage, and what keeps us going is coming to places like this and playing for people like you” said PUP frontman Stefan Babcock after beginning their night two set at Brooklyn Paramount with “Hunger For Death” off of their 2025 release Who Will Look After The Dogs?, a song that begins with the line “Fuck everyone on this planet / Except for you.”
PUP are nearing the halfway point of their Cataclysmic Rapture of Friendshipness tour with Jeff Rosenstock and Ekko Astral, but they’re not losing any steam and neither are the fans — scoring a packed house for a nearly four-hour-long show on a Sunday night, with many fans having been night one veterans, is a feat in and of itself, let alone a show that has you doing a full-body cardio workout in the pit from start to finish.
Opener Ekko Astral, a three piece from Washington D.C., perfectly primed the stage and the crowd for the night ahead with their self-proclaimed “mascara mosh pit” sound. Drummer Miri Tyler was wearing a Bad Brains t-shirt and, as far as I’m concerned, the band did those DIY D.C. legends proud. At the end of their set, they brought out local NYC staple Pop Music Fever Dream for a rambunctious and celebratory closing number. By the time PUP took to the stage, Ekko Astral had already organized a Wall of Death and a communal scream, with enthusiastic fans already starting to crowdsurf their way across the pit. The night was a speeding train and there was no holding it back.
I would be remiss not to mention that in the days leading up to and following this Brooklyn Paramount show, numerous people in our country’s systems of power took to the internet to advocate for the criminalization of the trans community with a boldness that has been unprecedented at this scale. Ekko Astral’s lead vocalist Jael Holzman used her platform on Sunday to advocate for trans rights at a time when it is needed more than ever, and the crowd was uproarious in unison. Every time it feels like hope is all but lost, I am reminded of communities like this one. There’s so much work to do, but with a response to a call to action like this one, it all feels possible.
“What I’m asking is tonight we make it fucking awesome in here” Babcock urged towards the start of PUP’s set, further cementing the glue of community amongst this crowd of nearly 2,700 strangers. I felt lucky to be at the back of the house when they played the title track off Morbid Stuff, a perfect resting place to witness as the crowd breathed as one and silhouettes of hands collectively pumped into the air, not missing a beat. The end of PUP’s set sprinted from high-energy, extremely singable bangers “Kids” and “Familiar Patterns” immediately into the slow ramp up of “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will.”
Jeff Rosenstock and Co. took to the stage with the promise to play through their debut album We Cool? from front to back. Before beginning the marathon, Rosenstock spoke a little about how it came to be, saying that he was
“Getting to this fucked up loop of playing Candy Crush on my phone until the credits expired, watching The Walking Dead, being like ‘my credits for Candy Crush are back,’ and then doing it again for like weeks at a time as I was fucked up with a broken foot. And eventually I was like ‘well this feels like a little bit of a mental health warning light going on’ so I tried to shake myself out of it by writing a bunch of songs.”
He went on to admit “These are a bunch of sad as fuck songs about losing your mind because you’re in your thirties and you’re like ‘uh oh, I gotta do something because time’s running out’” before launching into an endearing false start (“Oh, I fucked up!”) and then a steady recovery of album opener “Get Old Forever.”
Leading into the fourth song on the album, Rosenstock asked a cheeky “Are you ready for the next song?” The answer was no, no one was ready for the uproar that would break out at the first lyrics “Held in a bong hit, sitting in a / Hot tub in south Wisconsin” of “Nausea,” one of their biggest hits off We Cool?
By the time press got ushered into the (photo) pit for the Double Band extravaganza, in which PUP and Rosenstock played a full set together, there was a plethora of miscellaneous items strewn across the barricade floor — belts and sweaty, sweaty shirts galore — many of which I truly hope got back to their rightful owners (or maybe not?).
But if Double Band wasn’t enough for this hungry crowd (I’m serious, I really hope everyone got a three course meal after this one), a chant of “Double Band is a thing of the past!” resounded until Ekko Astral returned to the stage for the revolutionary Triple Band, a full touring team cover of The Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.”
Even with the exhilaration of the climactic Triple Band, after chatting with some fans after the show, I can confidently say that there is a consensus on the highlight of the night: when Rosenstock came onstage, acoustic guitar in hand, and played “Future 86,” the closing song off Album Minus Band, an album released under another project called Bomb the Music Industry! As he sang the lyrics towards the beginning of the song “You and I will move to New York City,” the crowd erupted in loud enough cheers for him to have to repeat the line again, this time with a huge smile plastered on his face and a few chuckles into the mic.
Despite my hesitation about whether or not this venue would be an ideal space to host a rowdy pop-punk show, Brooklyn Paramount has once again established itself as an incredibly versatile venue. There is nothing quite like seeing an illuminated sea of crowd surfers under the watchful gaze of the backlit Rococo ceiling.
If you haven’t had the chance to be arms flailing, swimming in sweat, and shoes sticky with beer at a PUP — or Ekko Astral, or Jeff Rosenstock — show, I cannot recommend it enough. Community brings us together and on Sunday night, everyone in the venue-wide mosh pit at Brooklyn Paramount was family.
Loudspeaker Collective 