brooklynvegan: Isaac Hayes in Prospect Park (Celebrate Brooklyn), NYC

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Posted in music | pictures on June 13, 2008

Isaac Hayes in Prospect Park (Celebrate Brooklyn), NYC - pics

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Isaac HAyes

Isaac Hayes co-wrote "Soul Man" and "Hold On I'm Comin'" for Sam & Dave. He played the Duke in Escape From New York. He recorded a ten-minute disco-funk epic about threesomes. He headlined the 1972 Wattstax festival wearing a vest made out of chains. He showed up on "I Can't Go to Sleep," one of the most hallucinatory songs in Wu-Tang Clan history, basically playing Ghostface's conscience. He wrote the euphoric "Theme From Shaft" and won an Oscar for it, becoming the first-ever black non-actor to win one. In the early 70s, he routinely turned Burt Bacharach pop standards into unrecognizable woozy endless psych-funk odysseys, which then became hits. At an age when most of his peers were either dead or fading away on the nostalgia circuit, he accepted a voice-actor role on a gleefully offensive cartoon about kids made from construction-paper cutouts, playing a character that spoofed his sexed-out persona, and he scored one of his biggest-ever international hits in character. Basically, Isaac Hayes is one of the most unfadeable badasses in pop-music history, and so it was an unpleasant shock to see that a stagehand had to help him to the stage at the Prospect Park bandshell last night.

Hayes suffered from a stroke a couple of years ago, and since then he's cancelled a bunch of shows and given a bunch of rambling and incoherent interviews, so I feared the worst from his live show... [Status Ain't Hood]

Status Ain't Hood's review is a good one. Definitely finish reading it.

Isaac Hayes may not be on the top of his game anymore, but it was still a great few hours. The highlight was watching (and listening to) Isaac lead his band in "Theme From Shaft" in front of thousands of people. People were packed inside the fence, and spread out far all around the park outside it. The weather was great and the concert was finished by 10 which meant plenty of time to get to Love is All at Cake Shop (which I didn't actually do, but I kind of wanted to). More of Kyle's pictures below.....

Isaac HAyes

Tags: Celebrate Brooklyn, Isaac Hayes, Prospect Park

Posted on June 13, 2008 3:45 PM

Comments (14)

Did he start off the show by saying "hello childrens"..that would have ruled!

Posted by Anonymous | June 13, 2008 4:00 PM

haha. no. also, didn't sing "chocolate salty balls" which would have made the night infinitely more entertaining.

Posted by kyle | June 13, 2008 4:05 PM

what about "no substitue for you" my personal fav

Posted by Anonymous | June 13, 2008 4:18 PM

Thanks for the post. It was an amazing concert. I never though I'd see Issac Hayes live and free at that. Haha, I see myself in the crowd shot.

Kyle, anyway you can e-mail me a hi-res of it? Thanks.

Posted by Star Child | June 13, 2008 4:21 PM

I'm surprised 4chan didn't boycott this event.

Posted by GOPster | June 13, 2008 4:21 PM

Four thoughts:

1. He did "Do Your Thing". Though I was expecting "Soulsville", that was a pleasant surprise.

2. There had to have been twice as many people there last night as there were for the opener last year with the Neville Brothers.

3. 'status aint hood' is one of the worst music columns I've ever read. It's so goddamn juvenille, even the title says it. The five minutes I spent reading it is five minutes I'll never get back.

4. If ever in Memphis, go to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Then go to the Cozy Corner for ribs...

Posted by Jonesboogie, Rawkansas | June 13, 2008 5:33 PM

absolutely fantastic concert! the encore was so awesome but...

there were three keyboards and no horns

and he didn't sing "i'm gonna make love to ya woman, gonna lay you down by the fiya" chef style. oh well.

fantastic!

Posted by chef-fan | June 13, 2008 6:03 PM

video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GghUvQc4hFo

Posted by UN:ART:IG | June 13, 2008 10:34 PM

wish I was able to make it to this show. looking forward to other shows there this summer, though!

Posted by banyon | June 14, 2008 9:20 AM

great summer kickoff...