PUP “The Band Your Tattoo Artist Loves” Returns To Milwaukee After 5 Years

“It may be Monday for you guys, but we’re off tomorrow. So, it’s Friday night for us!” declares PUP front man Stefan Babcock before ripping into their one-day weekend with the same fervent energy as me tearing into a bag of kettle chips at a cookout.

The Canadian punk rock band is currently touring to support their 2022 critically acclaimed LP, The Unraveling of PUPTheBand. Monday night’s stop at Milwaukee’s Turner Hall Ballroom marked the first time the band has played in Wisconsin since 2017.

It’s immediately clear from the aggressively well-mannered pit, Milwaukee has felt PUP’s five year absence and based on the 90 minute smile stretched across Babcock’s sweat-stippled face, the feeling is mutual. Each song brings the comfort of a weighted straightjacket, digging up every regret or fucked up thing in your life while simultaneously reminding you that everything is going to be alright. Leave it to a group of Canadians to get a crowd to politely hate themselves.

There’s a bond between PUP and their fans that is rarely felt with most bands. They feel almost tethered together, belting out lyrics about the shared trauma of a dead pet chameleon in a unified chorus. White-knuckling their “PUPTHEBAND INC.” ballcaps all while the venue floor beneath them became a smattering of cracked glasses and lost shoes. If that isn’t true love, I don’t know what is.

PUP is the best time you can have regretting everything and smiling through the pain.

For a list of remaining tour dates and tickets, click here. See our photo gallery from Monday’s show below.

Photos by Josh Druding