Photos by Julia Fletcher, find more of her work here.
On a dark and stormy night, rain hits the streets of Manhattan. A red lights glows against the darkness, and following it leads you straight into New York’s coolest new venue, The Dance. Fog fills a bright white room while eerie green lights shine on a stage covered in cobwebs while aristocratic figures and aliens waltz about.
This was the first of a two night spectacular (10/30) put on by New York’s own Beach Fossils. Despite lots of speculation about whether or not the band would be returning to perform their third annual Halloween show, fans were ecstatic when a tweet confirmed the performance just earlier this month. After quickly selling out, a second night was added on the eve of Halloween for a night full of surprises.
It was a gathering of people equally dedicated to the electricity and humanity of a band that continues to play small local venues despite gaining a large following. Beach Fossils are funny, relatable, and ecstatic to be alive and to do what they love, even while dressed in colonial outfits and powdered wigs. Nostalgia fills each song, but the band brings them a new life on stage where even the saddest tracks are a reason to dance. “Sleep Apnea” was the only point in the night with even a trace of a standstill as guitarist Jack Doyle Smith asked the room to wave the flashlights of their iPhone 10’s and 11’s. Hands waved their phones and lighters in a touching moment of solidarity for what frontman Dustin Payseur described as “a song about a feeling that we’ve all had”. Together throughout the night, the audience would have much more to feel together.
Being known for their lo-fi and hazy indie rock tunes, Beach Fossils is the last band you’d expect to spawn a mosh pit. Yet the crowd only got more and more tumultuous with every song, crowdsurfing and pushing and dancing their hearts out. This energy peaked during their encore of covers in the true fashion of DIY Halloween shows where they played Black Sabbath’s “Ironman” and “Paranoid”. A tripod attached to the microphone displayed the lyrics just in case they forgot.
“You guys aren’t ready for this next one” exclaimed Payseur, and the audience truly was not prepared for the pure and utter chaos that was about to ensue. Their rendition of Drowning Pool’s “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” produced the most frenzied moment of the night as every person in the room jumped up and down, yelling every word. To calm things down, the group ended with Oasis’s “Wonderwall”, and as everyone sang together past midnight, Halloween was truly brought in with a bang.