O2 Forum Kentish Town, London, 14th September 2025
Turnover’s Peripheral Vision is an album I often associate with autumn – something about its muted vocals and hazy guitars evokes a season of change, new beginnings, and gentle chills. Perhaps, then, there is no better time for 2000 fans to come together to celebrate the album’s tenth anniversary than on a drizzly, grey September evening.
Released in 2015, Peripheral Vision was a risk that paid off. Turnover’s early releases positioned the Virginia band alongside hardcore or pop-punk bands like Balance and Composure or Citizen, characterised by urgent guitars and raw, shouted vocals. Peripheral Vision slowed everything down. Thrashing drums and roaring guitars gave way to wandering melodies and shimmering, ethereal textures. While Turnover still shared some lyrical angst and catchy hooks with their peers, this record marked a clean break and defined their own space.
When they play the opening notes of ‘Humming’, a sing-along of its riff erupts before the song has a chance to take form
From the moment the band walk on stage to the airy opening of ‘Cutting My Fingers Off’, a deafening cheer erupts, before rapidly falling to a hush to let the music breathe. Though Turnover have remained active, Peripheral Vision remains their signature work; a cult classic that still defines them to this day.
‘New Scream’ evokes an equally warm reaction. Fans sing along but stay measured, careful to not drown out the band. While bands of their ilk would have had roaring mosh pits, hecklers, and crowd surfers by now, here, the focus is on the music. All around, people are swaying side to side with eyes closed, intent on absorbing every note.
One of Peripheral Vision’s highlights is the lush guitar riffs peppered throughout the album, so much so that when they play the opening notes of ‘Humming’, a sing-along of its riff erupts before the song has a chance to take form.
On stage, the band seem calm and confident, transitioning from one song to another with apparent ease. It’s only when vocalist Austin Getz delivers a mid-show speech about the impact “the songs [they] wrote as teenagers” have had on their lives that a trace of shyness shows.
Although the album’s mellow pulse keeps the mood steady, ‘Diazepam’ breaks through the haze, with its playful guitar and contrasting melancholic lyrics prompting the loudest response of the night. It is at this point that someone from the crowd shouts: “This album changed my life!”, and a rallying cry ensues from everyone in his vicinity.
Structuring the set around a full playthrough of Peripheral Vision makes for a front-loaded set.
By the time Turnover play ‘Intrapersonal’, the album’s closing track, a few lone crowd surfers have tried their luck, but few reach the barrier. Instead, everyone is too focussed on the music to propel people forwards.
Finally, and met by effusive clapping, the band finish the first half of their set. From here on, they play a smattering of tracks from across their catalogue. ‘Stone Station’ and ‘Tears of Change’ from their 2024 release, Myself in the Way, are met with a polite but muted reception, while 2016’s ‘Humblest Pleasures’ is met with modest toe-tapping and head bopping.
The subdued chill of ‘Super Natural’ lifts the energy again, setting up the crowd for an explosive finale. Ending the set with ‘Most of the Time’, a track from their early emo period, makes a moshpit form almost instantly, as if the crowd had been holding back their urge to break loose. And, as security work tirelessly to haul hoards of crowdsurfers over the barrier, the band give it their all one last time for the night. A few pictures, thanks, and fighting-over-setlists later, the show is over.
Structuring the set around a full playthrough of Peripheral Vision makes for a front-loaded set. But, for the hour that it takes Turnover to play the album, there is a real sense of shared affection in the venue – on one hand, fans rejoice in hearing it live; on the other, the band marvel at the community they have built through it. And while the material they created post-Peripheral Vision has not been met with similar levels of success, nothing takes away from the sheer brilliance of Peripheral Vision and the community it has built.
Words and image: Sophie Flint Vázquez
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