Review: Surf Curse at Baby's All Right in Brooklyn
IT WAS A BUSTLING THURSDAY NIGHT IN BROOKLYN — where the back room of Baby’s All Right was filled to the brim with excited fans. Indie-surf rock outfit Surf Curse took a night off supporting Greta Van Fleet to bless the lucky 200 or so attendees with an intimate live show.
After getting into the room it was almost impossible to find a spot near the front, so it felt right to hang back for the first couple of songs. The band graced the stage to a roaring crowd. Lead singer and drummer Nick Rattigan was front and center wearing a beautiful pair of pink plastic sunglasses. The other band members, Jacob Rubek, Henry Dillon, and Noah Kholl, made space to move around while they played on the small stage. With the drums up front, it seemed a bit crowded, but everyone quickly found their footing.
The group began by warming up the crowd with some newer tracks from their 2022 release, Magic Hour. It was obvious that they were just getting started before diving into a set of mostly fan favorites. When it comes to surf rock as a whole, it can be a bit tricky to track which song is playing. Surf Curse has a couple of tracks with similar high-energy repetitive guitar licks over beachy “ooh”s and “ah”s. Their albums tend to have a consistent sound that can make it hard for the average listener to catch the differences in a set. But die-hard fans sang along to every word, while more casual fans listened intently to pick out their favorite songs.
Once the group got into the thick of the gig, there was no way to get the full experience from the sidelines. Everyone in the crowd was into the quasi-punky energy of the show, and Surf Curse knew exactly how to keep everyone interested. They knew the right time to yell out calls and responses, or when it was better to dive right into the next track.
At any show, the pit is always a bit of an enter-at-your-own-risk situation, but it was worth it to bounce around to the end of the show where the band went through hit song after hit song. Most of the crowd started running in for their more dancey bop “Disco.” Everyone was incredibly kind, happy to be jumping on top of each other. Looking around, it was all smiles from the crowd and band alike, who obviously ate up the vibe of the whole room.
Surf Curse closed the night out with their hit “Freaks,” which brought even more people into the fold. One fan somehow managed to get up and crowd-surf during the peak of the track. It’s a beautiful thing when you can scream the line “I am just a freak” with a bunch of other self-titled freaks and feel at one with the community of fans.
Surf Curse really knows how to work a space, and it just goes to show that even after playing stadiums, there is something special about performing in a small room to die-hard fans.
You can catch the band out on the road for the remainder of their opening slots for Great Van Fleet. And if they’re not coming to your closest city, throw them on nice and loud and enjoy a bedroom dance party with your friends instead.
