Photos by Anthony Bauer
Off album cycle touring can truly be a fickle thing, as you usually head to the show with a lot of uncertainty. Will the setlist be filled with mostly all old songs, all new songs (that nobody yet knows), or a really good mix of both? Thankfully on June 14th when Real Estate headlined a sold-out Webster Hall, we got a brilliant mix of both old and new that was definitely a sneak peek into the next era for the band. Along for the ride and kicking the night off was Philadelphia (via New York) band Palm.
Palm may be one of the most interesting bands out there today. They’re extremely talented musicians that play some of the most unique music you will ever hear, even if you aren’t expecting what they are about to play. The off-kilter rhythms and oddly placed time signatures may sound like complete and total chaos, but it is something that totally works that only they can pull off. They played a mixture of old songs and newer ones off their latest album Rock Island (released via Carpark Records) and kept the crowd on their toes the entire set.
We’ve been to many of Real Estate’s previous shows in the tristate area within the past few years (including last years headlining White Eagle Hall show), but this was the first time that I’ve seen them in about two years so I was pretty excited to see them again.
The first thing I noticed as soon as they took the stage was that they now had video screens dead center on stage. This was definitely something I would never expect to see at a Real Estate show, but, going to be honest and say… it worked. It was a triple-stacked square video screen that got bigger from front to back, which was playing constantly throughout the whole show. Some songs had animations, some had photos, and some had a mix of both which were a perfect fit for the vibe of the whole show. “Is this who we are now?” mentioned bassist Alex Bleeker, further explaining to the crowd that this was the first time they ever had screens and don’t know if they’ll ever have them again. Based on the crowd reaction, I’d expect we’ll be seeing those screens again sometime in the future.
As mentioned in the intro, coming into this show I wasn’t sure what they would play as the show was definitely an off album cycle tour given that their last studio album In Mind was released back in 2017 (via Domino Records). Thankfully we got a great mix of new and old, while the old songs definitely had a refreshing new take on them. The new songs they played were absolutely fantastic, which has me unbelievably excited for the new album (…whenever it may be coming out… hopefully, sooner rather than later). The new songs take the vibe newest member Julian Lynch brought to In Mind and expand on it tenfold, which even breathed new life into older songs that made them feel just as fresh as the brand new songs. Standout tracks were new songs “Paper Cup,” “Friday” and deeper cuts “Green Aisles,” and “Younger than Yesterday” from Days. What was impressive overall was how diverse the set was, diving into every album the band has released from the earliest album to the newer tracks off of the unreleased LP5.
All of the new songs are signaling a new direction of the band, which sees them expanding on their already impressive sound to a more looser, jammier one. I, for one, am all for seeing the band explore with this new territory and sound, as it is extremely exciting coming from a long time fan. Every song feels like it has room to allow each member of the band to shine, which is always great to see. With all of this, there only seems to be one burning question: wheres the new album announcement?! Everyone here at We All Want Someone to Shout For will be patiently (or, impatiently) waiting for its announcement!
Find a full gallery of photos from opener Palm, as well as a full gallery and setlist from Real Estate below.
Palm:
Real Estate:
Real Estate setlist:
1. Friday (new song)
2. Had To Hear
3. Stained Glass
4. Younger Than Yesterday
5. November (new song)
6. Green Aisles
7. Talking Backwards
8. Also a But (new song)
9. Darling
10. Paper Cup (new song)
11. Crime
12. You (new song)
13. Saturday
Encore:
14. Beach Comber
15. All The Same
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