On Thursday, February 26, singer-songwriter Peter McPoland brought his Big Lucky Tour to Brooklyn Steel. The alternative rock performer played a fifteen-song set alongside his backup band, composed of members Landon Laney (bass), Joe Curtin (drums), and Josh Suarez (keyboard and guitar).
A previous resident of Bushwick, McPoland is a loyal lover of New York City. Between animated retellings of his ongoing feud with the 1 train to his infatuation with the Staten Island Ferry, it was evident that the Brooklyn tour stop was just as special to Peter McPoland as it was to his fans.
DUG
The crowd was welcomed into the genre-bending night of music by folk duo DUG. Drawing inspiration from Irish shanties and traditional American folk music, the two-man band fuse their culture and music together through playful lyricism and instrumentation.
The folk duo started off in the Dublin busking scene. Members Conor O’Reilly and Jonny Pickett explained how grateful they are to tour the world now, when promoters used to take advantage of them on Grafton Street. Crafting their difficulties into folk masterpieces, DUG encouraged fans to call-and-repeat their powerful lyrics, for example, by booing every time a promoter was mentioned in the band’s only ‘diss track’ “The Promoter Man.” While the duo sang and played the strings, their work doubled as Jonny strapped a tambourine to his birkenstock and Conor tapped a stompbox.
Peter McPoland
Peter McPoland, the 25-year-old headliner from Burlington, Vermont, grew up on country and folk music. His passion for music struck around nine years old when he became involved in musical theater. At 18, McPoland fled the nest to New York City, where he resided in Bushwick for four years as he searched endlessly for musical theater auditions. Eventually, he transitioned to beginning his alternative rock music career. By 2022, McPoland was an opening act for Twenty One Pilots on their Icy Tour. Now about halfway through the Big Lucky Tour, McPoland is traversing the United States playing songs he wrote, recorded, produced, and engineered all on his own.
Walking onto the stage, Peter McPoland and his band members gathered around one microphone to perform a beautiful acapella rendition of “Dead Air.” Energy levels rose as the musicians grabbed their instruments to jam out for “Good Day” and “What Do You Do To Me.”
The singer went on to describe why Brooklyn is so special to him, stating that living in New York was both “the best and worst years of [his] life.” McPoland explained that the day he moved to Bushwick, he traveled to The Bitter End on Bleecker Street with a guitar in hand. He recalled, “Why does nobody want me? Everyone’s a f***ing DJ!” While he didn’t have his Bob Dylan moment, McPoland gave one piece of advice to the crowd – “Man, play the guitar in Brooklyn.”
A highlight of the set was hit song “Shit Show.” McPoland’s folk vocals paired with his alt-rock backing band started the song off tame and ended with the whole crowd screaming. Before playing this song, McPoland shouted out his struggling musical theater days, retelling his day-to-day excursions to FiDi on the 2 train, (and sometimes even the 1 where he’d “lose [his] mind”) grab a bagel, donut, and orange juice from his favorite bodega, and prep for auditions while finance bros began their work day. “I loved the city through it,” McPoland said, explaining through the song, “it’s a shit show, but it’s this show, I want to be there.”
In the acoustic section of his set, Peter brought out bassist Landon to sing a rendition of “Dink’s Song,” a folk classic popularized by Bob Dylan, Marcus Mumford, and Joni Mitchell, amongst many others. Telling fans that this was their first time playing it since they were 17, the two men adjusted McPoland’s capo three times before finding a comfortable pitch.
Pausing for a four minute Bop It interlude, a gift granted to McPoland by fans in the crowd, his humor and personality showed through. “This will take a while,” he said, “You can go get merch now.” Spoiler alert: McPoland ultimately beat the game, screaming, “I f***ing love Bop It!”
One thing about McPoland is that he despises a fake encore. “We don’t need to leave the stage to get extra claps,” the singer stated. He screamed, “This is the encore!”, before breaking into “A Place Like This” off his 2024 album, Friend. Requesting that fans make a hole in the pit, the guitar-clad musician jumped in to mark the end of the night with the NYC crowd.
As fans left Brooklyn Steel in a line to the L train, everyone reminisced on the night they just shared. Some even mentioned that they were following the rest of the Big Lucky Tour, attending McPoland’s next shows in Boston and Philadelphia. Peter McPoland continues on his Big Lucky tour until Mid-March, where tickets can be purchased at petermcpoland.com.
Peter McPoland – Brooklyn Steel – February 26, 2026
Setlist: Dead Air, Good Day, What Do You Do To Me, Slow Down, Mary Anne, Blue, Shit Show, Gruh, Romeo and Juliet, Acoustic Cover of Dink’s Song, String Lights, Animals, Digital Silence
Encore: A Place Like This
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