““Now we’re making an impossible dream feel possible every single day.” — Show Review: Durry @ Bowery Ballroom
In a second, the crowd at Bowery Ballroom was split down the middle. “Everyone on my side: King Dedede,” gestured Austin Durry, one-half of (aptly named) Minnesota indie rock duo, DURRY. Pointing to Bandmate, Guitarist and Sister™, Taryn Durry, the other side of the Ballroom would be rooting for Mr. Game & Watch. And as DURRY tore through animal-wordplay track “Porcupine,” off the band’s 2025 release This Movie Sucks, two quick-thumbed fans faced off in a Super Smash Bros. gauntlet behind the band… and stage right swiftly learned how it felt to join the Losers Club.
But on this freezing Wednesday evening off Delancey Street in Manhattan, everyone was a Winner. Kicking the show off with a raucous punch of sound were fellow Minnesotan punk trio VIAL, immediately berating the audience into screaming a little eff-ing louder. Featuring each member on vocals, guitarist KT Branscom traded syncopated screams with bassist Taylor Kraemer, amid teasing interjections from drummer Katie Fischer. Firing through danceable rage, VIAL had the room spinning on older favorites including “Ego Death,” “Roadkill,” and “Rough,” in addition to macho-satire Nirvana cover, “Territorial Pissings.” Between the devilish nursery rhyme of “Planet Drool,” grungy new release “Idle Hands,” and sweetly sour closer “Piss Punk,” VIAL could’ve had the crowd screaming “Encore” - but instead demanded an iconic and iconoclastic “Piss” chant.
DURRY’s Home Movie inspired backdrop screamed cinematic: with six ADHD-friendly screens projecting classic film satire, memes, and the same ironic visual cues that have brought the band viral success, it’d be easy to get lost in the television glow if not for the undeniably hooky setlist. Charging out of the gate with anti-keyboard warrior anthem, “Bully,” and bouncy hate-letter to the cost of living crisis, “Monopoly Money,” support from bassist Ashley Durry (singer Austin’s wife) and drummer Dane Hoppe rounded out DURRY’s vibrant entrance.
After the corporate malaise of “Coming of Age,” the family shame of “Trauma Queen,” and the soaring chorus of “Polaroid,” the duo paused the revelry (including a wacky waving inflatable tube man!) to show off one of thirteen super-duper-secret VHS tapes crafted by the band. With the audience silently focused mid-entry for the Easter Egg raffle, as the title track “This Movie Sucks” finally burst into the chorus, the siblings seemed unprepared for the delayed booming crowd reaction.
Post-Smash Bros. smackdown, DURRY’s anxiety-riddled “More Dumb,” and Sex Bob-Omb homage “Start A Band,” the floor swayed with angst to “Worse For Wear.” The deceptively jaunty embodiment of the Masked Crying Wojak meme, “I’m Fine (No Really)” flowed perfectly into the righteously-sarcastic “idk i just work here,” a song that could only be improved by a pro-labor Dolly Parton rendition of “I’ll pledge allegiance to the Paycheck.”
“We are so lucky to go around and play our silly little songs,” Austin Durry mentions earnestly while introducing the acoustic number “The Long Goodbye,” about a fan who unexpectedly passed before receiving their vinyl. In a similar vein to Jimmy Eat World’s “Hear You Me,” Taryn Durry’s airy harmonies arrested the crowd for the song’s duration.
But the spell of “The Long Goodbye” is promptly broken: “Wipe your tears,” commands Austin Durry, “it’s time to rock.” Jumping through hidden bonus track, “Dead Media,” into the unanimous crowd singalong of “Who’s Laughing Now,” and encore “Suburban Legend,” it’s easy to see how DURRY’s wry charm has taken them from Burnsville, Minnesota all the way to the Lower East Side. “Nothing ever worked out until I started working with my little sister,” lead singer Austin exclaimed; “Now we’re making an impossible dream feel possible every single day.”