Uncut Collective Media
A Punk Rock Celebration of Friendship: PUP, Jeff Rosenstock, and Ekko Astral Brings Community to Phoenix
October 3, 2025 • by Phyoe Thaung
When PUP and Jeff Rosenstock announced their joint trek—the absurdly titled “A CATACLYSMIC RAPTURE OF FRIENDSHIPNESS!!!”—the hype was immediate. The two artists had already collided earlier this year on the jagged, tongue-in-cheek anthem “Get Dumber,” and the prospect of their mutual musical energies sharing the same stage promised something bigger than a tour. On Tuesday night at The Van Buren, Phoenix found out just how right that promise was.
Kicking things off were Ekko Astral, the noise-punk trio from Washington, D.C. The band delivered a visceral opening, fusing shimmering glitter-punk aesthetics with unflinching rage. Their set leaned heavily on songs that married harsh sonics with biting social commentary, fitting firmly in the tradition of punk-as-resistance.
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Highlights included unreleased closer “Capitol Riot,” which brought the room to a standstill before detonating into harmonies that rattled the walls. The track’s urgency, even without a recorded version to revisit, marked it as one of the night’s most emotionally searing moments.
Jeff Rosenstock hit the stage second, keeping the energy dialed all the way up. Known for marathon-length sets, his time in Phoenix was slightly condensed, but it hardly felt abbreviated. Bursting out of the gate with raw intensity, Rosenstock barreled through fan favorites with a crowd that was already moshing, shouting, and spinning from the first note.
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Tracks like “Nausea” and “Festival Song” had the pit surging nonstop, while “9/10” offered a rare breather, the audience swaying and shouting along with every line. Rosenstock’s live band stitched together punk, indie, ska, and emo with wild precision, never once losing the raw, lived-in quality that makes his catalog so distinct. “You, In Weird Cities” closed the set in extended, chaotic fashion, the crowd howling every word like it was gospel.
If Rosenstock’s set was frenzy incarnate, PUP took that frenzy and detonated it into something even bigger. Opening with a full-throttle blast, the Toronto quartet tore through songs new and old with relentless firepower. Crowd surfers cascaded over the barricade nearly every minute, and frontman Stefan Babcock and guitarist Steve Sladkowski fed off the mayhem with grins and grit.
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Though many in the room already knew every word, tracks like “DVP” stood out as highlights—its riff-heavy opening igniting one of the rowdiest singalongs of the night. Even those less familiar with the band’s catalog couldn’t resist the gravitational pull of their energy.
The night’s peak arrived when Rosenstock reemerged for what the crowd gleefully dubbed “Double Band.” Together with PUP, they blasted through six songs that transformed The Van Buren into something closer to a carnival. With saxophones, dueling keyboards, three guitarists, and endless vocal tradeoffs, the stage felt overstuffed in the best way possible.
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Their joint rendition of “Hey Allison!” was a dizzying wall of sound, while the live performance of “Get Dumber” brought the entire tour concept full circle. Jeff and Stefan’s chemistry—half playfully chaotic, half deeply genuine—was magnetic, capped by Stefan’s brief but triumphant dive into the crowd.
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And just when it seemed the spectacle couldn’t get any larger, Ekko Astral joined back in, making it a Triple Band for a raucous cover of Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know.” It was messy, loud, and glorious—the perfect capstone to a night rooted in joy, anger, and community.
