Photos and Review by Max Stewart

New Jersey’s Real Estate is the epitome of lighthearted but sophisticated indie rock. The tunes seem to float along like a breeze on Asbury Park’s coastline on a sunny (but comfortable) summer day. Just some easy breezy tunes that elevate your mood.

As the band rolled into Atlanta‘s Variety Playhouse to finish their tour leg with opener Water From Your Eyes, they left it all on the table for the final show. Water From Your Eyes opened the show with core members Rachel Brown and Nate Amos playing a fantastic version of “Quotations” at the end of their set. Real Estate performed their staples “Had to Hear”, “Falling Backwards”, and “It’s Real” but also leaned into strong new release (Daniel) with songs like “Flower” and “Water Underground”. Frontman Martin Courtney (vocals, guitar) has a clear musical chemistry with his fellow co-founder Alex Bleeker (bass, vocals), as they beautifully interweave instrumental sections and harmonies alongside Matt Kallman (keyboards), Julian Lynch (guitar), and Sammi Niss (drums).

The band had a colorful backdrop that almost felt like the set of a 70s game show (in a great way), which really added to the aesthetic. Side note, Real Estate’s merch table had a very Jersey nod with a Danny DeVito cardboard cutout. No better way to move some shirts than to have DeVito behind the counter. They clearly keep things light, and at one point instructed the crowd to pull out their phones and all play Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week” at the same time, which was a great idea in theory that was somewhat hard to hear amongst the large crowd. The intent was there, and that’s all that counts.

At the end of the night, for the “We are the World”-moment as it was put on Real Estate’s Instagram story, Water From Your Eyes came to the stage alongside Real Estate to cover Pavement’s “Grounded”. A perfect jangly indie pop way to end the tour.