LIVE: Beach Fossils Bring Their Music, a Proposal, Skateboard Tricks, and Stage Crashing to Bottom Lounge
This past Tuesday night, NYC’s Beach Fossils put on a show at Chicago's Bottom Lounge that was just as entertaining between songs as it was during the songs. Although the tour was in support of Beach Fossils’ latest album, Somersault, their eventful set kicked off just before 10PM with a few older tunes, “Generational Synthetic” and “Shallow.” Before playing their third song of the evening, lead singer Dustin Payseur noticed that someone in the crowd had been making airhorn sound effects and called forward the audience member to demonstrate his skills over Payseur’s microphone.
From the second Beach Fossils had taken the stage, a sense of unity and excitement fell over the crowd and remained there throughout the whole set, but a huge highlight of the evening happened early on when a couple got engaged onstage. Beach Fossils staged the proposal by telling the crowd that they had a nightly raffle contest and that the winner tonight got to come onstage with his guest, and then called the name of the fan who would be proposing. Once the couple joined the band onstage, the question was popped and of course she said yes. Beach Fossils invited the newly engaged couple to dance onstage for the next song and Payseur addressed the crowd, saying, “There’s too much hate in this world. We need to come together.” The crowd did just that by cheering and applauding the special moment they had just witnessed.
The good vibes and positive energy just soared upwards from then, with the audience beginning to crowd surf at the intimate venue during “Sugar,” from the latest album Somersault. That crowd surfing momentum carried over into the following song, “Be Nothing,” also from the latest album. The track starts slow and finishes with an epic build up that had the crowd losing their minds. The explosive energy lulled slightly for laid-back “Sleep Apnea,” but the crowd still showed their support by turning on their phone lights and holding up lighters as they swayed together. An audience member chucked their bra onstage at the end of the track, and Payseur decided to put it on himself, over his t-shirt, saying, “I also look great in a dress and fuck you if you think I shouldn’t wear one.”
As the first part of the set began to wind down, the band left the stage briefly before returning for an eventful three song encore. During the encore, Beach Fossils invited an audience member onstage with his skateboard, where he actually did a kickflip on the small stage. Beach Fossils then invited people to come dance on stage for their second to last song, “Daydream,” which further promoted the sense of unity they had instilled. The night ended with Payseur singing “Jesus Christ Saved My Life” in a British accent, and the crowd erupted with applause and cheers at the end of the encore.
Beach Fossils has frequently spoken up on social media about accepting everyone and calling out abusers, and their show that promoted spreading love and coming together continues to spread that same message in real life. Their tour continues for the rest of this week, and you can check out all the dates here.
