New York City is Anything but Quiet for The Home Team’s Sold-Out Irving Plaza Performance

With Thanksgiving hovering just a few days away, there felt like no better way to express gratitude than packing into a sold-out Irving Plaza on a Friday night, shoulder to shoulder with people who simply wanted to feel something real. The Home Team must’ve felt that love radiating back at them from New York City. Fans drifted toward the venue early, a slow-moving tide wrapping around the black, all of us buzzing with the same quiet truth: The Home Team isn’t going to stay a hidden gem much longer. They’re a band on the cusp, a group whose ambition and presence are already brushing up against the level of production usually reserved for scene heavyweights. 

Makari opened the evening like a spark catching dry tinder. Their name has suddenly become unavoidable on tour posters, but calling them “new” almost feels like an inside joke when you remember they’ve been sharpening their sound for over a decade. Andy Cizek, whose voice has become inseparable from Makari’s identity, carried their seven-song set with a kind of sweetness that hit hard. Hands shot up instinctively to ferry the first crowd-surfers forward, and for a moment, it felt like the entire room inhaled in unison. Makari was the perfect prologue to a lineup that felt necessary. 

Arrows in Action floated onstage next, though “floated” might imply something too gentle. Their energy was boundless from the second “Empty Canvas” hit. They felt less like an opening band and more like co-authors of the night. Their connection with The Home Team is obvious in the way their sounds braid together, especially on “All Squeezed Out” from the deluxe Crucible of Life release. Truly, this lineup felt like someone had scripted it from a fever dream. The crowd-surfers multiplied, bodies moving like a tide pulled by the gravitational force of their music. Victor Viramontes-Pattison’s banter melted the distance between stage and audience; it felt like catching up with an old friend rather than listening to a frontman address a room of strangers. 

When The Home Team finally took the stage, the room exploded. Cheers, screams, bodies lifting off the floor—it was complete surrender to the moment. The crowd surfers never stopped; people were practically launching themselves just to get an inch closer to the band. Watching The Home Team live is like watching a controlled wildfire. They know every inch of their craft, every turn of melody and flick of rhythm, and they wear that confidence onstage like a second skin. Jumps, kicks, spins, and an entire set built on adrenaline and precision. I’ve seen them multiple times now, including the weekend before at Vans Warped Tour, and every single show confirms the same truth: the stage is their second home. Their charisma doesn’t just spill into the crowd; it floods the room, washing away everything you carried in with you. 

The setlist was a love letter to their discography. They honored The Crucible of Life, while still reaching back to the songs that built their foundation: “Watching All Your Friends Get Rich,” “Move It or Lose It,” and a handful of other fan favorites that ignited the room. They even let New York choose a track for the night, and the crowd, naturally chaotic, demanded “Overtime.” But the standout moment, for me, at least, was hearing “She’s Quiet” live at last. That song has lived on every playlist I’ve made for years. The acoustic version, especially, has carved out its own soft corner of my life, and part of me is still quietly hoping they’ll strip things down one day and give us a full acoustic set; it just magnifies Brian Butcher’s voice luminously. Their live energy is unmatchable, but I know they could break hearts just as effectively in silence. 

Toward the end of the night, things softened. “Rat Queen” and “Walk This World With Me” held the room in a kind of fragile stillness—well, as still as a room filled with crowd-surfers can be. The number of bodies flying overhead during one of their slowest songs was almost comedic, and even Brian Butcher had to laugh and call it out. Then Andy Cizek returned for “Somebody Else’s Face,” filling in the dual vocals originally performed with Broadside, and the room moved with the same studio groove the song delivers, hips swaying, hands up, lights cutting through the haze. 

They closed with “Worthy,” a track carrying millions of streams, and New York City answered with a chorus so loud it swallowed the room whole. When the final note crashed, we were all left sweaty, exhilarated, and exhausted in the best way. The kind of exhaustion that makes you wish the night would start over as soon as it ends. When The Home Team rolls through your city, missing them should be considered a tragedy. They’re charismatic on stage, they’re polished, they’re magnetic, and they deliver every single time. 

“The Crucible of Life Tour” is winding down this week before the band jumps back into the spring and summer festival circuit. And truly, if you skipped this run, do yourself a favor: keep an eye on their announcements and don’t hesitate the next time you see their name. Shows like this don’t come around often, and bands like The Home Team don’t stay “your little secret” forever.

Photographs by: Sabrina Amoriello

Article by: Sabrina Amoriello