Catfish and the Bottlemen Light Up The Met

You’re into giant, neon toucans? Cool, us too.

One of the best parts of a show, aside from the infectious energy and talent on-stage, is the lights. And if you were at Catfish and the Bottlemen’s tour stop at The Met, you know what we mean (and you can see for yourself below).

Though the band is touring in support of their third record The Balance, they sprinkled tracks from previous releases throughout the night. The most notable were crowd-favorite “Pacifier,” “7,” and the guitar-punching closer “Tyrants.”

Catfish is a band that evokes emotion the second they step on stage. With smoke clearing and red lights flashing, Van McCann (lead vocals/guitar) emerged to center stage, sang “GO!” and the crowd lit up on impact. This band puts on the epitome of a rock show: loud guitars, bright lights, hyped-up crowd, and ears ringing as you leave in the pouring rain (no joke).

It’s one thing to have high-energy throughout an entire show (which McCann does particularly well by swinging his mic stand around), but it’s impossible to ignore the cohesive nature of Catfish and the Bottlemen. Every note sounds identical to the album with a few unique and purposeful inflections to keep things interesting for the crowd who may be hearing “Kathleen” for the 20th time live. Prior to the show, the band mentioned to Radio 104.5’s Jessie that they owe this cohesiveness to their strict rehearsing schedule. They go from tour to the studio to rehearsal to tour again.

They live for the music and it’s obvious with every Philly show they play. Want to see what we’re talking about? Check out the photos we snapped below: