I may as well been having a sweaty smelly dinner with Athlete’s leading man, Joel Potts—the venue was that intimate.

I was lucky enough to get a chance to go see Athlete for my very first time in concert at the Bowery Ballroom in New York. It was my first time at the Bowery and I was pleasantly surprised with how small it was; it was large enough for some breathing room but close enough to notice that the guy next to me kinda smelled like a taco.

The Postelles were the opener for the Athlete. I had actually seen the Postelles a couple years ago when they did a small performance at an NYU event; I liked them then and I still dig them now.

Athlete graced the stage about half an hour or so after the Postelles left and from there it was just a blur of awesomeness. A larger crowd started to fill the audience and I was pretty amazed with how much of a diverse crowd Athlete got. There were a few college-aged youngins like myself sprinkled throughout a sea of “older” people who looked like they swung by after work.

Potts opened his set with Superhuman Touch, asking the crowd right after it ended if “any of you know the old stuff?” We gave a collective “blarblarblarwooooaghhhhblahhhaelakrjelaj….hell yeah!” and they started the next song: You’ve Got the Style. Quite possibly one of my favorite Athlete songs ever. Oh. Man. Slow down, Joel, you need to ease me into this! I practically messed myself right then and there.

Athlete kept the set progressing quickly, intermittently thanking the crowd and getting them to clap along with crowd favorites like Hurricane, El Salvador, Shake Those Windows, and Westside.

The set was paced well with interjecting some of Athlete’s more poignant songs like Half Light, Tourist, and their title track off their newest album, Black Swan Song. Black Swan Song, as Joel explained, is actually a song about his grandfather who recently passed away. He said the death of his grandfather was the first major loss he’s experienced.

The crowd basically went crazy throughout the entire concert, screaming requests, especially for their song Tokyo, but it unfortunately never popped up in the set. People, myself included, pumped their arms to the upbeats and swayed with beers and wines in hand to the slower songs.

Speaking of slower songs, Athlete closed their set with The Getaway. The audience chanted along at the closing of the song with a “woah woah woah ohhhhh….”

Like any good audience we rooted for an encore and like any good band, Athlete brought it. Light the Way came first and then a closing with the almost tearful Wires.

Joel gave a quick thank you and goodbye and thus ended the awesomeness that was Athlete at the Bowery.

Athlete’s Black Swan tour in New York is made even more special with their new EP, The Getaway. It’s available on iTunes. You may not be able to feel Joel’s sweat on you when you hear the new EP and album, though. There’s no sweat, but still good. 

And checkout a free download of Athlete’s single Superhuman Touch here and yet another free (oh lucky day!) download here.