Review: MJ Lenderman Wraps Up 'Gather No Moss’ Tour with a Stellar Set in Brooklyn
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY STEPHEN DIAMOND ☆
Photo By Jenna Murray for Rolling Stone
ON OCTOBER 16, 2025, MUSIC LOVERS ALIKE FLOCKED TO THE COUNTRYSIDE OF BROOKLYN - or at least it felt that way from the distance to the historic Kings Theater in Flatbush Brooklyn, for a night of crunchy country rock by MJ Lenderman & The Wind to close out Rolling Stone’s Gather No Moss tour.
Despite the bustle of Brooklyn outside Kings Theater, time slowed down inside its finely restored 1920s doors as MJ (& The Wind) took the stage and broke out into some country slowjams, starting with his album-titled song “Manning Fireworks”. As the mood was set, MJ led directly into his popular cover of This is Lorelai’s, “Dancing in the Club”. The sea of heads from the GA pit to the ticket holders, decidedly not sitting down in their plush velvet seats, all swayed and bopped to MJ’s long-awaited grungy melodic guitar riffs and crooning vocals. The band turned their guitars up to 11 as they plunged into other hit tunes, such as “Rudolph”, “Joker Lips”, “Rip Torn” and more. The sounds were full and the vibes fuller as MJ & The Wind criss-crossed genres from country rock to jam band to punk rock all within single songs.
This special night marked the last of MJ’s album tour and Rolling Stone’s Gather No Moss shows. After being on tour non-stop since what seems to be June 2024, MJ joked that it felt like it was his 15th time playing New York City this year. Even though it was actually only his 4th time playing in New York City this year, after a 3-night stint at Brooklyn Steel in April, he played like it was the first, with not a note out of tune - well except the artistically purposeful ones.
MJ Lenderman & The Wind seemed like the perfect way to cap off Rolling Stone’s inaugural run of four sold-out rock and roll shows as he has taken the music industry by storm (pun intended) over the last year with his mix of country meets 90’s Nirvana grunge meets [Bob] Dylan-goes-electric music and lyrics. Something tells me that even after this long tour for “Manning Fireworks” and singing, “Don’t move to New York City babe. It’s gonna change the way you dress” in the album’s final tune, “Bark at the Moon”, that he will return again soon for a 16th time. It may be his unchanging staple waffle-tee-under-band-t-shirt dress, but it's most likely how he filled all of our empty hearts with his. Until then, New York City waits.
