Jeff Rosenstock and PUP Bring Heart, Soul, and Grit To The Palace Theatre

I felt guilty that I wasn't at my brother's house on Wednesday night to welcome my dad and stepmom to town, but there was a show in town that I just couldn't miss. I think they understood. Heck, my dad is the one who saved me during the great camera meltdown of 2025 (which was just a week ago), but it didn't change how I felt. Should I have passed on this show? Should I have just gone over to my brother's for dinner and spent time with my family? I know I'll have the next couple of days, but should I have? My thoughts were racing, and the guilt was turning into anxiety as I drove to The Palace Theatre in Saint Paul, but as soon as I arrived, got inside, and was getting all set up for the show, that guilt melted away. This is my life. This is what I do. My parents understand that, and once I got that through my head, the night turned from anxiety-ridden to nothing short of a celebration.

Washington D.C.-based Ekko Astral was the first and only opener of this co-headlining bill. I was instantly in love with them from the second they started. Their overall sound drew from familiar beats and patterns, but also incorporated artistry and noise. It was all over the place and kind of reminded me of bands like Gustaf, if only because of the quirkiness. I loved how this band could go from a tender song that had you lost in the clouds to a more intense song that made you want to move around a bit more in the blink of an eye and how, regardless of the overall vibe of the track they were performing at any given moment during their set, they were doing it with an undeniable sense of heart and passion. Being an opening act is rough, especially when it's opening for a co-headlining tour featuring two juggernauts of a scene like this one, but Ekko Astral stood their own. They not only gave us some amazing music to get us warmed up, but they also delivered one heck of a performance that even included a wall of death before 7 PM on a Wednesday (which, come on, that's wild). I had never heard of or seen Ekko Astral before this set, but this definitely won't be the last time you hear me talk about this band. I hope that this show is just the first of many times that I will be able to catch this amazing band live.

The next performer was supposed to take the stage at 7:10, so I was surprised to hear the audience screeching and screaming around 6:55. Was the set starting early, and was I late to the photo pit? Honestly, I had gotten lost in a text conversation and hadn't been paying attention to the stage. I panicked, shoved my phone back in my bag, and started to brace myself for the hustle up to the front of the packed audience, but that's when I realized- the house lights were still on. This set wasn't starting early; the performer, Jeff Rosenstock, was just already up there getting everything ready. That's Jeff in a nutshell (at least, to me). He's the kind of guy who, no matter how big the show is, will be the one to come out and get things ready rather than having a roadie do it for him. Don't get me wrong, there was a full staff of people there and helping bands load on and off the stage throughout the night, but there was something just so genuine about seeing Jeff Rosenstock out there doing it himself, and it really set the tone for what was to come from his set.

It was a set of seventeen songs from Jeff and his absolutely stellar band. Each one came with an undeniable sense of fire, passion, and fun. Here's the thing about Jeff: even if you've never seen this man before or never even heard his music, within just a few moments of seeing him live, you feel like you've known him for your entire life. He's just so relatable, so honest, so transparent, so real. It goes back to him setting up his own gear. Honestly, his music sounds like that action if that makes any sense to you. I've been a fairly big Jeff Rosenstock fan for years, so I was so excited to be able to sing and dance along to everything from "Festival Song" to "Novelty Sweater," but that wasn't the highlight of his time on stage for me. That highlight was the audience. As one may suspect, feeling so close to a musician, as I just described, leads to religious experiences when you see said musician. That's what I was watching happen in the crowd. From those who were dancing, moshing, and surfing their way through the set to others who were happy to just stand towards the back of the venue and take it all in, one note at a time, there was this insane connection between Jeff and the audience. It was just one of those feelings that doesn't happen often, and when it does, I can never quite find the right words to describe it. All you need to know is that Jeff Rosenstock is a force to be reckoned with. He's a superstar, a juggernaut, but, at the end of the day, he's just Jeff- A performer with an undeniable talent who is making music for the people and by the people.

I had been resistant to the other co-headliner of the night - PUP- for a very long time. I couldn't tell you why. Maybe it was because I felt I was too old to listen to such a cool band, or perhaps it was just because their name was all over the place and it annoyed me —I don't know —but I dragged my feet when it came to checking this band out. Then songs from their 2019 album 'Morbid Stuff' started seeping into my daily playlists. Every time a song from PUP would come on, it would catch my attention. I tried to ignore it, but eventually, I was just so in love with a few singles from that album that I couldn't resist any longer and had to dig into this band and everything they have done. Fast forward, and I've now seen PUP a few times, each time being a bit more explosive and amazing than the last. Long story short, I'm a PUP fan now, so seeing them on Wednesday night at The Palace Theatre was definitely something I had been looking forward to for a hot minute.

PUP blasted through their seventeen-song set like it was nothing. It was track after track of raw emotion, mixed with punk energy, and no shortage of screaming fans pushing and shoving their way through the packed general admission audience on the floor. Don't get me wrong, I love this band, but I've found some of their music to lean into the calmer side of the punk scene. I must be crazy because, just like the last time I saw PUP, the audience treated every song like the most intense jam they've ever heard. Sweat limbs flying through the audience mixed with people literally screaming to every word, this was the kind of show where, if you didn't know the words to every song, you felt a bit left out, but determined to do better next time because, clearly, those words mean everything to so many people.

The band sounded great. One of the many things that makes PUP stand out is the way they evoke and present such a raw sense of emotion. I've never understood how they can capture that feeling in a recording, but that's exactly what they do, so it's no surprise that when seeing them live, that emotion feels just a bit more raw, more poignant, more perfect. There's something about the way it hits you when you see this band live. Lines like "I don't give a shit, I just don't wanna die, and I don't want to live" or "I've been navigating my way through the mind-numbing reality of a godless existence" hit me in a special way on Wednesday night. I wish I could expand on that, but I can't. The lyrical genius of PUP is clear when you hear their recordings, but it seems exaggerated when you see and feel those words live, and it's something that I will never be able to find the right words to describe.

Seventeen songs sound like a lot, but in the world of PUP, it didn't last that long. It was only an hour and, truthfully, it didn't feel long enough, but the band had a surprise up their sleeves. Jeff Rosenstock appeared on stage again to wrap up the night with a few double-band songs featuring PUP and Death Rosenstock (the solo moniker for Jeff Rosenstock). The supergroup took turns playing PUP and Jeff Rosenstock songs, and then finally closed out the night with a celebratory cover of "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette.

Should I have spent my Wednesday night at my brother's house with his wife, their new baby, my dad, and my stepmom? Probably, but there was a show in town, and it was a show that I needed for my soul. Deep down, I know that I made the right decision.