Badflower takes the stage and immediately jumps into “Number 1” from their 2025 album, No Place Like Home. “And it might sound wrong, but I think my tongue / Is a gift from God, gimme a Grammy nod / ‘Cause I wrote this song, it’s a big hit song / It’s a number one!” It’s a great rocker with an attitude.
Soon afterwards is their single from 2020, “30”. ” And my band’s sick ’cause my head’s sick (yeah, okay) / I get drunk and I’m reckless / Stalk my Twitter, stand my bullshit / This is thirty, something is wrong with me”. It’s a fantastic track about getting older with a driving beat.
The lead singer, Josh Katz, says this is the smallest show of the tour. At first, this isn’t surprising, as Albuquerque is the 61st largest metro area in the US. But, they also played Boise, ID, which is #75. One possible factor for a smaller crowd is that just down the street, Gogol Bordello is playing at the El Rey.
Later on they play “Heroin” from their 2019 album, OK, I’M SICK. It features a slow build to the big chorus. “And I can’t let her go! And my bones are caving in / She stole my faither again / And I wish you well, oh, for the night / ‘Til you come again”. Later in the night, someone yells out “Heroin!” The lead singer, Josh Katz, says “We already played that. Or are you asking for the drug?”
Before playing the next song, Katz winks and says this is the last song. They go on to play “Ghost”, which is their most popular song on Spotify with over 95 million streams. “Take the blade away from me / I am a freak, I am afraid that / All the blood escaping me won’t end the pain / And I’ll be haunting all the lives that cared for me”. It’s a hauntingly beautiful song about suicide.
A few minutes after the band left the stage, the guitarist comes back out and says that due to mental and vocal issues, there will not be an encore.
See a similar setlist here.
Cost of a ticket: $45
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Good Value +
Rating Scale: Exceptional > Good Value > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
Quinn Delaney
PlaylistHQ 