Diarrhea Planet Explodes At The Bowery Ballroom

I’d been dying to finally see Diarrhea Planet after hearing so many great things about their live show, particularly last years Governors Ball, who many say was the best performance of the weekend. They didn’t disappoint, and put on a spirited show in their biggest headlining gig in the city yet at a sold-out Bowery Ballroom over the weekend.

Opening the show was Slonk Donkerson, who had a style of their own, that was heavy on intricate bass-lines and hooky guitars. The local trio’s set was high in energy and quality, making for a fine start to the night.

Slonk Donkerson

In the second slot was Left & Right, a rock band out of VA, who played a set of in-your-face punk type tunes with everybody taking turns on the vocals.

Left & Right

By the time Diarrhea Planet took the stage, the Bowery was full and ready to explode, the air was thick in anticipation of what was to come. Having never seen the Nashville band, I knew things would escalate quickly, exactly how much – caught me off guard a bit. They looked “normal” enough while tuning their instruments – young guys with long hair, but as the stage filled with 4 guitarists, a bassist and a drummer on a high-rise I knew this wasn’t ordinary. Once the lights went out it was utter chaos, on stage and off. On-stage, there were 4 guitarists seemingly doing their own thing, but on closer inspection, it’s really amazing how this bands works. They all take turns to shred, most of them sing, and all of them have the rock-star moves on lockdown. The bass and drums do not get lost in this equation, which I think is commendable, if not miraculous.

While the band raged on-stage, off it was just as crazy, with beer and people flying in all directions. The harder the band rocked, the harder the fans went, it was the perfect display of a symbiotic relationship.

Diarrhea Planet

After a solid 35 minutes of getting pushed around at the front of the stage, I decided that it was best to catch the rest of the show from the balcony, and I’m glad I did as you could see the whole band working together. It really is work these guys do, to attain the level of tightness they have – even though it was plainly obvious that this is something they HAVE to do, it’s in their blood to rock, to make sure you go home remembering the show for a long time. I think the best thing about this band, in a live setting is that hunger, that drive to be the best but doing it naturally – none of it is forced.