New York-based indie rock duo Water From Your Eyes performed at Bowery Ballroom on Friday night as part of the US leg of their tour promoting their newest record “It’s a Beautiful Place”. The band’s homecoming show at the iconic Lower Manhattan venue sold out quickly after it was announced, and on stage Brown remarked, “Last time we played here Paul McCartney hadn’t played here yet…. So that’s cool” referring to McCartney’s surprise popup show at the iconic 600-person capacity venue last fall.

The duo took the stage just before 10pm on Friday night opening with the instrumental final track on their new album “For Mankind”. Rachel Brown took the stage by announce “we’re going to play some fucking rock and roll for you!” The new record, which was released earlier in 2025 was their second on Matador Records and was notably more hopeful than past records, and awash in distorted guitar and catchy hooks. Brown’s soft, sometimes muttered vocals often blend into the rich textures of these songs, and come in and out of focus on each track. The band played most of the songs from “Its a Beautiful Place” including the endlessly catchy “Life Signs” which features an incessantly elaborate guitar riff by Nate Amos. They also performed a number of songs from their previous record “Everybody’s Crushed” which was also released on Matador Records.

The newfound guitar sounds of the new album were exciting when played live in the small densely-packed venue, and a mosh pit even broke out during a few songs, including “Nights In Armor”. The duo has a laid-back but very composed stage presence, with Amos deeply focused on his guitar playing, and Brown seemingly enjoying themself but not often getting distracted or too lost in the performance. As seemingly the spokesperson for both themself and Amos, Brown expressed numerous times their gratitude for headlining and selling out the Bowery Ballroom and how special it was to play a homecoming show, they expressed “Ten years ago when I moved here, it didn’t even cross my mind that this could be possible”. Brown also joked about how the band’s last few performances in New York had been on boats, as they have played three annual boat concerts in recent years.

Water From Your Eyes is one of a handful of musical projects that Nate Amos and Rachel Brown have their hands in, both have their own solo projects under the names This Is Lorelei and Thanks For Coming, where they often collaborate. The duo is accompanied on stage by two additional touring members on bass and drums to round out the full band sound. Accompanying the enthralling musical textures that are filling the room, the main visual focal point of the performance was a colorful psychedelic, ever-changing visualizer that was projected behind and often onto the performers.

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