Saturday Night Live went hardcore. Last night’s episode was hosted by Dakota Johnson with musical guest Turnstile. As pointed out in the episode promos, Turnstile are the first hardcore band to play Saturday Night Live since the infamous Fear performance 45 years ago this month. (Though then-Jesus Piece drummer Luis Aponte did play with Charli XCX on the show in 2021!)
Turnstile go beyond hardcore of course: they were the first act to be nominated for rock, alternative, and metal awards in a single Grammys ceremony. (They won Best Rock Album and Best Metal Performance.)
They played “Birds,” which opened with Daniel Fang delivering a sick drum solo, as well as the “I CARE”/“DULL” medley. They sounded excellent, with lead singer Brendan Yates supplying plenty of high kicks and stunning stage spins. During the second performance, the band played in front of a wall of rotary telephones, setting up a particularly cool transition: the lights went dark, leaving a single phone blinking red on the wall, like the Powerpuff Girls phone, as Yates began singing, “Deep in the night, I’m waiting for the call.”
Johnson, who was promoting her new movie Verity, was also bringing in a new year. Today is her 37th birthday. In her monologue, she talked about dating musicians, referencing her recent relationships with Chris Martin and Role Model. Keyboardist Leon Pendarvis, who has been in the SNL band since Nov. 1980 (he’d just missed the Fear episode) got to deliver a joke.
“Some people leave concerts with merch and I leave concerts with a two-and-a-half-year relationship,” she followed up. “But I have really good friends. They don’t judge me for dating these men. They’re actually really supportive.” Then Johnson’s friend and “Patient Zero” video costar Taylor Swift came out. “Ladies and gentlemen, my literal therapist,” Johnson said, pointing to Swift. (Her cameo might have been foreshadowed with her pre-taped Law & Order Emmys sketch, which featured SNL on a clue board.) Then there were more jokes about dating musicians, something about Zoloft, and a reference to Swift’s recent single “Cleveland!”
Swift also came out during the goodnights with a cake, seemingly startling Turnstile guitarist Pat McCrory. Was it a NEVER ENOUGH cake design? Hard to say. Turnstile played ACL Weekend 1 the night before SNL. And they have tour stops on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before heading back to Austin for Weekend 2.
Check out clips below.
