The Significant 11 Year and 7 Month Anniversary of Real Estate’s Atlas comes to Philadelphia

(Apologies for the pretty terrible phone photos, I was not able to bring my camera to the show)

It feels like every band is out there cashing in on a nostalgia tour. If it’s not a 10, 20, 25 or whatever year anniversary tour, it’s a repressing, remaster, re-release. Not to say there isn’t anything special about revisiting old records, especially for re-releases that finally give records the appreciation they always deserved. But then there’s Real Estate, who refuse to take the idea seriously.

So in October 2025, the band embarked on a tour celebrating March 2014’s Atlas. An 11 year and 7 month anniversary tour, to be exact. In those 11 years and 7 months, Atlas has become a beloved classic. It’s also a record that exists between two significant changes for Real Estate. It’s the first record featuring drummer Jackson Pollis, who stuck with the band for many years after. It was also the final Real Estate album to feature founding member Matt Mondanile, who despite being an important part of the creative core of the band, was kicked from the band after multiple women came forward with allegations of physical and mental abuse against him. (I debated including a blurb on this but to not include Mondanile in Atlas’ story would be excluding a very important part of the record’s story. And I’m glad the band is able to celebrate its existence without him present.)

In the 11 years and 7 months since, it’s been all lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter Martin Courtney and bassist, singer, and songwriter Alex Bleeker anchoring the band. They’ve released some great records, like Atlas‘ follow-up In Mind, and their most recent release, 2024’s Daniel. So yeah, let’s get to Union Transfer on a pleasant October evening in 2025.

The night kicked off with a fitting opener, Trace Mountains. Dave Benton’s music has been such a staple in my life over the last 10 years. Whether it’s his work with LVL UP or his solo work as Trace Mountains, his songwriting always resonates to my core. Trace Mountains’ 2020 record Lost In The Country is one of my favorite records of this decade. They opened with “Rock and Roll” from that record, and added in “Lost in the Country” later in the set. They also played selections from their also fantastic Into The Burning Blue with a cover of “The Dark Don’t Hide It” by Magnolia Electric Co. mixed in. The audience seemed to dig what they were doing, especially when they dug into a great cover of “Take it Easy”.

Connect with Trace Mountains: insta / website

Then, it was time for Real Estate. And, well, they kicked things off with “Darling” from In Mind. A bold choice for an Atlas anniversary show. Then “Saturday” from the same record. And then the “Wonder Years” from Days, which is always a great treat featuring Bleeker on vocals, but it had us wondering … did we miss a memo somewhere? But then Bleeker assured us, they were going to play Atlas in its entirety … eventually. They then ripped into two great tracks from Daniel, “Somebody New” and the lead single “Water Underground” before the familiar jangly opening of “Had To Hear” reverbed through the former Spaghetti Warehouse.

We’d begun our journey through Atlas. And just hearing those notes brought back a wave of nostalgia and feelings I never expected. Everyone, even the band was joking about the whole idea of the tour, the celebration, 11 years and 7 months. But when it was time to buckle in and get immersed in Atlas it really hit that it was happening. Especially when they played “Past Lives”. It’s a song that I’m sure has an even bigger meaning for Courtney and Bleeker these years later. The first Real Estate record was recorded when they were so much younger, and the ride they’ve been on since then seems so unlikely. Two friends since school playing music around the world.

I was there for the initial Atlas tour in 2014. I saw them at Webster Hall in New York, a hometown celebration of a band we were proud of. I’d been seeing them live since they released their debut record, Real Estate – an album that truly sunk its teeth deep into me. So that show, even 11 years ago in itself was nostalgic. Then to be standing at Union Transfer, knowing how much has changed for them. And for myself. We’ve grown, we’ve changed, but somehow after all this time we were back in one room together, accompanied by the same warm tunes. It was quite simply, nice.

“Talking Backwards” was always a highlight of Atlas, and it’s no exception live, intertwining guitar this time featuring James Richardson on guitar, replacing Julian Lynch who held lead guitar down for the band since Mondanile’s firing. This was Richardson’s first tour with the band, and while he may have looked a little like he was at the wrong gig, his guitar playing fit in so nicely with the laid back sounds of Real Estate, especially on Atlas. It was echoed even more loudly with the instrumental “April’s Song”.

And I feel like Real Estate gets inaccurately classified as “Summer Music”, yeah, there’s surfy vibes, especially on those first two records, but so much of it is looking back. Their music is perfect for those late-summer and early autumn evenings. The sun sets a little earlier. The air gets a little colder. And it’s a time for reflection. “The Bend” is a perfect example of what I mean here. A perfect tune for an early October evening, made even moreso by the perfect execution of the track’s incredible closing.

With the band settled in, they played through the rest of the record, the iconic leads of “Crime”, then “Primitive” and another wonderful Bleeker performance with “How Might I Live” before they get to the two closing tracks of Atlas. I’ve long advocated that the penultimate track of any album is its most important. “Horizon” on Atlas is a huge example of that. Inviting, constantly shifting, it sets up for “Navigator”, which Real Estate performed beautifully.

And this current lineup of Real Estate rules. Courtney and Bleeker are the heart of the band, and we talked about the addition of Richardson, but there’s also the fantastic Matt Kallman on keys and Sammi Niss who has brilliantly taken over the drumming duties for the band.

After Atlas, Real Estate took a brief encore break and launched into “Pink Sky”, a recently released track from the recently released B-side and cover compilation The Wee Small Hours: B-Sides and Other Detritus 2011-2025. We then got the classic “Green Aisles” from Days, featuring Bleeker’s iconic bassline. Then while tuning, for some reason they broke into an impromptu jazz jam. Martin stopped bantering mid-sentence to join in. It ruled. The band then talked about their love of Philly, a city that has been an important spot for them over the years. Maybe that’s what inspired the jam. Then to close, two more tracks from Days, and it was a wonderful cap on what was a great evening of music, and as much as we want to deny it, nostalgia.

The tour has since concluded, but Real Estate will be back on the road in the new year co-headlining with Eggy. They’ll be hitting some smaller cities in the northeast, and that’ll totally be worth checking out.

connect with Real Estate: insta / site
connect with Martin Courtney: insta
connect with Alex Bleeker: insta