Philadelphia was the first stop on New York punk trio Show Me the Body’s World War Tour. Featuring openers Jesus Piece, Scowl, Zulu, and Trippjones, the night was filled with anticipation for a back-to-back handful of gripping live music experiences from a group of artists universally appreciated in the room.

Moments before Show Me the Body took the stage, all of the lights went black. Everyone in the room was left to sit in suspense and the cheers coming from various places in the crowd proved everyone’s growing eagerness. The band emerged onto the stage, but the room remained dark as Julian Cashwan Pratt’s voice delivered the subdued “Out of Place” into the void with nothing but a minimalistic electronic backtrack and everyone’s undivided audible attention. “With your light illuminate, show me the way out of place,” he chanted.

Then, in a blink of an eye, a set of bright lights flared on and vocalist Pratt, bassist Harlan Steed, and drummer Jack McDermott were illuminated for the world to see. Equipped with his banjo, Pratt released his deep, commanding voice and screeches and injected the crowd with a fiery vivacity. From this moment on, everyone in the room knew to expect a wreak of havoc.

Show Me the Body’s latest album release, Trouble The Water, which they just released this past October, received the most attention on their set with songs like “Boils Up,” “Radiator,” “WW4,” and “We Came to Play” making their live debuts. Drawing from a number of stylistic influences such as noise, hardcore, hip hop and more, Show Me the Body does an excellent job of blending genres to create this unique, yet captivating sonic fusion that can be appreciated by multiple types of music listeners. This aspect of the band was only amplified in their live set.

Toward the middle of the band’s set, the room returned to darkness again as an instrumental interlude echoed throughout the room, a short moment of contrasting repose before everyone erupted into chaos again. Thanks to this chaos, venturing to the back of the crowd created the illusion of a sold-out show. An entire sea of heads rushed back and forth as a pit half the size of the room opened up, swallowing more and more bodies as it sucked people into its tempting exhilaration.

As the night came to an end, Pratt hastily ran back and forth before hitting the stage ground and flying up into the last song, prompting everyone to give it one last powerful effort; and everyone did just that, closing the craze of a night in one last bout of unified mania.

This is only the beginning for Show Me the Body’s World War Tour. Catch them alongside Jesus Piece, Scowl, Zulu, and Trippjones on the World War Tour all across the country from now until mid-March!