All Photos by Lauren Hernandez 📸
PUP & Jeff Rosenstock rolled into San Antonio as part of their co-headline tour, with a name being just as chaotic as the performance we got – A Cataclysmic Rapture of Friendshipness brought pure punk mayhem to the Paper Tiger.
I hadn’t heard of any of Jeff’s stuff beforehand. I was familiar with his name through my friend Lauren, who loved his music as a teenager. I had heard PUP through my friend Campbell, who played their song “Paranoid” during a Spotify Jam, and it fucked heavy.
Jeff’s set kicked things off with unbelievable electricity. The punk rocker was loud, abrasive, and in your face. His short pink hair and random bursts of saxophone were some of the most punk things I’ve ever seen. The crowd fucking loved it as the pits were going and never let up for the entire set.
The energy somehow got even higher when PUP took the stage. They just had the punk vibes down to a tee; “Paranoid” fucked even heavier live with the crowd surfers going crazy, and the entire experience in the room was so fun to witness.
But what truly took the night to a whole other level was when PUP & Jeff joined forces on stage. What I loved about this final part of the set is for what is a co-headline tour, rather than playing their own sets and calling it a night, they actually performed together. They really got the best energy out of each other, even more so from when they were performing individually.
This is the first time I’ve really ever seen co-headlining acts really be able to come together for a shared experience for both of the bands and all their fans.
The mosh pits were wilder, the crowd surfers were crazier, and the chemistry between PUP and Jeff was absolutely crazy. It was just so insane to witness that energy, and we wouldn’t have witnessed that energy that insane if it weren’t for them having a true collaboration on stage to close the night out.
Leave it to two punk acts to do one of the more unique things I’ve ever seen at a co-headline tour. I can only hope more co-headline hours do things like this, though I don’t know if any of them are gonna bring as much energy to the stage as PUP and Jeff Rosenstock did.
