Kat’s POV:
“At the right place, at the right time,” was what Turnstile’s vocalist Brendan Yates sang, his voice echoing across the Kemba Live audience on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025. It was as if the whole audience sighed with relief, finding joy and resonance within those words.
Turnstile, a melodic hardcore band from Baltimore, Maryland, drew quite a crowd to Kemba Live, which was highlighted even more by their extensive and diverse group of openers.
The night began with artist Jane Remover, whose work has been described as “digicore” and “progressive pop.” If one thing can be said about Jane Remover, it’s that they truly commit to the bit: their set was filled with electronic dissonance, paired with an excessive amount of shrieking that could only be described as uncomfortable. Their stage presence also lacked luster, as they consistently whipped their hair across the stage and seldom addressed the audience. Many people disengaged throughout their set, some even turning to play New York Time’s Wordle, but others seemed to enjoy their music. A few arms were seen flailing across the pit, already filled to the brim in preparation for Turnstile. Overall, their sound was quite unique—a true mix of brainrot, gun sound effects, and screaming scarcely heard.
Where Jane Remover’s cacophony alienated parts of the crowd, SPEED’s grounded charisma brought them back together. The lead vocalist gave multiple speeches about how hardcore punk creates community and unites the marginalized, which was quite moving even as the audience began to mosh. The pit got so intense one of the audience members received a bloody nose that stayed swollen for days. However, their harsh music paired surprisingly well with their gracious attitudes.
“SPEED gives a fuck!” lead vocalist Jem Siow shouted, after sharing how Turnstile brought them into the inner circle even when SPEED was an unknown group. Jem Siow was full of these personal narratives, including an endearing story about how he was a flute instructor before the band blew up. Their sound was pretty hardcore while still holding a lot of charm and earnestness.
Then, unfortunately, came a lull in the upbeat energy of the night when Devonté Hynes AKA Blood Orange took the stage. Blood Orange has an amazing and encapsulating sound, with some highlights, “Champagne Coast” and “Vivid Light.” His music is a unique mix of nostalgia, R&B, and indie rock. However, he unfortunately lacked stage presence and was barely audible. He didn’t address the crowd at all and really lowered the audience’s energy. His music was quite a foil to that of SPEED, which created some upset. It was rather disappointing, and in a different environment his artistry may have been able to truly shine.
By the time the clock struck 9:35, the moment everyone was waiting for had finally arrived. As Turnstile bounded upon the stage, the crowd went wild, fans already crowdsurfing within the first song. One thing that really stood out within Turnstile’s performance was their constant interaction with the audience and fans, whether it was through their team’s camera work projecting fan’s faces across the screen, encouraging the mosh pit, or even just pointing to different sections of the crowd shouting, “how are you doing tonight?” It was audience interaction like I’d never witnessed before. The screens even showed toddlers head-banging their little hearts out to their favorite band. Turnstile has come to be known for this unique, underappreciated style, and for going above and beyond to show love for their fans. With merchandise featuring photos from previous shows, social media posts with fan voicemails and speeches, everything was there to make their fans feel included.
Some highlights from their set list included songs, “I CARE/DULL,” “FLY AGAIN,” ”SEEIN’ STARS,” “ALIEN LOVE CALL,” and “BIRDS.” When performing those tracks, the band was truly able to capture audience energy and harness it. It was really interesting to see how they were able to pull from all of their discography to perform an excellent concert.
All in all, the evening was quite eventful, filled with moshing galore. It truly made everyone feel like they were at the right place at the right time. It was such a gift to be able to enjoy this night of eclectic music and experience the power of community brought together by music. These birds really aren’t meant to fly alone.
Cora’s thoughts:
While we were writing this a plane exploded. 🤯
Jane Remover sucks live!!! Wow they/them need to shut them mouth!
My friend Haley got punched in the face during Speed and got a bloody nose, but she looked sick affff and got a free cigarette out of it. Hardcore as fuck.
Speed was so cool. Their music was a bit too hardcore for my everyday listening, but seeing them live was exhilarating. I love that the lead singer used to be a flute teacher aw so cute.
Blood Orange played all my favorite songs but was not as good live as I wanted him to be like… Yes, he played Jesus Freak Lighter and Time Will Tell and Wish and Vivid Light, but he didn’t actually sing very much and his backup singers did a lot of the vocals. Also something was wrong with the audio mix because you could barely hear his voice over the drums. But he was playing all the synths and stuff live which I thought was impressive. Basically, it was everything I wanted it to be and also not at the same time.
During Blood Orange’s set the people next to me got in a fight because this one girl told this group of people to be quiet, and they were very offended by that. And then they started shushing each other like 5-year-olds and were making fun of the girl that told them to be quiet, so her boyfriend confronted the people and it was just like wow. Personally, I think everyone was being an asshole because how the fuck are you gonna expect people to be quiet during a concert, but at the same time the people who were talking were being so OBNOXIOUS and mean, and I didn’t see them enjoy a single song the whole time. And they were like 30.
Turnstile took the stage at around 9:38pm.
My life completely changed on September 27th, 2025, at 9:38pm. They started their set with the title track from their new album, Never Enough. It was soooooo good. Singing it with everyone in the crowd only made it 1000 times better. They played their way through all their best hits, including T.L.C, ENDLESS, I CARE and DULL (mashup), DON’T PLAY, Real Thing, Drop, and LIGHT DESIGN. They then moved into a section with some of their older songs. During this section, they did something unprecedented. They deployed camera people all over the venue, some even venturing into the moshpit. They captured real, raw experiences of their fans enjoying the music, something that was so exciting to watch. While watching the screen, I saw fans of all ages, some old, and some very young (im talking like 4 year olds #kids4turnstile) enjoying the music. There was a documentary aspect to their concert visuals that I have never experienced before, something that opened my mind to the possibilities of what amazing things visuals can do for a concert. Shoutout to those camera people fr.
Pinterest board with Brenden Yates and Daniel Fang fitness inspo.
I love watching Franz play the bass he makes it look so fun!!!
At the end of the show they hugged all their fans at the barricade 🥰 so wholesome and nice!
FINALLY I CAN SEE IT THESE BIRDS NOT MEANT TO FLY ALONE!!!!!!!!
TLDR: Plane Crash, Jane Screeches, Haley Punched During Speed, Blood Orange more like Silent Orange, Turnstile Live Changed My Life
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