Knuckle Puck is a pop-punk band from Chicago currently in the middle of a tour across America with Movements, With Confidence, and Homesafe. I arrived to this show about thirty minutes after the doors opened, expecting a decent sized crowd of people to be hanging around. The place was packed. At least a quarter of the crowd had already claimed their spots at the front of the pit while the rest were milling around the merch tables or the bar at the back of the room.
The crowd started hype and stayed hype. From the second the lights faded out for the first band's set everyone was crazy high energy and it did not falter even for a second. Crowd surfers and stage divers came in an almost constant wave over the crowd all the way through to the end of Knuckle Puck's two song encore. They were even singing along (loudly) to the songs that were being played over the venue PA while the next band was setting up.
Homesafe
Homesafe is a rock band from Chicago that formed in 2014 and includes the bassist from Knuckle Puck on guitar and lead vocals. They released their "Evermore" EP on BandCamp in November of 2016 and I definitely recommend picking it up.
Movements
So, it was at this point of the night that my camera decided to freak out, but I took it as a sign and went to enjoy this set from the pit with the rest of the crowd. Movements is a post-hardcore band from California, and they're awesome. Like, that was one of the most fun sets I've ever seen. They just released their album "Feel Something" on October 20th and its been on repeat in my Spotify rotation daily since then. Its their debut full length album and is already so musically and lyrically mature you would think they've been releasing music together for years.
With Confidence
With Confidence is a pop-punk band from Sydney, Australia who released their first full length album, Better Weather, in 2016 and already have a really large fan base. The entire front row screamed every lyric right back to the band and I don't think any of them missed a single word for their entire set.
Knuckle Puck
Knuckle Puck just released a new album "Shapeshifter" on October 13th, so I was fully expecting the crowd to settle at least a little bit if they were hearing these songs for the first time. Once again, that was not the case. Some knew every word and sang them at the top of their lungs, crowd surfing to the stage to sing some of them into the mic. Some of the crowd was unfamiliar with the new material but you wouldn't know it by watching them. They were moshing and head-banging along with the best of them. "Shapeshifter" is the band's second full length album, and with reactions like the one they recieved from the crowd at the Nile, I think we'll be hearing a lot more of this album for a very long time.
