IN CONCERT: TROPICAL FUCK STORM - BOWERY BALLROOM- JUNE 21, 2025
Concert review and all photos by Beau Croxton
Tropical Fuck Storm at Bowery Ballroom by Beau Croxton
Tropical Fuck Storm just released their wild and mesmerizing fourth album Fairyland Codex, and the day after its release, the band threw one hell of a party at Bowery Ballroom in NYC to celebrate. The band is currently on tour supporting the record, and NYC was their very first stop in the U.S. Many of the most exciting songs on Fairyland Codex go toe-to-toe with some of the band’s very best work, and their show at Bowery Ballroom underlines that statement, and Occult was there to capture the excitement.
Check out our review of the fantastic Fairyland Codex here …
BLOODSPORT
The band waltzed out casually, and singer Gareth Liddiard walked up to the mic with a grin to deliver a sly icebreaker— “Hey…. How you goin’, Philadelphia?” His grin continued to widen and the audience laughed. Singer/guitarist Erica Dunn tried to clean up Gareth’s teasing with a “How you doin’ tonight New York Ciiiiiity?!?!” which got the place even more riled-up before they launched into their opening track, which is a tropical-fuckin-classic.
“Braindrops” opened the show with funky bass, clunky drums and a heavily rhythmic vocal delivery from Liddiard. The crowd responded with plenty of enthusiasm, as it’s one of their standout tracks. Like many Tropical Fuck Storm tunes, it was enhanced by some awesome B-52’s-esque backing vocals from Erica Dunn and Fiona Kitschin. Wacky fuzzy guitars took the band’s sound to a very surreal place.
Tropical Fuck Storm live at Bowery Ballroom by Beau Croxton
Erica Dunn took the lead enthusiastically to sing “Bloodsport”-- and like the majority of the set, she was absolutely rocking out. Her stage presence was electric for the whole show, with her ponytail bobbing around manically. She was dressed like some sort of cool punk-rock 80’s aerobics instructor, complete with neon-green leopard-print hot shorts. You gotta love Tropical Fuck Storm as an ensemble; it’s essentially Gareth and a kick ass girl-squad making a holy hell of art-punk racket– its quite the radical misfit crew.
Next up was “Chameleon Paint” from the band’s debut album Laughing Death In Meatspace, which started with jittery chords, thumping beats and eventually exploded into its fuzz-pedal glory. Gareth Liddiard sounded very excited to say the next song name– “Goon Show”, which is fair game. The tracks outro gloriously launched into the band's trademark– off-kilter noise-rock.
Tropical Fuck Storm always has the most fantastic cover songs. The band launched into their notably epic rendition of “Ann” by The Stooges, which has always been one of my personal favorite deep(er)-cuts from The Stooges’ debut album. The track has a very loud, explosive and primitive 3-chord romp outro that you could listen to on repeat and it would still be just as satisfying every time it hit…..Tropical Fuck Storm highlighted exactly that, doubling down on screeching guitar leads and repeating the 3 chord romp in an even more chaotic fashion. Extending the outro, the band induced some of the most headbanging of the night.
Tropical Fuck Storm live at Bowery Ballroom by Beau Croxton
“You Let My Tyres Down” was up next, the classic opening track from their debut album that went much beyond the studio recording, much to the crowd’s delight. The band did not stop there with the classics though, as they tore through “Who’s My Eugene?” from Braindrops and “Rubber Bullies”— the closing track from Laughing Death in Meatspace.
In our review of their new album Fairyland Codex, I mentioned “Moscovium” would probably “go hard” in a live setting– and I think I may have understated it. It was one of the most cathartic rock-outs of the whole set, and the outro was an explosive symphony of their haywire shredding…just brilliant.
Tropical Fuck Storm live at Bowery Ballroom by Beau Croxton
ENCORE
The band came back to a roaring crowd with some encores. The band’s final track was “Stayin Alive”. There’s a reason that this is one of the band’s most popular songs on streaming platforms- it's simply an unbelievably fun and badass rendition of such a classic song. This cover breathes all sorts of killer punk-rock energy into the smooth swagger of the disco cut. Erica Dunn was on fire with this one, and it was a total party to end on– the place went mad and the final notes were extra explosive. She exclaimed “Stay safe, and thank you New York!" and all was said, done and beyond satisfactory — to the surprise of no one, Tropical Fuck Storm absolutely tore it down at Bowery Ballroom.
Check out the setlist and Gallery by Beau Croxton below!
All photos of TROPICAL FUCK STORM by Beau Croxton
( @beau_croxton )
GALLERY
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(Click images for fullscreen / slideshow)
SETLIST
Braindrops
Bloodsport
Chameleon Paint
Goon Show
Ann
You Let My Tires Down
Who’s My Eugene?
Rubber Bullets
Moscovium
ENCORE
Two Afternoons
Stayin’ Alive