On Oct. 3, Turnstile became the first hardcore band to play Saturday Night Live in 45 years. Their next big Saturday is free, outdoors and at the foot of the Washington Monument.
The Baltimore band announced on Thursday (Oct. 8) that they’ll end their North American tour with a free show at the monument in Washington, D.C., at 3 p.m. on Oct. 24. Human Concern International is hosting the benefit, which raises money for the charity’s humanitarian work in Palestine, Sudan and Lebanon. Entry is free; fans are asked to RSVP and encouraged to donate.
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“As a Gazan, I cannot be prouder of the Turnstile team and community for coming together to support the people of Gaza, Lebanon, and Sudan. Three regions who have suffered so much,” Hassan Wadi, the organization’s global director, said in a statement shared with the announcement. “With your support we aim to provide food, water, medical care, and shelter to families in need in all three regions.”
Free shows are a Turnstile tradition. The band marked their last two albums with free afternoon shows in Baltimore parks that raised money for unhoused people: the Clifton Park bandshell for Glow On in 2021, and Wyman Park Dell for Never Enough last year, when roughly 10,000 people came out, Stereogum notes. D.C. has its own precedent, too: Fugazi played free benefit shows at the Sylvan Theater on the National Mall in 1993 and 1995. And frontman Brendan Yates grew up in the Maryland suburbs of D.C., which makes this something like a hometown show.
The SNL debut
The D.C. news landed five days after Turnstile’s first SNL. With Dakota Johnson hosting, they played “Birds,” which opened on a drum solo from Daniel Fang, and an “I CARE”/“DULL” medley in front of a wall of rotary phones. The last hardcore band in that slot was Fear in 1981, whose appearance reportedly did about $20,000 of damage to NBC’s studios. Fear frontman Lee Ving later put the figure closer to $500,000, Pitchfork notes.
The night’s surprise came from somewhere else. Johnson was deep into a monologue about dating musicians when her friend Taylor Swift, her co-star in the “Patient Zero” video, walked out. “Ladies and gentlemen, my literal therapist,” Johnson said. Swift also brought out a birthday cake for Johnson, who turned 37 the next day.
The band has been clear about why shows like D.C. matter to them. “I think artists kind of serve as a mirror to reflect what’s happening in the world,” they told NME at this year’s BRIT Awards. “Especially in the States right now, there’s a lot of dehumanisation and a lot of need for empathy and awareness.”
After D.C., Turnstile head to Camp Flog Gnaw in Los Angeles a couple of weeks later. Next June, they’re on the top line of Primavera Sound 2027 in Barcelona.
- Date
- Saturday, Oct. 24, 3 p.m.
- Where
- Washington Monument, Washington, D.C.
- Entry
- Free, with RSVP
- Benefiting
- Human Concern International
