NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
Canadian punk rock band PUP (aka Pathetic Use of Potential) wrapped up the spring/summer portion of their North American tour in Buffalo, NY at Babeville/Asbury Hall on Saturday, June 18th. This final show in support of their latest record “The Unraveling of PUPTheBand” was a high energy affair with a capacity crowd from start to finish.
Opening the festivities was Oceanator, the project of Brooklyn based multi-instrumentalist Elise Okusami. They were a great start to the evening; a way to get the blood flowing but not wear you out. Oceanator will be embarking on a UK tour for seven stops starting in late August.
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I was excited to see the next band, supergroup Angel Du$t, which was supposed to be made up of members of Turnstile and Trapped Under Ice. I must be out of touch a bit because the lineup was not quite what I expected. However, the music was still kicking and rocked the house big time. They are also headed to the UK pretty much immediately at the conclusion of their tour with PUP.
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When PUP hit the stage, the energy in the crowd went from 90% to 5000%!! Everywhere you looked, there was headbanging, singing, shouting, crowd-surfing and moshing. Absolutely no one was standing still. I don’t know if the band fed off the energy of the crowd or vice versa but lead vocalist/guitarist Stefan Babcock was jumping about TWO feet off the ground, and like it was a competition, bassist Nestor Chumak would jump THREE feet off the ground for good measure. PUP was going all out for the final show of this leg of the tour!!
It was a heart pounding set from start to finish. Even when you thought the band was easing into a slower song and you’d have a small break, the chorus would get you riled up again! Babcock and guitarist Steve Sladkowski even did their own version of the guitar solos from the Eagles’ “Hotel California”! Oceanator’s Elise Okusami joined PUP onstage for the final song of the “regular set”. I say that because the band hates encores and just plays what would normally be the encore straightaway. Even on a warm evening, the crowd and band must have elevated the temperature in the venue about 30 degrees! The band now heads over the pond for the European leg of the tour before returning for more US dates in September so you still have a chance to catch them in 2022!
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