Concert review by Beau Croxton, all photography by Mike Golembo

Die Spitz at Bowery Ballroom by Mike Golembo

Austin, Texas band Die Spitz is currently on the road supporting their excellent debut album, Something To Consume– and on Tuesday the 18th, they took over Bowery Ballroom in NYC with a rowdy sold-out show.

Prior to this leg of tour, Die Spitz has been road-tested with the best of them– they have been a stellar supporting act for Amyl & The Sniffers, OFF!, Sleater Kinney, Viagra Boys, and Foo Fighters. They have been on quite a killing spree, and they also just dropped an absolute must-see KEXP session that you should check out here. The band has had a quick and deserving rise to getting in front of the biggest and best rock-centric crowds.

This Bowery Ballroom show was all about Die Spitz– and it was their biggest headliner in New York City to date. When I arrived during Babe Haven’s vicious opening set, the venue was so jam-packed that you would think the venue had oversold tickets– I couldn't enter the back door of the show room because so many people were pouring out of it.

But it became clear that the audience had opened up the pit so wide that everyone surrounding it had been pushed far back– which led to the overflow of people out of the back door.

THROW YOURSELF TO THE SWORD

Shortly after 9pm – Die Spitz arrived onstage and opened with the searing stoner-metal riffs of “I Hate When Girls Die”.

It was a proper firecracker of an open – but things really got raging with guitarist/singer Ava Schrobilgen’s performance of the grungy “American Porn”. The blistering track encouraged crowd surfers to start flying up onto the stage, which led to plenty of stage diving. Die Spitz were completely unfazed by fans on stage– in fact, they welcomed it and fed off of the energy of the crowd. Their show was so communal with the audience that guitarist/singer Eleanor Livingston jumped into the moshpit to play a guitar solo during the outro of “American Porn”.

Die Spitz at Bowery Ballroom by Mike Golembo

After “Down On It”, Eleanor took an opportunity to state their stances on current affairs— “Free Palestine, Fuck ICE, and protect the dolls!” which resonated clearly, as the audience roared back.

One of the coolest aspects about Die Spitz is their wide and varied instrumental abilities. A few songs into the set, Chloe De St. Aubin left her drumset to take over guitar/vocals, and perform her Something To Consume highlights “Voir Dire” and "Punishers", while Ava switched to the drums to support.

Between their three vocalists, (Eleanor, Ava and Chloe) Die Spitz delivers a great range of styles of hard rock seen through many decades. Whether it's grunge, hardcore, metal, pub-rock, or punk rock– it's all very well done. Despite Chloe injuring her finger prior to the show that night, she gave 150% on drums and guitar/vocals. After Ava switched back to guitar, she humorously added “I just dropped two drumsticks while headlining Bowery Ballroom…. No one can hurt me!”

Die Spitz at Bowery Ballroom by Mike Golembo

Before the hardcore-punk drop of “Grip”-- Eleanor pleaded for the crowd to get rowdy and open up the pit. She asked “Can you open it the fuck up, New York?!” and the circle-pit began to broaden across the floor. When the song’s beat drop launched, people on every side of the pit swarmed to the middle, resulting in an outrageous, swirling mass of rowdy moshing. I’ve seen plenty of shows at Bowery Ballroom, and this crowd is easily up there with the rowdiest.

Bassist Kate Halter also maintained an incredibly fun and energetic stage presence all night. She seemed totally possessed by the spirit of everything Die Spitz is all about: head-banging, swaying, jumping around like mad, grinning ear to ear, rocking out and having a total blast.

But to be fair– there were iconic rock-out moments from every band member. As if the moshpit guitar solo wasn't enough, Eleanor managed to climb up the balcony of the ballroom during “Evangeline”. In a stunning move– Eleanor performed her verse from the balcony and then dropped off of the ledge into the audience, landing in a perfectly supported crowd surf, held up by the fans. It was a fearless, adrenaline-filled and iconic moment that had the audience going haywire. It was definitely the most rockstar move I have seen in the venue to date.

Upon leaving the stage in a blitz of hype, Eleanor shouted “Fuck yeah New York! We’re Die Spitz!”

Die Spitz at Bowery Ballroom by Mike Golembo

ENCORE

A major theme of the night was making sure everyone felt safe to have a great time– and especially lifting up the women in the room.

Before the encore– one of the band’s crew members came out and asked “Can every girl scream as loud as you can at the count of 3?”. The crew member then asked the same question for the men in the room, then said “Every guy who just cheered, I want you to let every single girl who screamed before you come up to the front.” The girls in the room migrated to the front row to enjoy the peak of the evening. The crew member also asked the guys to protect the front row– as they “are not always protected”.

For the first two encores, Die Spitz tore through “Groping Dogs Gushing Blood” followed by the rip-roaring “RIDING WITH MY GIRLS”. “RIDING…” was an insanely high-speed ripper with some of the most intense head-banging from the group all night. In the outro, Eleanor Livingston took one more opportunity to crowd surf (because, of course she would!). Die Spitz invited all the members of Babe Haven onstage to dance and blast confetti during the encore.

The thrashy closing track “Throw Yourself to the Sword” was such a monstrous banger in concert—it was the ultimate heavy ender to a ripping set. It’s clear everyone was eagerly waiting to hear it– you could tell by how loud the audience sang the choruses back at the band.

The common takeaway from seeing Die Spitz’s high-octane sets on this tour would be to talk about their ascending trajectory as artists– and yes, their future will clearly follow the upwards spike that they have seen in recent years. But to me, the main take away from this moment is that Die Spitz are best friends having the absolute time of their lives, while giving relentless performances and building a rowdy, wholesome and inclusive community in the process…The band’s sheer joy and passion onstage for what they do really translates to their equally impassioned audience. It's all very incredible and inspiring to see for the next generation of girls that just wanna rock– either on stage or in the audience. Like many, I can't wait to see more– rock on Die Spitz.