The beauty in music will always be the universal connection that it helps to facilitate. New York City has a tendency to create walls between people so that even when you’re always surrounded by millions of people, you somehow still feel so alone. Luckily, Real Friends has a focus on breaking that sort of mentality down.
Taking the steep steps up toward the show at Brooklyn Bazaar, I can’t lie when I say that’s how I had been feeling– run down and out of place. Immediately, though, the energy took me back to a part of myself I was missing.
Real Friends has always been a band that so many fans have been able to lose themselves in. From the beginning of their set, they focus so heavily on creating an environment that is meant to be welcoming and healing. In Brooklyn, it was clear from the start that the band would do just that.
via Ali Fitzgerald, @alfitzpics
Brooklyn will always be an inherently amazing city for a show, just given the energy found there. However, at this venue, in particular, there was no barricade between the fans and the stage. For Real Friends, this meant tons of crowd interaction as the band embraced their closeness to their supporters. Crowd surfers turned to stage divers and then back to crowd surfers. Each person in the audience moved in synchronized harmony as they kept the energy going, never once doubting the very power of music that had brought them all out that night. The band facilitated this, being careful to keep their energy on par with the crowd. The connection they were able to manifest during this set was amazing and well received by the crowd.
via Ali Fitzgerald, @alfitzpics
The music, itself, and performance was amazing. However, what really stood out was the care put into the show. It was in the details. Firstly, the setlist was created so beautifully, creating a journey through the show that was easy to follow. Beyond that, the band paid attention to the needs of the audience, opening up with them in a way most bands don’t. Candid energy created a safe environment for everyone in the crowd.
Its reception was astonishing as well. By the end of the show, no one wanted to go home. Encores are often planned in today’s concert world. Bands expect and schedule in a time to leave the stage and come back where they revel in the cheers of the audience. However, the set closed at the Real Friends show and whether they knew it would happen or not, chanting erupted from the audience.
I always find true encores so beautiful. Not wanting such a perfect night to end, feeling your problems disappear for a little longer. The crowd was insistent, but funnily enough, Dan Lambton came back to the stage alone.
In an effort to keep up the candor of the night he laughed, “I’m going to level with you,” he said. Dan explained that they simply had not been expecting an encore and didn’t even have anything prepared left.
And maybe it wasn’t a fantastical ending to the show, but it was a real one. The fans laughed and nodded in understanding. As everyone filed out, I realized that this was what music was supposed to be about– forgetting your worries and connecting honestly with those around you.
For this to be Real Friends first Brooklyn show and to have that sort of response can only mean one thing: they’re doing something right.
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