Speaking with 30-year-old Rosie Tucker mere minutes before what they called “the biggest headlining show of my career so far” was a revelation. After previously meeting them via Zoom for a recent interview, we spoke briefly as the lights dimmed outside the backstage area amidst the hoots and hollers of an excited audience, and it was hard to remember a more relaxed and focused artist. They were clearly poised for this next level, and it showed from the opening number on this night in Brooklyn.
Coming out with a voice straight from the grooves of their fantastic new album, UTOPIA NOW!Tucker commanded the stage for ninety minutes, winding through songs that spanned their twenties, as love and respect was given to material from the first album, Never Not Never Not Never Not through their previous breakout, Sucker Supreme.
The band, helmed by longtime friend, collaborator, and record producer Wolfy on guitar, Maria Castro laying a sold backbeat on drums, and Jamie Orlando adding melodic and sultry bass lines, Tucker culled several guitar sounds from a bevy of pedals. Joking with the energetic crowd and interacting with abject joy with the musicians on stage, the insightful singer-songwriter prowled the small stage with a sense of purpose, digging deeply into their impassioned and literate lyrics while flaunting a sleek falsetto and vaulting fierce screams when needed.
This was an evening for a youthful rock and roll revival delivered by an airtight unit bursting with road-dog kinship and musical incest best expressed in the sweaty environs of dedicated fans that knew every word and expressed a sense of camaraderie with an artist on the precipice of the big time.
