Catfish and the Bottlemen kicked off their string of North American dates in North Carolina earlier this week. The second day of this tour brought the band out to the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Their killer live show was well worth the wait for fans that caught them back in May or that had missed out on that show. The nearly two hour set was loaded with crowd favorite like Cocoon, 7, and Soundcheck while still playing some hits from their newest record The Balance.
The crowd showed up early to catch the opener July Talk. While it could be assumed that most fans in the audience were from the tri-state area, the most dedicated fans were those right against the barricade who had traveled from states away to catch them. One guy told me it was his 40th Catfish and the Bottlemen show while two other girls stated they were going to be following the entire tour. Who could blame them? This UK four piece puts on one of the best live shows from modern rock bands. The lighting design perfectly complements the mood of each song as it changes between fast paced strobe lights, vibrant reds and yellows, moody blues and greens, and crisp flashes of white.
They opened their set with Longshot and closed it out with Tyrants. Both were the perfect kickoff and sendoff for the show. It’s unfortunate that the band can’t come through NYC more often, but it makes the live show that much more special for U.S. fans in the northeast. There are only a limited number of major cities on the rest of the tour. View the full list of dates and purchase tickets here. Check out more photos from the New York City show below. All photos by Carol Simpson.
Impressions Magazine 