Joywave Electrifies Fort Lauderdale's Culture Room With 'Permanent Pleasure' Tour Stop

By Erin Lee

Joywave brought massive energy to The Culture Room on Tuesday night for the Fort Lauderdale stop of their Permanent Pleasure tour!

Opening with "Scared" from the recently rereleased deluxe version of Permanent Pleasure, the band immediately fell into a groove.

Drummer Paul Brenner and touring bassist Kevin Mahoney create the perfect rhythm section, providing a solid backbone.

Lead singer Daniel Armbruster has such a fun stage presence: pacing frantically across the stage, raising his hands to encourage the audience to follow his lead.

The Culture Room's elevated stage had him checking in with the crowd below, leaning down to ask: "Is it weird that I'm up here so high?" Then, laying across the stage he said:  "Should I do the show from here?"

Laying It Down:  Daniel Armbruster gets cozy during his set.

The question felt intimate, like we were along for the ride with him.

Halfway through "Hate to Be a Bother," the band encountered some sound challenges, but the eager crowd picked up the slack singing alongside Armbruster until the issue was fixed. A landline style phone made for a fun prop as Daniel played off guitarist Joseph Morinelli.

Speaking of fun props: GIANT SLEEPING KITTY ON A ROTATING TURNTABLE! My favorite set design element of a concert since Fall Out Boy's 2ourdust set last year, this oversized curled up cat was aglow with different lighting throughout the evening. The prop is a nod to the cover design of the band's most recent album.

A neon sign also adorned the stage.

The audience was absolutely feral as the band tore through their set: shouting lyrics at every prompt, jumping up and down, just absolute unbridled enthusiasm that I personally haven't seen from an audience in longer than I can recall.

Late in the set, Armbruster asked how we were feeling. A guy in the back of the crowd asked him how HE was feeling.

He intimated he was battling a sinus infection and joked that we could just stop the show right here...before all the radio hits. He listed off all the songs we'd be missing, and the people cheered him on.

From that point, it felt like the already energetic fans dialed it to 11.

Despite struggling with illness, Armbruster put in one hell of a performance to a very thankful Fort Lauderdale crowd.

Rounding out the set with hits like "Dangerous" and "It's a Trip!" really packed a punch.

Crossing the finish line with "the greatest song ever written" we moved as a collective body to 2015's "Destruction."

Joywave left it all on stage last night, and it was an excellent time.