Jeff Rosenstock Live at Rooftop at Pier 17 (2026-09-19 & 20)
When Jeff Rosenstock began to introduce “All Ages Show”, a nugget from the Bomb The Music Industry! days, the second night of his two sold out shows at Rooftop On Pier 17, he said that if any of the audience saw him play at such age old DIY Brooklyn spots as Siberia, Shea Stadium or DBA, then you didn’t see him and the band do this song. To have heard this one you had to go back to the Long Island days of playing VFW halls and friends’ backyards. This little bit of info pretty much said it all in describing the long and winding path of Jeff Rosenstock’s musical career. It was quite obvious to those who were paying attention, whether it was the Long Island days or the Greenpoint/Williamsburg/Bushwick days that Jeff was (and certainly IS) a unique talent. He has always had the ability to create songs that captured the essence of what its like being that misfit that just doesn’t fit in (anywhere). His keen sense of the mundane day to day living experiences of the young and oft-times disenfranchised have always been a driving force in his music.
Be it the chaotic ska-punk of Bomb, the more straight forward ska of Arrogant Sons of Bitches or his current Death Rosentock band, Jeff’s music has always been a focal point for the misfits, the young punks, the LGBTQ+ kids, the awkward, socially not so sure of themselves crowd…WHY? Because Rosenstock’s music is created by someone who has been there and done that and lived through all of it. That being said, the success that Jeff and his band are now finally enjoying, after all these years seems to be a dream (or maybe a No Dream). Jeff, afterall, from day one always seemed to want to buck the system. He was the first artist (long before Radiohead) who decided to GIVE away his music online for free.
He and his wife Christine Mackie started their own record company (Quote Unquote Records) to do just that, provide a place to downlaod his music for nothing. They also have a separate label, Really Records which is where you can go to actually purchase physical copies of his and a host of other LPs as well as merch. But this is only part of it. Jeff has always been the quintisential DIY artist. His shows more often than not are all ages (gee I wonder what gave him the idea for that aforementioned Bomb tune). And in this day and age of rising ticket prices and obscene “service fees” AKA ripoffs, Jeff insists on keeping his tickets at a reasonable price point.
Furthermore, even at these, comparitively cheap ticket prices, there is always a special discounted option for those who can’t afford the regular price. All of these little things make the heights that Rosenstock has managed to attain at this point all the more incredible. The dude who started out in the backyards of suburban Long Island playing to mostly friends was headlining this past weekend, not one but two sold out shows at Pier 17 at The Southstreet Seaport to a total of roughly 7000 rabid fans.
These two rooftop shows were the last two shows of what Jeff and crew were calling the Summer Of Chaos 2026 Tour. During the early months of summer, the band hit the road up and down the west coast playing smaller than usual independent venues. I was fortunate enough to get to see the band in San Francisco for two nights at the legendary and unfortunately soon to close Bottom of The Hill. This mini tour to towns such as Reno, Sacramento, S.F., Portland, Boise, and Seattle was a no repeat extravaganza. The Summer of Chaos would resume later in Chicago in late July for the Chicago Forever residency at The Metro. Death Rosenstock would end up playing a record 9 shows during this run. They would eventually headline the Supernova SKA Festival in Hampton Beach, VA. before playing “Two More Shows” at Baltimore’s Otto Bar as well as god’s gift to independent music venues, Garfield, NJ’s Crossroads.
Which brings me to last Saturday and Sunday, the culmination of the summer and the celebration of 10 years of WORRY. Billed as DOUBLE MAXIMUM WORRY, Rosenstock promised (well sort of) that they would be playing for 3 hours for two nights, shooting for a total of 100 songs in one weekend. Ultimately they would come close with 98 songs played and yes indeed, 3 hours per night.
I firmly believe that they could have gotten to 100 if it weren’t for Death Rosenstock going into some serious “jam band” extended jams…one of which (to close out night two) had Jeff playing drums, Kevin Higuchi playing bass and John DeDomenici on guitar.
Kevin by the way, was in complete stitches laughing at the spectacle going on behind his drum kit. Furthermore, the only repeats all weekend were the songs from WORRY which obviously were played both nights start to finish.
Nonetheless, the non WORRY tunes throughout the weekend were all over the place with deep cuts from all of the Jeff Rosenstock LPs along with a healthy mix of Bomb! tunes and even “So Let’s Go! NOWHERE” from the Arrogant Sons Of Bitches ouvre, complete with Jimmy Doyle and Dave Dickerman joing onstage. And then we were also treated the first night with a 3 song mini set of Antartigo Vespucci songs as opener and best looking man on earth, Chris Farren joined Jeff on stage along with AV’s drummer Benny Horowitz.
On Sunday night it would be Laura Stevenson’s turn to share the spotlight with Jeff as she joined Rosenstock onstage for a trio of Neil Young songs (“Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”, “After The Goldrush” and”Harvest Moon”, which featured a fantastic sax solo from Jeff (as well as a tear or two in my eye) off of their set of EP’s Still Young and Younger Still.
Throughout the weekend we would also be treated to both Emily Williams (sax, flute & clarinet) and Jeremy Hunter (trombone) from The JER Band as well as a virtuosic string quartet who’s individual names I did not catch. These additions added a richer and fuller sound to an already loaded band.
If I were to try to start listing the highlites from the weekend, I’m not sure of where to start. But if I had a gun to my head, the first momentous high point would have to be Jeff meandering in the middle of “The 80’s Through The 50′ into Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You”.
And likewise on the first night the trifecta late in the set after it was clear that Jeff was pretty exhausted but still churning on through with “9/10” with helpful background vocals from Laura Stevenson into a crazy assed take on “Ohio Turnpike” into the always fun and raucous “Future 86” from back in the Bomb The Music Industry! days.
So when the weekend was over, and as we in the crowd limped out of Pier 17, its a small wonder how Jeff, John, Kevin, Dan and Mike managed to survive the onslaught of high energy and super charged octane which they offered up to all of us over the course of 2 nights. As I said earlier, these were “technically” the last 2 shows of the year for Death Rosenstock*. They were the culmination of what had transpired throughout the summer of ’26. Jeff even said from the stage that all of the craziness like playing no repeats and 2 hour sets on consecutive nights was all in preparation for these two nights in what he gloriously proclaimed was “the greatest city in the world”.
In closing the only thing that can possibly be said is…”KNICKS IN FIVE!!!”
* “Technically” speaking since there is the show which they are doing in Detroit on December 4th with The Suicide Machines, Bouncing Souls, The Flatliners and THe Jacknives in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Suciide Machine’s seminal LP Destruction By Definition.
Friday Night Photo Slideshow:
Saturday Night Photo Slideshow:
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