BEAST played CMJ @ Arlene's (pics), added (along w/ free bloody marys) to the BV/BP show @ Pianos Saturday

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Posted in To Do | music | pictures | tour dates on October 23, 2009

BEAST played CMJ @ Arlene's (pics), added (along w/ free bloody marys) to the BV/BP show @ Pianos Saturday

words by Bill Pearis, photos by Chris La Putt

BEAST @ Arlene's Grocery
Beast

I'm pleased to announce a late addition to the Brooklyn Vegan / Bowery Presents day party tomorrow at Pianos: Montreal's BEAST, who will kick off the day's festivities at 12:30pm. They played a knockout set at the M for Montreal showcase at Arlene's Grocery on Wednesday. Singer Betti Bonafissi is a magnetic performer, with a powerhouse set of pipes and the kind of swagger you can't fake. Her voice pairs well with the band's harder-edged update of '90s trip hop. I like their record, but they are something else live.

Montreal's Think About Life were the third of six acts at CMJ's "M" for Montreal showcase at Manhattan's Arlene's Grocery Wednesday, but they could have carried the entire night on their own. The four-piece dance act arrived on stage after an increasingly vibrant and upbeat performance by Beast, led by Béatrice Bonifassi, the voice of 'The Triplets of Belleville,' who seemed to be revving up the crowd for the party that was to come. [Spinner]

BV photographer Ryan Muir was there (though the pictures in this post are by Chris La Putt), and he said Beast was the best CMJ set he had seen so far up until that point.

If you can't make our day party on Saturday, BEAST are also playing tonight (10/23, 7:30 PM) at The Studio at Webster Hall, and tomorrow night (10/24, Midnight) at The Living Room. Definitely try and catch them.

We're also happy to say that in addition to all the great bands -- Cymbals Eat Guitars, Deastro, The Wheel, Surf City, Pete & the Pirates, Smith Westerns among them -- and the free Miller and Vitamin Water, we're also going to have free bloody marys while supplies last before and during BEAST's set (approx 12-1). So get there early, stay late... we'll see you tomorrow.

The rest of the pictures from the M for Montreal show, and the entire schedule for the Brooklyn Vegan / Bowery Presents day party follows...

Beast

CMJ flyer

DOWNSTAIRS @ Pianos on the afternoon of 10/24/2009
12:30 BEAST
1:15 Surf City
2:00 The Moondoggies
2:45 Local Natives
3:30 Still Life Still
4:15 Deastro
5:00 Cymbals Eat Guitars

UPSTAIRS @ Pianos on the afternoon of 10/24/2009

1:00 Dave Godowsky
1:45 Sharon Van Etten
2:30 The Smith Westerns
3:15 Pete & The Pirates
4:00 JBM
4:45 Dent May
5:30 Nathaniel Rateliff and The Wheel