(a) setlist

1. Destruction
2. Carry Me
3. In Clover
4. Feels Like a Lie
5. Now
6. Nice House
7. Parade
8. Traveling at the Speed of Light
9. Bad Dreams

Encore:

1. Somebody New
2. Tongues

(b) highlights

• this was a CMJ Festival show and the lineup was pretty good – I love going to this fest every fall in New York; it’s really not something to be missed
• loved the setlist – at this point, the band felt the most full-bodied they’d ever been
• really solid crowd interaction throughout
• nabbed the setlist at the end of the show, which was cool – it still hangs in my bedroom today
• I know some acts would disagree with me, I genuinely like Brooklyn Bowl as a concert venue – yeah so people are bowling like 20 feet away, but isn’t that sort of DIY awesome? (yeah, it’s not DIY at all and very ‘Brooklyn’ but whatever)

(c) lowlights

• nothing comes to mind

(d) overall thoughts

The CMJ Festival is a cool, week-long shindig that takes places in and around various venues across NYC and Brooklyn in October. Super small and local bands will play, but bigger acts as well. I was super happy to hear Joywave would be headlining that night – their agency was putting on a last-minute event with them at the top of the bill and I was so into it.

I had seen Joywave many times before this, but this was the most present and confident they had felt to me. It was right around this time that “Somebody New” and its accompanying music video came out, and they were gaining more and more traction following the heels of “Tongues” and its success. Their growing popularity made them better performers, yes, but it also brought a bit of self-importance. They’re strangely self-aware of that self-importance, which makes the whole meta-awareness of their band more interesting, but also more complicated. Anyone who has experienced their social media or live show would probably confirm having a similar experience of the band.

Regardless of any of that, the band killed, the crowd was into it, and I didn’t mind too much that they seem to simultaneously actively dislike their own audience while also wanting our approval. I think Joywave makes solid, interesting, and memorable music and I’m eager to hear anything new they come out with soon.

Bottom line: Joywave is fun, CMJ shows are always a neat look into where the music scene might be heading in the future, and there’s nothing wrong with playing a rock show next to people bowling, okay.