Circle pits at Glastonbury? Let’s have plenty more of these in the future, please. Following immediately on from Amyl and The Sniffers’ storming set on the John Peel Stage today (June 26), Turnstile hit the same stage in the latest instalment of the Baltimore band’s long-awaited and utterly deserved breakthrough, stemming from their euphoric August 2021 album ‘GLOW ON’, with circle pits, moshing and sheer jubilation in ample supply.
The hardcore punk album’s elusive crossover appeal has won many new fans of the five-piece over the past year, continuing the momentum on from 2018’s ‘Time & Space’ which really pricked up curious ears among those who typically operate outside the hardcore community. And community is such a vital pillar for Turnstile, with the band no doubt intent on not letting their success change them one bit by, for instance, remaining to put on free shows, where ecstatic fans run amok on and off-stage, rubbing literal shoulders with their heroes.
The size of the John Peel tent means that stage-diving is sadly not an option today. But frontman Brendan Yates still takes the time to embrace his adoring public (at one point while crowdsurfing, he grabs an acoustic guitar that’s being held aloft in the mosh and briefly plays along with the orchestrated chaos occurring on stage) as the band’s Glastonbury debut naturally goes off, further enhancing Turnstile’s versatility in the live arena.
‘GLOW ON’ tracks like ‘MYSTERY’, ‘BLACKOUT’ and the actually-quite-beautiful ‘UNDERWATER BOI’ are received like best new friends as bassist Franz Lyons sweetly dedicates ‘NO SURPRISE’ to Glastonbury. They don’t forget their roots either, with a trio of cuts from their 2015 debut ‘Nonstop Feeling’ (‘Blue By You’, ‘Drop’ and ‘Fazed Out’) being aired.
Moments of tenderness like ‘ALIEN LOVE CALL’ provide a much-needed period of calm for Glastonbury’s foremost moshers to get their breath back, but the immediacy of ‘WILD WRLD’, ‘HOLIDAY’ and ‘T. L. C. (TURNSTILE LOVE CONNECTION)’ spark a cathartic sense of pandemonium from all of those lucky to be in attendance this evening.
“We’re so happy to be here with you,” Yates tells the crowd at one point. When you’re witnessing the live band of the summer, the pleasure is all ours, Turnstile. We’ll see you, reader, in the circle pit…
Turnstile played:
‘MYSTERY’
‘Real Thing’
‘Big Smile’
‘BLACKOUT’
‘UNDERWATER BOI’
‘DON’T PLAY’
‘ENDLESS’
‘NO SURPRISE’
‘Fazed Out’
‘Drop’
‘Blue by You’
‘Canned Heat’
‘FLY AGAIN’
‘Moon’
‘ALIEN LOVE CALL’
‘WILD WRLD’
‘HOLIDAY’
‘T. L. C. (TURNSTILE LOVE CONNECTION)’
– Check back at NME here throughout the weekend for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Glastonbury 2022