Not even a severe weather shutdown can halt hardcore's superstars Turnstile, as they bring the thunder back to the stage in Florida...
“Thank you for being here with us,” says Brendan Yates. “Thank you for braving the storm.”
English festival goers used to braving the worst wetness and mud nature has to offer might be surprised at a show-stop for inclement weather, but the thunder and lightning that sweeps into Florida on the Friday of Welcome To Rockville is a dastardly creature. The speedway empties out as folks head for shelter, and an eerie, uneasy calm sets in as the Heavens open, and Kreator and Poppy have to abandon what they’re doing as a red alert comes up.
It is, then, with a sense of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat that Turnstile emerge – almost two hours after the planned start – to headline the Friday second stage. And what was always going to be a triumph anyway earns an extra bit of adrenaline and catharsis. Which, in the context of Turnstile, becomes dynamite squared.
A year into touring last year’s phenomenal NEVER ENOUGH album, some of the steps are by now familiar, but the way they make a billing such as this still feel like an underground, unspoiled thing remains a wonder. There’s no easy grandstanding, or following a playbook of how you’re supposed to fill a space like this.
No matter how many times you see Brendan high-kicking in front of their by now-familiar test card-looking coloured backdrop, it’s still exciting as hell. The simplicity of production elevates their simple, very physical performance to big league weight without losing any of their energy. Even the refusal to just indulge in loads of pyro, CO2 and co-ordinated moves seems to be about preserving the sweat and spit purity of their roots.
Tonight, they are unstoppable. Never Enough takes the stress of wondering if the day’s going to end as a washout and turns it into irresistible energy, Dumb sees a huge pit swirl in front of the stage. I Care – the best song The Smiths never wrote – keeps its sing-along impassioned and flowing with emotion as it’s sung back by a good 10,000 people. Crucially, it all feels like the physical work of the five people onstage, like it’s being conjured from thin air into magic, like it properly matters.
For those who saw Turnstile in places like South London’s New Cross Inn, there’s a curious brilliance to seeing them on stages like this, getting shouted out by Dave Groohl as Foo Fighters hit the main stage as soon as they finish. But what’s even better is how Turnstile have managed to succeed in this new arena by asking themselves what Turnstile would do. It’s why they make a massive night like this feel like a hardcore all-dayer with more stage lights. And it’s why they’re still one of the most exciting bands in rock, rain or shine.
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