City kid Karina Rykman and her namesake psych-rock power trio made some noise on the island of Manhattan on Saturday night with a sold-out performance at Racket NYC. The performance at the 650-capacity club marked a meaningful milestone for the celebrated native daughter, a fixture of the New York City music scene—from the crowd to the spotlight to 30 Rock’s Studio 8G—for more than a decade.
The bassist/vocalist’s NYC shows are often packed with fans that feel more like friends—a testament to her undeniable charisma and her embrace of the live music community—but that circle has been expanding rapidly of late. In the months since her last proper hometown show, a September 2023 album release party for her debut LP, Joyride, at Brooklyn’s 280-capacity Baby’s All Right, Rykman’s profile has continued to rise via various notable festival plays, an appearance on a Billie Eilish cover with The Gaslight Anthem, a sit-in with Umphrey’s McGee, an impromptu jam with Larry David on Late Night with Seth Meyers, and even a speculative frenzy fueled by Beyoncé fans—and the national entertainment news media—surrounding her Backwoods Barbie set at StageCoach (P.S. You’ll always be Beyoncé to us, Karina).
All the while, Rykman and her band, which features Adam November (guitar, synths) and Chris Corsico (drums), have steadily honed their live show, a bombastic exposition that floats freely between dreamy pop and thick, distorted noise-rock with “fun” as its guiding light.
At Racket, in front of their biggest headline crowd to date, in a room they sold out in a matter of hours many months ahead of time, Karina Rykman and her band presented their most well-realized New York showing so far. From the moment they made their grand entrance—to the cleverly selected sounds of country blues classic “Corrina, Corrina”, as Rykman whacked signed tennis balls into the crowd with a location-appropriate racket—Karina, Adam, and Chris had the hometown audience comfortably in their palms and hanging on their every psychedelic flourish.
From enveloping sonic interplay to an immersive light show (with lasers!) to thrilling covers (like Ween‘s “Springtheme”, Blur‘s “Song 2”, boygenius‘ “Satanist”, and Tom Tom Club‘s “Genius of Love”) interspersed with magnetic takes on their original tunes, Karina and company left no question in the minds of local diehards that they belonged in this bigger room, on this bigger stage (and, for a brief minute, in the middle of this bigger audience).
Related: Karina Rykman Jams With Larry David On ‘Late Night With Seth Meyers’ [Watch]
The emotion of the moment nearly got to Rykman on multiple occasions. “You’re gonna make me cry too early in the game,” she said to a roar from the crowd after a segued run of original songs. Later, she shouted out all six of the band members’ parents in the balcony, noting how long they had all been watching their kids play to empty rooms before this meaningful night. “I really almost don’t have the words to explain what this means to me,” she added toward the end of the show. “Our biggest-ever headlining show to date, sold out in seven hours.”
The magnitude of the milestone could be felt in the audience as strongly as Rykman was feeling it onstage. Seeing and hearing Rykman, November, and Corsico rocking out together onstage may not have been new to their local day-ones—from parents to family to friends to admirers, New York has been in on this secret for a long time—but as a sold-out Racket NYC howled its approval, you could sense a shift in tone from past Big Apple shows.
On Saturday, the deafening cheers that met Karina Rykman in Manhattan seemed to carry an extra message: This longtime local secret may not be such a secret anymore, but the hometown appreciation is strong enough to meet them at each new level they reach. Going up…
Below, check out the setlist from the sold-out Karina Rykman show at Racket NYC as well as a selection of photos and videos from the show. For a full list of upcoming Karina Rykman tour dates, head here.
Setlist: Karina Rykman | Racket NYC | New York, NY | 5/18/24
Set: Beacon, All That You Wanted -> Joyride -> Plants -> Dirty South, Springtheme (Ween) -> City Kids, Song 2 (Blur), Run Of The Mill -> Satanist (boygenius), Reboot, No Occasion -> Genius Of Love (Tom Tom Club), Atom Dance, Elevator
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