The last time I saw Beach Fossils was at 285 Kent in the summer of 2011. It ruled. I was with some good friends and had an absolute blast rocking out with the Brooklyn boys. At the time, the band featured Zachary Cole Smith (frontman of DIIV) and John Peña (Heavenly Beat) in the lineup. Those guys have now moved on to those projects, leaving Beach Fossils with an alternative lineup.
I remember their live show featuring the songs played at a blitzkrieg like speed with a punk edge that left the crowd going wild. This was not really found tonight at Bowery Ballroom.
The band was making their first NYC headlining show in a year or so to celebrate the release of their new album Clash The Truth. Maybe with all these factors at play I was unfairly expecting too much.The band wasn’t the same. They started out relatively strong, but had me lost during the middle duration of the set, lacking the energy and punch that made them so enjoyable before. Their sound wasn’t nearly as tight, which made me realize how much losing Smith & Peña affected the band.
Save for the finishing touch of “Daydream”, I left Delancey Street with an underwhelming performance, a drastic change from the euphoric night I spent with the Brooklyn boys in the summer of 2011.
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