Jeff Rosenstock’s Biggest Show: HELLMODE at The Salt Shed
Article and photos by Mia Thompson
On the night of April 11 at The Salt Shed, Jeff Rosenstock was faced with the largest crowd he had ever headlined for, and they had been waiting for him.
In September of 2023, D.I.Y. artist Jeff Rosenstock released his fifth studio album, Hellmode, and embarked on a raucous, cross-country tour. Split into two halves, the tour started with an East Coast and Midwestern run, featuring support from Gladie and Sidney Gish. Then, in late November, Rosenstock would tackle the Southwest with Georgia Maq and Small Crush.
Tragedy struck, however, when Rosenstock and some of his team came down with Covid. Forced to cancel the first leg of his tour, he expressed his disappointment to fans via Instagram, but promised to be back “better than ever. The Expanded edition. Jeffy Sidney Gladdy Deluxe Re-Issue.’” Dates were rescheduled and a new, Spring 2024 tour was born: The Revenge of Jeff Rosenstock; Free From Disease… Imprisoned by Capitalism! And revenge Rosenstock took, returning to the Midwest to play the biggest show of his career at the Salt Shed.
After six months of eagerly anticipating his arrival, fans of the punk rocker gathered in the defunct Morton Salt Factory and threw themselves into the music wholeheartedly. The show was nothing less than an ecstatic celebration of finally being together.
Gladie, opened the night with a collection of gritty indie rock. Augusta Koch, the Philadelphia band’s founder and vocalist, has a distinct and powerful voice, putting punch behind performances of their 2023 single “Chaos Reigns,” and “Mud” from the 2022 album Don’t Know What You’re in Until You’re Out. Their set was fun and sincere; at one point, Koch excitedly exclaimed that this was Rosenstock’s largest show. At another, she had everyone in the crowd do the wave for Sidney Gish, who took the stage shortly after Gladie closed their set with “Born Yesterday,” off of Don’t Know.
Gish’s onstage set up is a sharp contrast to that of Gladie and Jeff Rosenstock and his band. She stood alone, center stage, with only her Loop Station and her guitar. The Boston musician loops her guitar live for her performances, and the crowd gets to bear witness to her music slowly taking form and coming to life. At times she even warned that the looping would take a minute or two before she could start singing; that the crowd hungry for music would have to wait until it was ready to be consumed and she could begin singing over it. It was remarkable. She also encouraged the crowd to make a drawing during the wait, lest boredom set in (Our prompt was a hot dog on top of the bean. Very topical!) She opened with a cover of STRFKR’s “Rawnald Gregory Erikson the Second,” and the crowd thrummed with each building layer. Her delicate lyricism and gentle strumming were at their peak when she crooned out “Presumably Dead Arm,” a track from her 2016 album Ed Buys Houses. By the time Gish was closing her set with “Not but for You, Bunny,” off of her 2017 album No Dogs Allowed a wave had been sent back to Gladie, a reminder to dance extra hard for Rosenstock had been issued, and the crowd was reeling with excitement.
Jeff Rosenstock took to the stage triumphantly and uproariously, entering with a cover of System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!” He was met with a crowd ready to throw themselves into motion: a mosh pit formed nearly instantly, a fitting response to Rosenstock’s unbridled, chaotic joy. The former Bomb the Music Industry! frontman has been releasing solo albums since 2012 with I Look Like Shit, gaining particular critical notice for his 2016 release Worry, which Pitchfork called his magnum opus when it first came out. He didn’t stop there, however, and HELLMODE is an emotionally charged, at times playful, punk edition to his catalog. Following “Chop Suey!” Rosenstock jumped into the first song off of HELLMODE “WILL U STILL U,” and the headbanging truly began. As a desperate sounding Rosenstock screamed out to a crowd asking “Will you still love me after I’ve fucked up?” The crowd seemed to respond through joyous dancing that he doesn't even need to ask them: of course they will still love him. Their energy was tireless; each new track met with thrashing bodies, uplifted hands, and scream sing-along-ing. Other HELLMODE tracks like “Liked U Better” and “3 Summers” were highlights of the night.
But Rosenstock’s set was long — he played 33 songs — and he had time to spend with some of his older tunes. He slowed things down with a heart wrenching performance of “9/10” from his 2018 album Post-, and changed the lyrics from “9 times out of 10 I’ll be stoned on the subway” to “9 times out 10 I’ll be stoned on the L train.” People floated atop the crowd, surfing to the songs not suitable for moshing. After an extended encore — he asked the crowd if they wanted more and their answer was quite definite — Rosenstock closed the show with “We Begged 2 Explode,” a song off of Worry. As the song builds and comes to a resounding, crashing conclusion, Rosenstock yells out “All these magic moments I’ll forget once the magic is gone.” The entire song was sung by hundreds of raw voices, cracked and sore from hours of singing and laughing and cheering.”We Begged 2 Explode” tells a story about growing up and about impermanence. It communicates the terrible, wonderful feeling of living; you never stop leaving things behind. But as a crowd of people screamed along with him, it felt like that magic might not be forgotten at all.
You can listen to Sidney Gish and Gladie on all streaming platforms and check out Jeff Rosenstock’s new album, HELLMODE, here!