On a very spooky Halloween night, one of Atlanta’s most adored venues was turned into Luigi’s Mansion by the five-piece indie-rock band, flipturn, whose members had each dressed up as Luigi from Super Mario Bros. This special Halloween show at the Tabernacle attracted fans from all over Georgia and even out of state to come out and participate in what some fans called “flip-o-ween.”
Before the show, the concert-goers lined up in two lines outside the historic venue: one, those in hope of getting a good spot on the floor to watch their favorite band, and the other, a VIP line that included early entry into the venue and a pre-show meet and greet with the band along with a private acoustic performance.
Fans could be seen dressed up in all kinds of costumes, some trying to be on the theme with outfits based on different flipturn songs. In the crowd, there were numerous “space cowboys,” “hippies,” “rodeo clowns” and many others related to song lyrics and titles. There was also the occasional Charli xcx and Joe Cool littered in.
A few weeks prior to the event, the band had started teasing the release of their new sophomore album called “Burnout Days,” which is set to release in January of 2025. To hold their devoted fans over until then, they have released two singles, “Rodeo Clown” and “Juno,” from the upcoming project, with more likely on the way. Ironically named after the exhaustion faced from touring, “Burnout Days,” is an album about the genuine love they have for their fans and how they would not trade the burnout for anything else in the world.
They opened up their set on Thursday with their newest groovy single, “Juno” which was written about their tour bus, Pegasus (also known as Peggy). Vocalist Dillon Basse sings, “Peggy’s got a V6, she’s iconic.” The song’s name comes from the synthesizer that the keyboardist, Mitch Fountain, dropped one day, and the sound that it made colliding with the ground is what listeners will now recognize as the energizing opening riff.
After “Juno,” they played a string of older songs and some from their most recent album, “Shadowglow,” including fan favorites, “Sad Disco,” “Playground” and “Space Cowboy.” Then, they performed a few from their 2018 EP, playing “Citrona,” “Six Below,” “Nickel” and their nostalgic breakout song, “August.” They mixed in a few more unreleased tracks from their upcoming album “Sunlight.
The fans could not have been more ecstatic to kick off the holiday season with this new era of flipturn. The entire floor and second level were packed with attendees singing along to every word and jumping up and down with all their hearts.
Over the years, flipturn has created a community of people who love living life with those that they care about. The band creates passionate songs about friendship and the good times along life’s journey. Flipturn is for people who love road trips, contemplating their purpose in this world and looking back on all the good and the bad and realizing that everything that happens is meant to happen.
Flipturn is planning to set off in Amsterdam on Nov. 11 for their very first tour stops overseas as a group, and soon after that, they will perform three sold out nights in London. They also have various supporting acts on the bill including Lazy Day, Eleni Drake and the Manatees.
Roughly two months later on Jan. 18, flipturn will kick off “The Burnout Days Tour” in the U.S. starting in Gainesville, Fla. and finish up mid-April in Orlando, Fla. where they will play much larger venues than their previous tours. Heartbreakingly, flipturn will not be stopping back in Atlanta in the spring, but they made a promise to return soon. The closest the new album’s tour will be to the Peach State is their stop in Birmingham, Ala., the second to last stop of “The Burnout Days Tour.”
Although they have not announced who will be supporting them during their spring run, fans hope to see some familiar faces on the stage like the Moss, Hotel Fiction or Richy Mitch & the Coal Miners. However, more groups like the Hails, the Backfires or Arcy Drive would be a refreshing sight and guarantee to have concertgoers continuing to arrive at shows early.