Beach Fossils rock Bowery Ballroom

Patrick Jaojoco for WSN

Shoegaze outfit Beach Fossils rocked the Bowery Ballroom this past Saturday promoting its latest album, “Clash the Truth.” Starting the night off with the album’s two opening tracks, “Clash the Truth” and “Generational Synthetic,” frontman Dustin Payseur leapt into the crowd, being tossed around the pulsating audience while crooning the two anthems.

Payseur set the tone for the rest of the night, as the audience sang and bounced along to the music. When the band played “Youth” from its self-titled debut album, an enthralled fan crawled onstage and dove into the audience, Payseur merely smirked and continued on with his chilled out melodies.

Beach Fossils have been rocking around the Brooklyn scene since 2009, quickly going from underground venues such as 285 Kent to  headlining the Bowery Ballroom. Realizing this, Payseur gave a grateful shoutout to “literally everyone in this room,” saying they “haven’t played a headlining show in a year.” His music spurred a mosh pit full of jumping, singing audience members despite the music’s relaxed sound.

“Clash the Truth” came out only four days prior to the show, yet the lyrics were ingrained in the crowd’s minds. In acknowledgment of the leak, Payseur jokingly remarked that he too heard the album before it came out.

The show continued in the same vein, equal parts mosh pit and pleasant crowd work. When the encore came, the band played its most low-key song to date, “Sleep Apnea,” during which drummer Tommy Lucas surprised the audience by stepping away from the drums and pulling out an alto saxophone for a solo. It was an incredible ten minutes that pulled the audience into a dreamlike trance that sobered them after 45 minutes of pulsating indie rock.

The band quickly fell back into its energetic swing, finishing the concert with “Daydream.” Payseur instructed the crowd to freak out, and the audience zealously obliged, ending a thoroughly entertaining night.

A version of this article was published in the Tuesday, Feb. 26 print edition. Patrick Jaojoco is a staff writer. Email him at music@nyunews.com.