Masonic Boom: Peach Pit Rocks So Hard That Neil Hurts His Neck

Before Thursday night at the Masonic in SF, the closest I had ever come to seeing Peach Pit live was the Tropicalia Festival in 2019. Their self-titled claim to fame “Peach Pit” garnered extreme views on Youtube back in 2017, and their EP Sweet FA (2018) was hugely popular in my high school friend group. However, their Tropicalia slot overlapped with my favorite band at the time, so it pains me to admit that I missed their set entirely; this 2022 concert tour has given me the opportunity to make things right.

Located across the street from Grace Cathedral in Nob Hill, the Masonic’s exterior looks more like a college building than anything else. Once you get through security, a huge mosaic window overtakes your view of the bar, presenting a wayward combination of masonic themes and alcohol. My first concrete observation inside the lobby was the horde of white men, mustaches, and earth-toned clothing – Peach Pit fans certainly have a granola-type look. In general, the crowd was overwhelmingly white, perhaps lending to the oddly positive response to “Apple Bottom Jeans x Feliz Navidad” being used for walk-in music. 

Lights dimmed at 9:09, and the Vancouver troop made their grand entrance at exactly 9:10, just like the security guard I was chatting with next to me said they would. (He also spoiled the fact that lead singer Neil Smith would be jumping into the crowd right before it happened.) The boys hit the ground running with a hard rock jam session to “Raining Blood (Instrumental)” by Slayer that got everyone head-banging and ready to go for “Being So Normal.” Smith’s vocals were pristine and his dance moves have a schizophrenic quality, but it was Chris Vanderkooy (guitar) that I could not take my eyes off.

Vanderkooy is the face of the band. You can find his fabulous, mustached face on the cover of “Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? (Well You Deserved it!),” as well as the band’s current Spotify profile. He ripped a number of different guitars during the set, meanwhile constantly moving from the edge of the stage to the foot of the drumkit, kicking and dancing all the way through. 

Neil made clear that this was the biggest headlining show they’d ever played. Recurrently giving thanks to the crowd, he came off genuinely humble, which feels hard to come by in the indie scene these days. “We just wanted to play silly little shows in our hometown,” he said, and ten years in, here they were performing for a sold-out crowd that included Vanderkooy’s sister! Neil let us know that she was the smoke show of his high school. “Guess what? She’s at my show tonight,” he boasted…followed by a quick shout-out to her husband being in the crowd as well.

The audience fed off the band’s energy and vice versa. It became evident how strong their fanbase is, given that so many crowd members knew the lyrics to most every song played. Smith noticed too, commenting on how wonderful it is to sing with fans who know the words, but also how funny it is when they make eye contact, freeze, and panic that they don’t know the lyrics as well as they think they do.

“Private Presley” was my favorite performance of the night, together with a bra being tossed right onto Neil’s guitar and him continuing to shred despite the lingerie’s presence. What is more, the crowd’s reaction to the band’s “final” song was truly one of the craziest things I’ve ever experienced. Encore demand was piercing, to say the least, so loud that Peach Pit ran back onto the stage, then down into the photo pit. They split up, high-fiving anyone within arm’s reach, and the VIP section went crazy for the possibility of physical touch. Following this was a tripartite finale, beginning with “Psychics in LA” and “Shampoo Bottles,” two crowd favorites off their sophomore record You and Your Friends (2020). Next came their rendition of Dr. Hook’s “Sharing the Night Together,” which masterfully brought the night I shared with Peach Pit to a bittersweet end. 

P.S. Neil raged so hard for us that he ended up in a neck brace for their next show in LA, so Neil, if you’re reading this, we at B-Side are wishing you a speedy recovery.

Article by Nico Chodor

Photos by Anna Armstrong