Date: September 29th, 2017
Opening Bands: Don DiLego, Alana Sweetwater

The Push Stars are currently on their first full US tour in some time and they made a stop at The Bowery Electric in NYC on Friday, September 29th. They have a brand new album coming out shortly, which we got to hear 2 new songs off of that! Out of the 4 times I’ve seen the Push Stars since 2012, this was by far my favorite performance by them!

The set times were all out of sync for the show. The website said doors at 6:30, show at 7. Then I saw the show was starting at 7:30 when I arrived at the club. It was actually 15 minutes after that when things kicked off. Killing time down in Bowery Electric on your phone proved to be tough since service was so unbelievably crappy down there, and no wifi either.

The opening act was Don DiLego, a singer-songwriter from NYC via MA. I really liked his sound as a solo artist, the songs were poppy and had a good beat to them. I then checked out his music on Spotify and it sounded even better with a full band. He had someone (forgot her name) playing tambourine and singing along with him. He was pretty funny in between songs as well. Check him out. After Don was Alana Sweetwater, who just joined up with Push Stars for several dates on their tour. She had an unique singing voice & style. The song that stands out the most for me was the one where she had the audience be her drums and clap along.

The Push Stars came on stage 9:45 and rocked the place for 90 mins, give or take. They opened with the usual “Me” and the audience was already singing along. They went into “One Summer Day,” then played some of my favorites like “Any Little Town,” “Claire” and “Everything Shines.” You can tell the band was just into the show from the start. The band just thrives with these smaller venues, where the crowd is right up next to them and singing along. They slowed things down with perfect gems like “Freedom” and “Keg on my Coffin” from their flawless Paint The Town album. Chris said they have daily arguments with the guys on whether or not Ryan should sing lead more often. The crowd wanted to hear it so Ryan sang “Too Much Pride,” which I’ve heard him sing before, back in 2012 at Maxwell’s. I think he does a great job with it so they should continue to do it, even though Ryan doesn’t want to.

At one point, they played two NEW tracks! Both tracks I liked a lot so can’t wait to hear the rest. After the first song, I called out the band to see when it was being released since they did a successful Kickstarter and supposed to be released soon. Dan confirmed it will be out very soon. One song I haven’t heard them play yet was “Over You” and that was a stand out as well. Not sure what song it was but Dan mentioned Chris had his first guitar solo ever for a Push Stars. Not sure if he was joking (which they do a lot) or he was actually serious. Other songs from their album Opening Time ended the set with “Waiting, Watching, Wishing” and “Shameless Explanation.” I love when the band plays “Waiting, Watching, Wishing” because it’s probably one of their heavier ones that they play.

Chris and Dan stayed on stage for the encore, while Chris joked about giving props to Ryan but he already exited the stage. Always the comedians The Push Stars are. Chris sang “Wild Irish Rose” was a nice to hear, and then they went into “Drunk is Better than Dead.” They finished off the evening with “Minnesota” which was a perfect song to end.

I’ve been listening to the Push Stars for over 14 years or so and only saw them 4 times now. I’d go see them in Hoboken this week but already quite the busy week this week. This show was by far my favorite out of the bunch. The band was on fire and looked to be having a blast. They have a brand new album coming out soon, and are still on tour so if they play near you, be sure to get out to see them!

All my photos will be on SkaPunkPhotos.com but here’s some of my favorites:

Don DiLego

Alana Sweetwater

The Push Stars