Racket (New York, NY)
11/09/23
On November 9th, Nashville pop trio Nightly brought their “wear your heart out” tour to a sold-out crowd at Racket in New York City. Opening up the set was an energetic and impressive performance from local alternative band Young Rising Sons, followed with a similarly lively set by Knox, including a memorable performance of their song “Not The 1975.”
Before Nightly took the stage, they played a lovely and informative video about their partnership with charity: water and cards with more information on how to get involved were passed around. It’s always nice to see a band using their platform to support causes they’re passionate about, and taking the opportunity to do so during a show when the crowd was most excited right before they came onstage made their commitment clear.
The stage setup for Nightly was intriguing, with various props set up on stage including a park bench, payphone, and mailbox. It immediately became clear why, as they took to the stage and the phone rang. Lead singer Jonathan Capeci answered the call as an audio clip of dialogue played over the speaker before going into their first song of the night, “wear your heart out.” This continued throughout the night, with the phone ringing, or a letter being retrieved from the mailbox and read from the park bench. Little interludes cleverly introduced the next song and artistically tied the set together into something uniquely memorable – crafting the night into a holistic experience of live music rather than a disconnected set of songs.
A couple of memorable moments from Nightly’s set included their performance of “radiohead,” a song that features beautiful falsetto vocals and cleverly mirrors the style of the band it’s named for, as well as when they had opener Knox return to the stage for “miss when you missed me.” The fan interaction was special as well, a fan in the crowd even produced a large bag of Starburst, to the band’s delight, right before their song “pink starburst.” Each song of the set had graphics projected behind the band, ranging from a neighborhood park setting to creative word art of lyrics. Added onto the stunning lighting and impressive live performances, it was an all-around incredibly impressive set and perfect evening.
Nightly is an alternative-pop band from Nashville, Tennessee who recently released their second full-length album, wear your heart out, in August and just finished up their tour in support of it. They also recently released a single “Damn, I miss you” with Nashville’s Mokita, available now along with their album on all streaming platforms.
