Tennis + Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever @ The Bowery Ballroom – NYC

Two sold out nights at the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan, NY we’re the final shows for Tennis’ current tour. The tour has consisted of different openers, but this show had the help of Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever.

Generating buzz around their latest EP, French Press, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever opened the night up at Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday, March 22nd. The group traveled from Melbourne, Australia to grace the audience with their wide variety of sounds. The journey did not come easy for the band, before jumping into one of their songs they mentioned that American Airlines lost their bags, and that they were borrowing much of the equipment they were using on-stage. This didn’t stop the group from performing at their absolute best. The lead singer of the group, Fran Keaney, is equipped with an acoustic guitar, and consistently keeps the rhythm in his strumming alongside the rest of the band members. The band was fun and provided sounds that alternated from upbeat and similar to Chicago’s Twin Peaks, and also laid back and to the likes of Neil Young and Real Estate. Before the group played “Wide Eyes”, Alaina from Tennis came out and gave Fran a bouquet of roses unexpectedly. The group played a couple of more songs, and Fran remarked, “The greatest band, you guys are definitely in for a treat”. Ending on the psychedelic sounding lead single, “French Press”, the Australian group made way for the headliner.

This was the last night of tour for Tennis, and they ended in New York with two nights at the Bowery Ballroom. Both nights were sellouts for the lower-east side venue. The pop duo released the album Yours Conditionally on March 10^th. and we’ve been looking forward to the album since the first single “Ladies Don’t Play Guitar“. The duo was joined by two touring members from Nashville who helped create a finished product with Patrick and Alaina. The group opened up their set with “Fields of Blue”. The intimate dynamic between Patrick and Alaina is clear, and is a wonderful sight to see in person. Now in her 30’s, Alaina brought the crowd back to their earlier material. The earlier material is where the band gained a lot of attention after they lived on a sailboat for two years and recorded for Tennis. The band revisited their sailboat trip with a new trip to write the newest album, releasing it in a special manner that the band revealed at the end of the night. Yours Conditionally was released on their very own label. Over the course of a year the band pieced together everything and hoped that it would work, and it most definitely did work. The crowd cheered one last time as the band ended with “It All Feels the Same”.

It was clear that Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever were making waves on this night, and that Tennis isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. Catch the video we caught earlier of “Matrimony” at their Rough Trade show before their two sold out Bowery Ballroom shows.