FFFF Live Review Real Estate

Photo by Sandy Carson

Real Estate

"We're going to try to play the party songs for you, since it's Saturday," claimed Real Estate bassist Alex Bleeker during the band's Fun Fun Fun Fest set. Given the dreamy nature of Days, the Jersey quintet's breakthrough LP, whether or not the band's wispy jangle could hold a festival crowd was a legitimate question. As the sun went down on one of the larger assemblages of the first two days, the band opened with its seven-minute opus "All the Same," and the gamble paid off in the group's evocation of 120 Minutes jangle. The slow build of momentum, driven by subtle changes in guitar patterns, captured the crowd without gimmicks. Diehards cheered immediately at the opening chords of "Municipality," which has overt hooks and groove, and the band kept the most accessible parts of its catalog coming with "Younger Than Yesterday," "Easy," and "It's Real," which got the biggest cheer. The group closed with its debut's layered, countryish epic "Beach Comber," going out the same way it came in. Real Estate could stand to cut loose a little more, but they proved that pyrotechnics don't necessarily best dream-jangle in a rock festival setting.