By: Carissa Aguirre
Surf Curse played Warehouse Live on one of the most monumental days in Houston history. November 5th, 2022 was game six for the Astros in the MLB World Series against the Phillies. The Astros were leading 3-2 in the series and when they won that night, they won it all. The streets were full of people in their Astros gear headed to the surrounding bars and the ballpark to watch the game. Despite the crowds, the doors to the venue opened up at 8PM with a line around the block for the show. However, Astros fans were not going to miss the game. People in line, including myself, were watching on their phones and trying to get glimpses of the televisions inside the neighboring bar, Pitch 25. When everyone started flooding into the ballroom, I ran into a group of people watching the game on a phone propped up against the wall.
While the opening band Toner played, it was hard to concentrate on two things at once. The band’s upbeat sound and rhythmic guitar had me looking back and forth from the game to the stage. However, once Surf Curse came on stage, all attention was on them. Nick Rattigan hopped up on stage, sat at the drum kit and said, “So, how about them Astros?” Everyone began yelling and screaming as they began to play. They played a lot of songs from their older albums but most songs came off of their most recent album Magic Hour released at the beginning of October. They played some of my favorites including Sugar and TVI. Both are super upbeat songs that I love singing in the car with my windows down, so it was so great to hear them live.
While playing All Is Lost from the 2017 album Nothing Yet, Rattigan went off on a small drum solo. He swung his head back and forth as he played and his hair was all over the place. The crowd was doing the same. Mosh pits started forming mid-show and grew bigger and bigger for each song. Towards the end, the crowd was getting pretty excited and kept yelling for them to play Freaks, one of their most listened to songs on Spotify. Rubek and Rattigan basically told the crown to relax and they would get there.
Every song they played seemed to get the crowd rowdier and rowdier. When I finally joined everyone on the floor I was pushed into the pit. I embraced it, but I could tell that some people were not happy with the pushing. I know this has been a huge controversy lately, but honestly I think some people didn’t really know what to expect from the band. For some it was their first time even going to a concert and with a fairly younger crowd there that night, I expected nothing less from the seemingly “chill” surf rock band.
The rest of the show was great. I got a good laugh out of all the jokes Rattigan was making about the Astros. During each song, he asked for updates on the game or made witty little jokes about other Houston sports. After news broke that we had won the World Series title, he would say things like “Houston, football champions.” in between songs.
At the very end of the show Rattigan and the band walked off stage as the crowd chanted “Disco”. There was absolutely no way they were gonna leave us without playing their most famous song. It took a little bit and a lot of screaming, but they eventually walked back out on stage. Only this time, Rattigan wasn’t on the drums. He had another drummer come out to take his place while he stood front and center. He looked at the crowd as we waited in anticipation. He said “This one is called Disco.” The beginning riff to the song began and the group that had been moshing the entire show opened up again. I was so excited that I ended up jumping in and screaming the lyrics to any random person that looked my way. What a way to end the show. Surf Curse, Houston loves you and we can’t wait for you to come back!
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