Harvey Street at The Mercury Lounge: A Concert Review
- Norah Jerinic-Brodeur
- Jul 5
- 3 min read
by Norah Jerinic-Brodeur
If you ask me, I would say that in order to make the most of your time in New York it’s important you embrace saying “yes” to the unexpected opportunities and plans that will inevitably come your way (it’s New York afterall). On June 27th this very situation occurred for me and let me tell you…it was so worth saying “yes”. I had the pleasure of covering North Carolina indie rock band, Harvey Street’s, sold out show at The Mercury Lounge in New York City. I am so grateful for this opportunity and truly had so much fun learning about Harvey Street’s lore and experiencing the band live. Okay enough of the sappy stuff, let’s jump in shall we?
Massachusetts indie-rock band, Autumn Drive, started the night out strong and successfully got the crowd warmed up and ready to go for Harvey Street. Although I was not familiar with their music prior to the show, their stage presence was chill yet energizing, which did everything it needed to do in order to get the crowd sold on them. I appreciated Autumn Drive’s mixture of upbeat rock-vibe songs and low key indie beach-pop. All of the band members seemed genuinely stoked to be performing and for me, that is definitely a factor that sells me on a band.
Shortly after, Harvey Street took the stage. Suddenly, five giddy-looking boys ran out onto the stage and let me tell you, the crowd was so ready. Their opening song, “Insane”, was such the perfect song to get the show started. The crowd immediately jumped in singing every word and dancing around to the super-catchy guitar riff. The boys’ setlist was a great balance between tracks from their most recent releases and a handful of unreleased songs. The setlist featured songs from their 2025 debut album Great Escape and 2026 EP Insomnia. Something that stood out to me, as a new Harvey Street fan myself, is the fact that every one of their songs are different from the others. Harvey Street identifies themselves within the indie and alternative rock umbrella, but each EP/album and every individual song, brings a unique vibe to the mix. In my humble opinion this coupled with the band’s ability to create a diverse setlist, is a great tool when it comes to fostering fan interest and buy-in at live shows.
One of the band’s unreleased songs that caught my attention is titled “Anywhere”. This song, and many of Harvey Street’ songs, feature particularly relatable and emotional lyrics. When lead singer, Jerome Bermudez, sang “just say it, you want me, and I’ll be anywhere” the emotion in his voice filled the entire venue. What was particularly special about this moment was the fact that although this song is brand new and never before heard by the fans at this show, everyone was hooked. Sure, they didn’t necessarily know the lyrics but the fan engagement, particularly within the chorus, was truly a special moment to witness.
Not only are Harvey Street engaging performers and talented musicians, but they truly seem to love what they do and who they are doing it with. The support you can observe all five of them giving each other is so beautiful. I had the pleasure of sitting down with the boys for an interview, so I can safely say that this is indeed the case. However, even before the interview took place their support and love for one another was very prominent.
One of my favorite sections of the show was during Josh Burgess’s drum solo. The rest of the boys did a great job of hyping Josh up and they seemed genuinely stoked and impressed by his talent, even after playing with each other for so long. The relationship that all five boys have with each other is a notable feature of their band chemistry that plays a role in their stage presence. One relationship in particular stuck out to me; between Jerome Bermudez (lead singer and rhythm guitarist) and Jackson Reed (lead guitarist). Throughout the entirety of their set you could feel the support beaming from these two. They would constantly turn to each other during a jam portion of a song and jump around to hype each other, and in turn, the crowd up. I could tell that their stage presence and connection with one another was genuine and that makes their music, which highlights topics of inclusion and friendship, even more impactful.
Needless to say, I truly enjoyed my Harvey Street live experience. If you happen to be lucky enough that Harvey Street has a show lined up near you, I could not recommend buying the ticket enough. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
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