Live Review: Here We Go Magic; Beach Fossils (with Video!)

Here We Go Magic

Live Review: Beach Fossils, Here We Go Magic Live Review, August 6, 2010, The Earl, Atlanta
by Brent Smith

When we arrived, The Beach Fossils were only a few feet away relaxing and talking to the crowd . They took that same relaxed attitude straight to the stage. Seeing them preform reminded me of days when I was a teenager, sitting in my friend’s unair-conditioned garage, watching his band jam out.

Half the band shoeless on stage. The percussion was generated from a single floor drum and snare. The sound was nice but after a few songs I was left wondering if the drummer knew a different beat. I also kept thinking; was the echo on the mic to mask the lead man’s singing or do they really mean to sound like that. I was actually interested enough go home and Google the band. I soon found out that the studio work wasn’t much different.

Here We Go Magic were definitely more entertaining and had a few really good moments. On the self titled EP, they have a folksy inspired blues sound going on. At the Earl, they ended up sounding distorted and incredibly loud. Most of the blame goes to the sound guy who blasted each instrument so loud it was difficult to figure out what was going on. At times the organ keyboard sounded so much like feedback it made me cringe.

But through all that, they played their hearts out. The amount of skill they showed did not go unnoticed by me. The speed and complexity at which they played was really fun to watch. The several epic builds left me smiling ridiculously in the front row. I am very glad I recorded the show. My camera acted like a translator. Watching the set back through the filtered ears of my camera makes me appreciate they did on Friday night even more.

Watch seven DeadJournalist.com exclusive videos (the first two are Beach Fossils, the last five are Here We Go Magic).

Editor’s Note: You can read more of Brent Smith on his blog, SmithBlogsAtlanta, or you can follow him on Twitter: smithblogsatl