Lip Critic didn’t hold back at all during their biggest headline hometown show at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY on July 16th. The sold-out venue was packed with fans and friends alike who have been alongside the band’s fast-rising success over the last few months—from selling out shows across their recent UK tour to dominating music journalists’ headlines with their unconventional New York shows in a laundromat and boxing ring, all in support of their new album Theft World.

Opening the night with a bang was Public Circuit. The electronic NYC-based band jumped around the stage and got the crowd pumped with their funky-ass synths and beats that sounded straight out of an underground club in the 80s. I want to dance to them all night in a hazy basement bathed in blue lights and lasers.

Up next was Fantasy of a Broken Heart, a pop duo also from New York. I’m always immediately put into a good mood anytime I see them live. The energy and camaraderie that the band has together on stage extends into the crowd as we all dance and bounce alongside them and their upbeat melodies.

Fantasy of a Broken Heart at Music Hall of Williamsburg on July 16, 2026 in Brooklyn, NY by Bobby Nicholas III

As they left the stage, the venue was bathed in red light and an ominous one-note tone as the stage was turned over for Lip Critic—including a guy putting on stilts and going to hide behind the back curtain… much to the delight of the crowd. A few of us up front were talking about how it feels like we’re about to enter a haunted house or some sort of circus ride.

Finally, Lip Critic came out, took their places, and blew the roof off the place. Within a minute of their first song, I was already being pushed against the stage and had crowd surfers all above me. This energy just got stronger and stronger during the evening. There was hardly a moment where somebody wasn’t being carried through the crowd, including Danny Eberle, one of the band’s two drummers alongside Michael Sandvig. Manning the production console in center stage was Connor Kleitz, who put his whole body into every beat he made. Commanding the rest of the stage was lead singer Bret Kaser, who jumped, ran, and moved everywhere the stage allowed him while directing the audience to “shake some ass.”

Everything about the show felt so special and like we’re on the precipice of something that’s about to be much bigger—which is emblematic of a lot of live music I’ve been seeing in NYC lately. So many pop-up and one-off shows like this have been happening lately in the city, and it feels like a new energy is coming up around it that makes many more shows in New York feel like a “you had to be there” moment we’ll be talking about years down the line. Any bands or artists that want to get in on this should take a page out of Lip Critic’s book, as they are a perfect example of how to create hype through meaningful in-person experiences.

Lip Critic at Music Hall of Williamsburg on July 16, 2026 in Brooklyn, NY by Bobby Nicholas III

Words and photos by Bobby Nicholas Ⅲ

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