TURNSTILE
CONCERT REVIEW
OUTSIDE THE COMFORT ZONE: INSIDE THE MOSH PIT AT TURNSTILE’S MADRID SHOW
Turnstile. Photo by Sergio Albert. Courtesy Primavera Tours.
Punk isn’t my genre, but covering Turnstile’s Madrid show pulled me into a world I never expected. A Baltimore hardcore band breaking into the global spotlight, a packed venue in Spain, and a crowd so kind it felt like family.
By TMN® Creator Marissa Carper — Madrid, Spain
Punk rock? Not exactly saved in my Spotify Liked Songs. I’m a pop, indie, a little rap sort of girl. But I was already living in a country across the ocean, so when TMN® gave me the chance to cover a rock show in Spain, promoted by Primavera Torus, I figured, why not go even further outside my comfort zone?.
That’s how I ended up in the middle of a mosh pit, surrounded by people who didn’t speak the same language, yet somehow all of us felt connected. A sweaty, chaotic, unstoppable crowd tied together by sound alone.
The Garden Lights the Fuse
The Garden opened the night, and from the moment Wyatt and Fletcher Shears stepped on stage, the room came alive. They are a duo from Orange County, California, and they carry that wild, West Coast energy. Their style, which they call “Vada Vada,” is all about pure creative expression. No rules. No genres. Just whatever they feel like making.
Their set felt like being tossed into a blender of punk, experimental noise, and glitchy videogame sounds. It shouldn’t make sense, yet it did. Fans screamed every lyric. Heads thrashed in all directions. I had no idea what I had just walked into, but I let myself get pulled along with the rest of the room.
By the time they finished the crowd was fired up and ready for whatever came next.
The Garden. Photo by Sergio Albert. Courtesy Primavera Tours.
Turnstile Takes Over
And then Turnstile hit the stage.
I had no idea what to expect, except for the text from my friend on the other side of the pit: “holy fine shyts.” She was right. These men were attractive, sure, but their music hit harder than anything I’ve ever felt live.
Turnstile comes from Baltimore and started in hardcore punk, but their sound has grown into something bigger. Rock. Groove. Melody. A mix no one can fully categorize. Their momentum is huge right now. Their 2025 album Never Enough earned five Grammy nominations, making them the first band ever recognized in the same year across rock, alternative, and metal categories.
As someone who goes to the University of Maryland, seeing a Baltimore-grown band take over a venue in Madrid felt surreal. It was as if a map had folded in half, and two places I love were suddenly touching.
The first note dropped, and the room exploded. This wasn’t a small center mosh. The entire pit was a mosh pit. No safe corners. No breaks. Just bodies surging with the music like a tide nobody could fight.
I was headbanging with everything I had. People were surfing overhead. My hands kept shooting up to help lift strangers through the crowd. And when Brendan Yates, the lead singer, told everyone to raise their friends onto their shoulders, the whole room did it. In seconds, the crowd looked like an ocean dotted with moving islands.
The disco ball came down, the lights spun, and for a moment during “Seein’ Stars,” the whole venue was filled with stars. Even in the chaos, there was something strangely gentle about it, like hardcore punk had cracked open and revealed a heart. Beneath all the noise, there was something warm holding the room together.
And the more I watched, the more it made sense.
Despite the headbanging, thrashing mosh pit that existed all around me, Turnstile’s audience was also unbelievably kind. Every time someone fell, hands appeared instantly, pulling them back up. When security passed water bottles into the crowd, people took a sip, then passed them along so the next person could drink. Total strangers looking out for each other. Lifting each other, and not just physically.
The disco ball symbolized more than just Turnstile’s music; it was a metaphor for the community they had created. Hardcore on the surface, kindness at the center.
Turnstile Madness. Lead singer Brendan Yates turnstiles. Video by Marissa Carper. TMN®.
A Band in Full Bloom
Turnstile moved through every part of their discography:
the raw edge of Nonstop Feeling,
the urgency of Time & Space,
the melodic glow of Glow On,
and the experimental spark of Never Enough.
It’s the first album without founding guitarist Brady Ebert, and the first with Meg Mills, who absolutely shredded on stage like she’d been born into the band. The bold, feminine energy of it all. She really brought the whole stage together.
“And I didn’t have my camera. At first, that frustrated me. But then I realized it was a blessing. I wasn’t documenting the moment. I was living it. Fully. Like the Spanish do: present, loud, unfiltered, letting the night swallow you in the best way.”
The Final Shock
The wildest part came at the end. I expected the band to play a final song, then say goodbye and walk off. Instead, something insane happened.
During the final song, they let people jump the barricade.
Not a few. A flood. Fans rushing the stage, climbing up, cheering with the band. No panic. No pushback. Just joy.
For a moment, there was no separation. No barrier. Band and crowd sharing the same space, the same breath, the same night.
“Getting to meet and hug their favorite members. The drummer threw his sticks in the crowd. A guitarist threw signed posters. It was the clearest sign of love and appreciation I’ve ever seen from a band to its audience.”
Turnstile Madness. The crowd take the stage. Video by Marissa Carper. TMN®.
Why It Mattered
I came to this show looking for a story. I left with something bigger.
“Turnstile made hardcore feel welcoming. They made a room of strangers feel like a family. They showed that punk isn’t about anger or edge, but connection and letting go.”
This wasn’t just a concert. It was a lesson. A reminder that stepping outside your comfort zone doesn’t push you away from yourself. It brings you closer.
And it’s how on a random night in Madrid, with no camera and no expectations, I ended up right in the center of something unforgettable.
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