Head Automatica & Foxy Shazam at The Paramount in NY
by Jensen Faye
On October 6th, in the last lingering summer heat, I found myself in a bar beneath The Paramount in Huntington, New York, anticipating the nostalgia-filled night that lay before me. The bar, called Spotlight, provided a welcome, open-air space to while away the minutes leading up to showtime, with a convenient entrance directly into the venue. Ushers await at the bottom of the main staircase, leading you to a warmly-lit lobby and ultimately into the Paramount’s main room. A vast open floor, stadium-seating and cozy lounges set against the far wall, full bars nestled beneath spacious balconies. It is a space that feels both grand and intimate at once, a definitive example of “not a bad seat in the house.”
Preparing my camera and myself in the pit, I could not help but reminisce on the first time I had been to The Paramount, almost exactly twelve years prior, and the parallels of the past that existed with my present. Both shows were headlined by bands that played on a constant loop in my high school years – Panic at the Disco back in 2011, and Head Automatica now in 2023. Interestingly enough, and most excitingly for me, both shows were opened by the very same band: the one and only Foxy Shazam.
I have known and loved Foxy Shazam since 2010, when I first discovered them in the back of a dingy bar in Buffalo, New York. In the years since, I have seen them perform countless times, in a variety of places, venues of all shapes and sizes, and with a variety of other artists. Remarkably, the level of energy and insanity that Foxy brings to the stage has always remained consistent. This show, the very last of a nineteen-show run with Head Automatica, was no exception. Opening with the stadium-worthy “Unstoppable,” the stage was ignited from the very first note. No surprise to me, or the smattering of obvious long-time fans making up the front of the audience, singing loudly and enthusiastically along with each number. The set was comprised of favorites from the band’s early years, with only one song – The Church of Rock n’ Roll’s “Holy Touch” – that was released post-2010. Nostalgic in every sense of the word, it was the kind of set that made me fall in love with this band for the umpteenth time, a call back to my own mesmerizing first encounter.
The chaos and din of “Ghost Animals” left the room reeling so shortly after the sweeping sentimentality of “A Black Man’s Breakfast.” Songs like “Killin’ It” and “Yes! Yes! Yes!” inspired nothing but joy and movement. Whether familiar with Foxy Shazam or not, it was impossible for people not to move, groove, and dance (or in the case of a few fresh-eyed onlookers, stare slack-jawed) through the whole set. The somersaulting, crab-walking, head-banging, using-the-audience-as-a-keyboard-stand antics culminated in the sultry cacophony of “The Only Way to My Heart is With an Axe,” a finale that would leave any latecomer to the show wondering, “What the hell did I just miss?” It is the song which, in this humble writer’s opinion, should close out every Foxy Shazam set.
As the room filled out in anticipation of Head Automatica, I found myself wondering just how they would manage to maintain the energy bar, now set so high by their opener. Daunting a task as this may seem, as the lights went down, “With the Speed of A Yellow Bullet” roared to life and the room came alive once again. Decadence is an album I first heard in my early high school years, in the era of skinny jeans, thick black eyeliner, and MySpace pages. It is an album that I still rank among my top favorites, and one that gets a few wistful rotations out of me each year. I was happy to hear so many songs included from this record, including “The Razor,” a song which spoke to the angsty and angrier parts of my younger self. Palumbo, sharp in a pristine leather jacket and crooning in familiar tones to the crowd, stole the center of the stage, keeping eyes trained on him for the entirety of the set. There were surprises in store as well, with deeper cuts like “Nowhere Fast” from sophomore album Popaganda, and a brand-new song which revived the classic Head Automatica sound titled “Last Bible.”
Much like the singer on stage before them, the crowd kept their enthusiasm up from start to finish, reveling in the reality of hearing these songs live after all this time. A dance party for the ages, the collective excitement as “Brooklyn is Burning” became “Graduation Day” became “I Shot William H. Macy” grew exponentially, and after a tension-filled reprieve, the iconic anthem “Beating Hearts Baby” kicked off the encore, not a still body in the room. By the time the set closed out with “Please Please Please (Young Hollywood)” the crowd was riding high, sentimentality sated and adrenaline soaring, carrying us out into the night and into the following days, chattering to anyone who would listen about this night to remember.
Full galleries below.
