For their second annual hometown holiday show, NYC-based band Quarters of Change brought the heat to Brooklyn Steel on Friday, December 13. Across the river at Madison Square Garden was Z100’s annual Jingle Ball show, featuring heavy hitters such as Katy Perry, Tate McRae, and Twenty One Pilots, but QoC would be damned to be shown up on their home turf. They intentionally said as much a week before the show, posting a photo to Instagram alongside the caption, ‘F*CK YOU DJ ASS MFERS. NYC ROCK ON TOP.’
Setting the tone for the night in Brooklyn was Stella Rose, the first of two opening acts. Rose, the daughter of actress Jennifer Sklias-Gahan and iconic musician Dave Gahan (lead singer of Depeche Mode) is an entrancing performer. Her onstage physicality resembles a mix of Lorde and LP, though her visual aesthetic and musical elements reflect that of David Bowie and La Roux, respectively, along with a tinge of contemporary opera influence. With a murky, mournful palette of lights behind her, Rose made her way through a quick but impactful set of well-executed synth pop that included “MS,45” and the sensational “Drugstore Romeo.”
Stolen Gin, a five-piece band also out of NYC, were next to take the stage. Marketing themselves as a group of college buddies joining together to form a party band whom have ‘graduated’ to serious touring musicians, the set got off to an auspiciously goofy start. Once settled in, their musicianship and improvisation prevailed. Most impressive was Evan Jacobson pulling double duty on saxophone and keys, at points concurrently, all alongside bassist Sawyer Adler’s persistent and infectious enthusiasm, drummer Josh Farrell’s classically trained yet subtle intensity behind the kit, and lead singer Jackson Lardner’s awareness of his band members, who stepped out of focus during solos.
The band remained conscious and respectful of each other’s time, as any group of its nature must be. Songs like “Gypsy Woman” and “Take Your Problems to the Disco” served as highlights, but the near 30-minute set was designed for – and succeeded in – rising to, and middling on, a comfortable musical plateau while concluding in memorable, feel-good fashion.
Taking the stage at 9:30 p.m. sharp were Quarters of Change, the headliner who immediately launched into “What I Wanted” off their latest record, Portraits. The set, overall, featured all but two songs off the record, for which they have vigorously toured since April, as well as crowd favorites from their 2022 debut, Into The Rift.
Lead singer Ben Roter offers the aura of a mini-Matt Bellamy of Muse, routinely and effortlessly sitting in his upper tenor sweet spot. He adds tasteful and soulful affectations to his performance, leaning on the heavy use of his darker, resilient hard palate and offering a candid weight behind each word. His vocal and physical stamina, hardened by nearly two-thirds of a year of touring, are formidable, and remain at a near static level throughout the set, with jagged increases in select moments.
Photo by @samcsch on Instagram
Drummer Attila Anrather is fixated on finding – and expertly building towards – his isolated moments, which occur frequently. His physicality is anything but restricted, as he ensures he is the most visible of the bunch at appropriate moments, often embellishing and relishing in his handiwork.
Between “Depression II” and “Heaven Bound,” both surefire highlights of new the record, members Ben Acker and Jasper Harris split atoms with an exchange of extended, and perhaps somewhat unceremonious, guitar solos. Theatrical in nature though strategically off-the-cuff, it was a moment of pure musical communication between all four members, and resembled a genuine exhale following half a year of rigid structure and constant movement. Once the moment subsided, Roter playfully stated, “We don’t have a name for that; it’s just fun.”
Largely, sans those within the first few rows at barricade, the New York crowd remained rather rigid throughout the night. Only following this impressive display did small, manageable pockets of moshing, and genuine energy elsewhere, begin to form for the bands final stretch, made up of breakout hits “T Love,” “Kiwi,” and closer, “Rift.”
When the house lights went up, Quarters of Change, marking their territory ahead of their next era, set to begin in 2025, had done their job, and not only backed up their claim that New York rock is back, but cemented themselves as the contemporary New York rock band to beat.
Setlist
- Cherry Tree
- Tightrope
- Blue Copper
- Do or Die
- Chloe
- Ms. Dramatic
- Hollywood Baby
- Dead
- To Let Go
- Sofia
- Keep My Blood
- What I Wanted
- Depression II
- Heaven Bound
- Turn It Away
- T Love
Encore
- Kiwi
- Rift
