photos by Chris Graham

Mavis Staples @ Beale Street Music Fest

Earlier this month, soul legend Mavis Staples made her way over to Memphis for the Beale Street Music Festival, which she played day 2 (5/4) of. Pictures and a video of her set are in this post.

Mavis has other dates coming up this year, including a free Celebrate! Brooklyn show on June 14 at Prospect Park with Cody Chestnutt. Then the next day (6/15) she heads a bit north for the Clearwater Festival in Croton, NY, which she plays along with Antibalas, Judy Collins, Hot Tuna, Nicole Atkins, Sharon Jones, and more. Tickets for that festival are still available.

Mavis is also working on a new album, One True Vine, which is due out on June 25 via Anti-, and one again being produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. You can listen to the track "I Like The Things About Me" from that album below (via Complex).

Mavis isn't the only living legend Jeff Tweedy is hanging with this year. As mentioned, Wilco is touring as a support act for Bob Dylan, and that tour hits the NYC-area for a few shows in July (some with My Morning Jacket, one with Beck).

All upcoming Mavis Staples dates are listed, along with the song stream and more pictures and video from Beale St., below...

Continue reading "Mavis Staples played Beale St, playing Prospect Park before Clearwater, releasing new Jeff Tweedy-produced LP (pics, dates)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Will the woman who lost a small baby please come to the stage...

Two days after their appearance on Fallon and one day after they headlined Wellmont Theater in Montclair, the Flaming Lips played a 6:15pm set in Prospect Park as part of the first day of the second year of GoogaMooga (which ended up not having a third day). They want on in the light after the Darkness and before Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Here are some pictures, the setlist and video from their set. It all continues below...

Continue reading "The Flaming Lips played GoogaMooga (pics, video, setlist)"

people waiting to get in Sunday morning (via)

They really thought they were going to open today. They even announced that more tickets were being released today and that James Murphy, following in Sharon Jones's footsteps, had cancelled his performance today due to a family emergency. But the rain has won, and the second day of the 2nd GoogaMooga is now officially CANCELLED. The people pictured above waiting to get in today are probably especially upset.

Official reason: "NYC Parks Dept, Prospect Park Alliance & #Googamooga have canceled today's event in the interest of safety & prevention of damage to park."

All Sunday VIP ticket purchases will be refunded in full.

Bands and DJS that were supposed to play today included Delicate Steve, Cults, De La Soul, Kool & the Gang (instead of Sharon Jones), Nancy Whang & Pat Mahoney (instead of James Murphy), and M.A.K.U. Sound System.

Stay tuned for our pictures from Friday and Saturday, coming soon. Meanwhile watch a channel 12 video report that was filmed in the park early Saturday (it claims GoogaMooga will be back "bigger and better in 2014"), and a video of the Flaming Lips playing "You Lust" on Friday (you can hear people screaming "Vaseline, Vaseline!"), below...

Continue reading "GoogaMooga Sunday CANCELLED due to rain"

Chairlift @ Capitale, Feb. 2013 (more by Dylan Johnson)

As mentioned, Bear in Heaven are playing short film showcase Tropfest which happens in Prospect Park's "Nethermead" on June 22. Since that post, the full line-up was announced: Chairlift, Bear in Heaven, Ghost Beach and People Get Ready will perform, and Neon Indian will DJ. Free tickets are still available.

Meanwhile, Chairlift will play DJ, strangely enough, also in Prospect Park's Nethermead this Friday for GoogaMooga. between Flaming Lips and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Chairlift's Caroline Polachek provided vocals on Ice Choir's track, "Everything is Spoilt by Use" and you can check out the recent video for that song and more tour dates below.

Continue reading "Chairlift & DJ Neon Indian also playing Tropfest (get free tix)"

Os Mutantes soundchecking at Austin Psych Fest 2013 (more by Tim Griffin)

Brazilian psychedelic pop legends Os Mutantes are still at it (they played Le Poisson Rouge in December and were just at Austin Psych Fest, but were interrupted by rain), and are one of the bands announced for the Celebrate Brooklyn! 2013 season at Prospect Park. Their show happens on June 29 with Brooklyn indie pop band Javelin and Sierra Leonean Bubu King Janka Nabay, and that one's totally free.

The show is one of a few Northeast US dates the Brazilian band will be playing this June, including another in the NYC area happening on June 28 at Maxwell's. Tickets for the Maxwell's show are on sale now.

All dates are listed, along with a video of the band at Le Poisson Rouge, below...

Continue reading "Os Mutantes touring, playing a free Celebrate Brooklyn! show at Prospect Park w/ Javelin & Janka Nabay (dates)"

Sigur Ros at @ Celebrate Brooklyn! 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

We've known about a few Celebrate Brooklyn! shows already (Belle & Sebastian / Yo La Tengo, The Roots with Jim James, Beck), but festival has announced their full 2013 schedule which includes Big Boi, Amadou & Miriam, Calexico, Mavis Staples, Cody Chesnutt, Os Mutantes, The Waterboys, Jamie Lidell / Dan Deacon, and They Might Be Giants... all of which are free. Celebrate Brooklyn! kicks off the season with a free show with Patty Griffin on June 5.

The full Celebrate Brooklyn! schedule is below.

Continue reading "Celebrate Brooklyn! announces 2013 line-up (Big Boi, Calexico, Dan Deacon, Waterboys, Mavis Staples, TMBG + more)"

Beck @ Outside Lands Festival 2013 (more by Amoreena Lucero)

As mentioned, Beck will be on the East Coast this summer, playing a special acoustic set at the Newport Folk Festival (tickets). He'll also play few other shows in the area, including a Celebrate Brooklyn! show in Prospect Park on August 4. Tickets to the Brooklyn show go on sale Friday, May 10.

UPDATE: Beck was also added to Bob Dylan and Wilco's Jones Beach show.

No word on a new Beck album, but he did release that Song Reader sheet-music-only album back in December. Maybe he'll play some of those. All Beck tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Beck playing East Coast shows after Newport Folk Fest, including Celebrate Brooklyn! (dates)"

While Led Zeppelin's appearances last year were limited to press conferences and late-night TV interviews, Robert Plant will be going on a tour this year with his new band, The Sensational Space Shifters. That tour kicks off this June in Texas, and after making its way over to the West Coast and back, it culminates in a Celebrate Brooklyn! show at Prospect Park on July 27. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (4/26) at noon with an AmEx and a BRIC presale starting Thursday (4/25) at noon.

In addition to Robert Plant, The Sensational Space Shifters' lineup includes Justin Adams (Tinariwen, SInead O'Connor), John Baggot (Massive Attack, Portishead), Billy Fuller (Beak>, Massive Attack), Liam "Skin" Tyson (of The La's offshoot Cast), Juldeh Camara, and Dave Smith.

All tour dates are listed, along with the tour trailer and a live video of the band from 2012, below...

Continue reading "Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters announce US tour, including 'Celebrate Brooklyn!' (dates & video)"

Jim James at MHOW in February (more by PSquared Photography)

Due to an "unforeseen scheduling conflict," the collaborative Jim James / Roots performance at Celebrate Brooklyn in Propect Park is moving dates from June 19 to June 18. All tickets purchased during the pre-sale will be honored on the new date. For those unable to attend, refunds will be available through Ticketmaster. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday (4/19) at noon. Updated Jim James tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Jim James and The Roots' collaborative Celebrate Brooklyn show changes date, now happening one day earlier"

Jim James at MHOW in February (more by PSquared Photography)

My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James is on a tour this year which hits Newport Folk Festival and NYC for a sold out show at Webster Hall (4/29) with Cold Specks.

Meanwhile, hip hop renaissance men The Roots have their own dates scheduled, including one in NYC on April 25 at BAM for day 1 of the Crossing Brooklyn Ferry festival with Julia Holter, Parquet Courts, Solange, David Longstreth, TV on the Radio, Phosphorescent and others (4/25 tix and 3-day passes) and Philly on June 1 Penns Landing for The Roots Picnic with Grimes, Solange, Joey Bada$$, How to Dress Well, Hit-Boy, Araabmuzik, and others (tickets).

These two tours will cross paths in Brooklyn on June 19 18 at Prospect Park with The Roots and Jim James play a collaborative show at the outdoor venue as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn! 2013 season. (UPDATE: The show was moved to June 18.) Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (4/19) at noon with AmEx and venue presales starting Wednesday (4/17) at 10 AM. Other currently announced Celebrate Brooklyn! shows include a free Patty Griffin show on 6/5, a Belle & Sebastian and Yo La Tengo show on 7/11 (tickets), and a Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five, and Guster show on 7/30 (tickets).

In related news, Roots members Captain Kirk Douglas and Mark Kelly are playing a show with their other band, The Dust Rays, on April 22 at Mercury Lounge with The Juggs and The Veldts. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Updated Jim James and Roots dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Jim James & The Roots playing collaborative Celebrate Brooklyn! show at Prospect Park (updated dates)"

GoogaMooga 2012 (more by Chris La Putt)

Brooklyn food, drink, and music festival The Great GoogaMooga, who we're sure have been working hard on figuring out to do things better the second time around, have announced the lineup for their second year which goes down from May 17 to 19 at Prospect Park. We just mentioned that the fest begins with a kickoff show on the Friday (5/17) with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Flaming Lips, and The Darkness. The rest of the lineup includes Matt & Kim, Father John Misty, Sharon Van Etten, Lee Fields & the Expressions, and more playing on Saturday; and Sharon Jones & the Dap-KIngs, De La Soul (who recently announced a tour with LL Cool J, Public Enemy, and Ice Cube), Cults, The Soul Rebels, Delicate Steve, and more playing on Sunday.

Tickets for the kickoff show and VIP Cocktail Experience tickets for Saturday and Sunday go on sale Thursday (3/28) at noon, and general admission tickets for Saturday and Sunday become available in an online ticket giveaway which runs from April 1 to 3. "Complimentary tickets will be awarded at random and recipients will be notified by email on or before Wednesday, April 10."

Check out pictures of day 1 and day 2 of last year's festival.

Full music food and drink lineup below...

Continue reading "GoogaMooga 2013 lineup & tix (Father John Misty, Sharon Van Etten, De La Soul, Sharon Jones, Matt & Kim, and more)"

The Great GoogaMooga is returning to Brooklyn from May 17 to 19 at Prospect Park this year, and the festival will begin with a kickoff show on the Friday (5/17) from 4 PM to 10 PM with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Flaming Lips, and The Darkness. Whoa! Tickets for the kickoff show go on sale Thursday (3/28) at noon. More info on the rest of the festival coming very soon HERE.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs also play a sold out show at Webster Hall on April 7 and The Flaming Lips also play Wellmont Theatre on May 16 (tickets).

Updated YYYs dates are listed, along with their new video for "Scarilege", below...

Continue reading "Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Flaming Lips and The Darkness playing GoogaMooga kickoff show in Prospect Park"

Belle and Sebastian at Williamsburg Waterfront in 2010 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Scottish indie pop vets Belle and Sebastian haven't gone on a full tour of North America in over two years, but once they were announced as a headliner for this year's Pitchfork Festival, we knew they'd finally be crossing the Atlantic again. And now, a full tour leading up to their slot at that festival has been announced. Many of the dates are with fellow indie legends Yo La Tengo (who just released an album and played NYC), including the NYC date, which is a Celebrate Brooklyn! show at Prospect Park on July 11. Tickets for that show are not on sale yet, but you can check ticketmaster for updates.

Belle and Sebastian are also the subject of a new "Pitchfork Classic" documentary, which is an hour-long exploration of their 1996 album, If You're Feeling Sinister, directed by RJ Bentler. You can watch that documentary and check out a list of all upcoming dates below...

Continue reading "Belle and Sebastian are subject of a new documentary, announce tour w/ Yo La Tengo (dates, video)"

tree down near Prospect Park on PPW - 10/30/2012

"In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which left a trail of deadly destruction, devastating power failures and extensive flooding, millions of people in the New York metropolitan region spent Tuesday assessing the damage and preparing for the possibility that it could be days or even weeks before life returned to normal.

Throughout the day on Tuesday, there were reports of daring rescue operations as people began to grasp the magnitude of the damage done by the violent winds and lashing rains that transformed the landscapes of New York City and the wider region into tableaus of destruction both stark and unprecedented..." [NYTimes]

Continue reading "more Hurricane Sandy pics - before, during & after (from Williamsburg, Park Slope & Upper Manhattan)"

photos by Bryan Bruchman and Ryan Muir

Little Dragon/Frankie Rose at Prospect Park - 8/10/12

Little Dragon and Frankie Rose teamed up for an incredible double billing at Prospect Park on Friday (8/10) for the second to last free Celebrate Brooklyn show of the season (the last was on Saturday). Little Dragon played mostly off of their 2011 LP, Ritual Union, but included a few off of their first two albums as well. If you missed the show, did you stream it on NPR? If you missed that stream, you can listen to the archive of Little Dragon's full set on NPR.

Frankie Rose, meanwhile, had a busy weekend, playing The Surf Lodge in Montauk the next day.

The show began with a Voices of Black DJ set. More pictures of all three acts, Little Dragon's setlist and a video from their set are below...

Continue reading "Little Dragon and Frankie Rose played Celebrate Brooklyn at Prospect Park (pics, video, setlist)"

photos by Jessica Amaya

M. Ward/Yo La Tengo at Prospect Park - 8/7/12

M. Ward has been touring internationally all year in support of his new album, A Wasteland Companion, and after having played Webster Hall back in May, he made his way back to NYC on Tuesday (8/7) for a Celebrate Brooklyn show at Prospect Park with Yo La Tengo (who were without bassist James McNew due to medical reasons) and comedian Wyatt Cenac. M. Ward mixed his 21-song set up pretty evenly between material off of his four most recent albums, and threw in a handful of covers as well, including dedicating his first of two encores to all Daniel Johnston covers.

M. Ward was a paid show, but the free Celebrate Brooklyn shows in Prospect Park, which included Wild Flag, Mission of Burma, and Ted Leo last week (8/3), continue with Little Dragon and Frankie Rose on Friday (8/10).

You can catch Wyatt Cenac in NYC again when he plays Carolines on October 11 - 13. Tickets for those shows are available.

More pictures from the show and M. Ward's setlist are below.

Continue reading "M. Ward played Celebrate Brooklyn at Prospect Park w/ Yo La Tengo & Wyatt Cenac (pics, setlist)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield, words by Andrew Sacher

Wild Flag/Mission of Burma at Prospect Park - 8/3/12

This summer's free Celebrate Brooklyn shows in Prospect Park continued on Friday (8/3) with a great co-headlining double bill of Wild Flag and Mission of Burma, and support from a solo Ted Leo set. People began lining up in Prospect Park at least a half hour before doors opened and by the time Ted Leo began his set at 7 PM many of the chairs had filled up and others took more casually to the grass area in the back, some of who were sitting on free blankets provided by show sponsor Google Play (who also had a stage at Lollapalooza over the weekend).

The entire bill was made up of artists who have left a lasting stamp on indie rock, and all three were terrific as usual. Ted Leo's opening set included a number of Pharmacists songs, and he also revealed two new ones for the first time (one of which you can watch a video of below). He was both modest (he called a performance of one of the new songs "half baked") and in good spirits the whole time, cracking wtty jokes like, "This next one's for Park Slope, it's called 'The Little Smug Supper Club.'" (Though at the end of the song he said, "I shouldn't talk, I live in Brooklyn Heights.")

After Ted, Mission of Burma kept things going with a set which continued to prove, four albums into their post-reunion career, that they are still a necessary band. The new material is just as genuine as the early-'80s output and the band members are just as (or more) lively and youthful than many of the bands who took after them. Drummer Peter Prescott is playfully sarcastic while the other members keep a bit quieter with stage banter but create massive levels of noise with their instruments -- especially guitarist Roger Miller, whose playing is equally sloppy and noisy as it is precise and melodic, not unlike J Mascis who he likely had influence on.

Then Wild Flag closed out the night with a killer set made up mostly of material from their 2011 debut, including standout tracks like "Glass Tambourine," "Boom," and "Romance," plus deeper cuts like the always-intense "Racehorse," which was a bit less drawn out at this show than past performances, but still one of Carrie Brownstein's most shining moments in the set. They also mixed a few new songs into their set, like they've been doing at other 2012 shows. Upon returning for their encore, Carrie said that since they were in New York, one of the greatest places for music, they'd play some NY covers. The band then proceeded to bang out covers of Television's "See No Evil" and Patti Smith's "Ask the Angels," doing more than justice to both songs. A video of both covers is below.

The free Celebrate Brooklyn shows in Prospect Park continue on August 10 with Little Dragon and Frankie Rose. More pictures and videos from last Friday's show are below...

Continue reading "Wild Flag, Mission of Burma & Ted Leo played Celebrate Brooklyn at Prospect Park (pics, videos)"

Wild Flag at Pitchfork Fest 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein's IFC show Portlandia is currently working on its third season, and if you want to see it in action, you can now go to Portland and see Fred and Carrie filming episodes for the new season (via Huliq). There's also an ongoing bicycle tour of where past and future episodes have been shot.

In related news, you can catch Carrie Brownstein in NYC TONIGHT (8/3) at Prospect Park where her band Wild Flag will play a FREE Celebrate Brooklyn show that they're co-headlining with Mission of Burma. Ted Leo will open the show with a solo set. Doors are at 6 and Ted Leo goes on at 7, followed by Mission Burma at 7:45 then Wild Flag at 9:15. Ted Leo, who plays in NYC a lot, is saying that this is his only hometown show until the end of October. It's also Wild Flag's only upcoming show except for FYF Fest, but Mission of Burma have a bunch of upcoming dates, all of which are listed below.

As mentioned, Wild Flag and Mission of Burma have a split 7" with WF's "Boom" and MoB's "What They Tell Me," which will be available exclusively at tonight's show. There's also a limited edition poster for the show which you can enter to win if you RSVP to the show's facebook event. That poster, the 7" cover art, streams of both songs from the 7", and a list of all dates are below.

Continue reading "Wild Flag, Mission of Burma & Ted Leo play free Celebrate Brooklyn show tonight (and other dates)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield, words by Andrew Sacher

Sigur Ros at Prospect Park - 7/31/12

The stage at Prospect Park last night (7/31) was lit up only by the grainy footage used for their "Ekki Mukk" video as Sigur Ros walked out, greeted by thunderous applause, for their first NYC show in four years. The show was sold out, but tons of people were listening from outside the venue too.

Sigur Ros recently ended their four-year hiatus with the album Valtari, their most consistent since 2005's Takk. So with that album's success to ride on, I went into the show with pretty high expectations, all of which were easily met. They opened the show with the only two Valtari songs of the night, "Ekki Mukk" and "Varuo," but the songs melded right in with the rest of the set. They relied most on material off of Agætis Byrjun and Takk, arguably their two heaviest hitters, and of course the crowd reactions for those old favorites like "Sæglopur," "Svefn-g-englar," and "Hoppipolla" were the most massive, but they really hit no lows.

For this tour, original pianist/multi-instrumentalist Kjartan "Kjarri" Sveinsson has chosen to sit out, though in an interview with The Reykjavik Grapevine, Jonsi confirms that he is not leaving the band for good, and just "tired of touring" and wants to "spend his time doing something else." In his place was Ólafur Björn Ólafsson of Jonsi's live band and bassist Georg's younger brother, Kjartan Dagur Hólm (of For A Minor Reflection). With that lineup in tow, the three original members took their places at the front of the stage (the only three members to receive spotlights), as Ólafur and Kjartan remained in the back with the band's touring string and horn players. Save for those rare spotlights, the band continued to be lit almost exclusively by the grainy footage on the screens behind them and a series of light bulbs scattered throughout their instrument setups. The slowly drifting images on the screen were as dream-inducing as the band themselves -- but while you'll catch some ambient bands using visuals as vices, Sigur Ros are quite the splendor to watch on their own.

The show began with a great set from Perfume Genius (aka Mike Hadreas and his 2-piece backing band), who seemed pretty aware that it's a bit of a struggle to open for Sigur Ros, but delivered nonetheless. He played a number of highlights from his excellent 2012 LP, Put Your Bank N 2 It, including "Take Me Home," "Dark Parts," and "Hood," among others. He also threw in some cuts from his 2010 debut, Learning, notably the standout single, "Mr. Peterson," and covers of Neil Young's "Helpless" and Madonna's "Oh Father." The crowd was a little restless for his set, and often times the people talking were louder than Perfume Genius's music, but with the lyrical depth that Mike Hadreas has, he couldn't help but steal a few commanding moments.

Sigur Ros' tour with Perfume Genius (which started in Philadelphia two nights earlier) continues in Toronto tonight (8/1), and after the Icelandic band plays Lollapalooza and Osheaga, they'll hook up with Julia Holter to complete their North American tour on the west coast. More pictures of both bands and Sigur Ros' setlist from last night's show are below.

Continue reading "Sigur Ros and Perfume Genius played Prospect Park (pics, review, setlist)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

The Head and the Heart at Prospect Park - 7/27/12

While the Newport Folk Festival went down in Rhode Island over the weekend, NYC got a little taste of it too with the double billing of Lost in the Trees and The Head and the Heart, who played a free Celebrate Brooklyn show at Prospect Park on Friday (7/27) before the latter actually headed to Rhode Island for the festival.

More pictures and a video of The Head and the Heart playing "Rivers and Roads" at the show are below.

Continue reading "The Head & the Heart and Lost in the Trees played Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park (pics, video)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Night Two was more of a perfect summer night, the setlist leaning more on acoustic, sensitive tracks songs with fewer peaks. Still, fans who returned were rewarded with plenty of great moments; a fully animated Tweedy howled "Hummingbird" with no instrument, taking his brimmed hat off for emphasis, and the band blazed through the funked-out distorted boogie of "I'm the Man Who Loves You," an angry, pummelling "Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway" and the irresistible garage jangle of 1995's "I Must Be High." During the encore, the band nailed a mindblowing, shattering "Via Chicago" as stage lights flashed furiously. Watching the crowd sing along to the scorned Summerteeth ballad made it clear how far Tweedy has come since he wrote it. In the Nineties, he went through ever-changing Wilco lineups and struggled through addiction, depression and a panic disorder. Now, Tweedy seems far more content; he's spoken in interviews about becoming addicted to running, and he just started a band with his teenage sons called the Raccoonists. And with an ace solid lineup, Wilco are a more finely tuned live machine than they ever have been. "Oh my God, the big rock & roll clap thing!" Tweedy said as the crowd participated during "Monday." "I'm gonna cry!" After more hand-clapping and finger-snapping during "Kingpin," Tweedy smirked. "Thank you for indulging my rock & roll fantasies," he said." [Rolling Stone]

Wilco go indoors tonight (7/25) for a show at Terminal 5.

Continue reading "Wilco and Lee Ranaldo played Prospect Park (pics and setlist)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Wilco at Prospect Park - 7/23/12

Wilco brought their tour, three NYC shows included, to Prospect Park last night (7/23). It was their first of two at the outdoor Celebrate Brooklyn venue and with their first of two Lees (Lee Fields and the Expressions opened last night, Lee Ranaldo Band opens tonight).

It was pouring rain and there were a few moments of big lightning above and behind the stage, but the show went on and Wilco played for over two hours. They opened their show with "Dawned on Me," one of the standouts on their 2011 (comeback?) record, The Whole Love. The band then continued with a solid mix of new ones and old favorites (and a good deal of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot). The set also included, "California Stars," one of the songs from the 1998 Mermaid Avenue album with Billy Bragg, which saw Wilco and Bragg putting unheard Woody Guthrie lyrics to original music. They play that one a lot but nonetheless, it was an appropriate time to honor the folk legend who would have turned 100 earlier this month.

During the show, Jeff Tweedy made a comment that we (Brooklyn) smelled like bacon, calling us the most bacon smelling show that he'd ever experienced. A commenter on a Wilco message board also noted that "at one point between songs he started singing a song called 'Bacon Rain.' He also made sure the rain wasn't causing anybody to chafe, and asked if anybody needed gold bond in the crowd." We're pretty sure he was smelling the fries being cooked stage right at The Farm on Adderley concession stand.

The tour continues in Prospect Park tonight (7/24). Last night, Jeff mentioned that for the people who are coming back for a second night, they'll be mixing up the setlist a bit, only playing repeats of certain songs (though it's hard to know exactly how serious he was being). After that, they'll play Terminal 5 on Wednesday (7/25) with Cibo Matto.

More pictures and the setlist from last night's show are below...

Continue reading "Wilco and Lee Fields played Prospect Park (pics, setlist)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Dirty Projectors, Celebrate Brooklyn! 7/10/2012

It was a gorgeous evening in Prospect Park last night for one of the more anticipated Celebrate Brooklyn! concerts of the season: Dirty Projectors, Wye Oak and Purity Ring. Having just played the much more intimate Music Hall of Williamsburg the night before, David Longstreth and company peformed basically the same set at Prospect Park, just with the song order switched up a little. Setlist is below. Despite opening the show with her band and having sung with them recently (like on Jimmy Fallon), Jenn Wasner from Wye Oak did not join DP this time at Prospect Park, but Olga Bell did a great job completing the trio of female voices, from behind her keyboard stage right where she stayed all night.

Even though they are playing bigger and bigger places, Wye Oak remain a duo and were great as usual. Jenn and Andy Stack wrote some new songs for the tour, and told the crowd they were really excited to be touring with Dirty Projectors. There was a whole lot of Mutual Appreciation Society happening onstage throughout the night, actually.

Purity Ring, also still a duo, seemed to impress the crowd with their early 7PM set. Corin Roderick has retired the plumber's acid trip instrument he was using last year (like at our CMJ-week day party) in favor a baroque arrangement of flower lights that lit up and triggered xylophone/marimba sounds when struck. (It probably looks really cool when in a fully dark envoirnment.) Also: they were selling their new album, Shrines, at the merch table that doesn't actually hit stores for two more weeks. So look for that if you're going to see them before July 24.

Purity Ring will be back in NYC on their record's release date, July 24 for an in-the-round show at Le Poisson Rouge. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (7/13) at noon. It's $15 for a ticket or $25 for a ticket plus a copy of Shrines. If you order tickets through their website, you get a limited edition screenprint poster as well. They've also got a new video out for album track, "Fineshrine," which you can watch below, along with an updated list of Purity Ring tour dates, and more pictures from last night's Prospect Park show.

Continue reading "Dirty Projectors, Wye Oak and Purity Ring played Prospect Park (pics, setlist); Purity Ring playing LPR, have a new video"

"A beloved New York tradition, Concerts in the Parks returns for its 47th season with five free outdoor concerts throughout the New York City boroughs, plus a free indoor concert in Staten Island. Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the Philharmonic in concerts at Central Park and Prospect Park and conductor Andrey Boreyko will conduct concerts in Cunningham Park, Van Cortlandt Park and Central Park with violinist James Ehnes as soloist. Music under the stars with family and friends makes for a perfect summer evening. And it's free -- join us!"

Continue reading "New York Philharmonic kicking off week of free 'Concerts in the Parks'"

photos by Ryan Muir

Ghostface Killah Celebrating Brooklyn

"Although he only had 45 minutes on stage, for which he apologized a few times to the crowd of "10,000" fans, he played hip-hop classics off his solo albums like "Ironman," "Supreme Clientele," a bunch of bangers from Wu-Tang Clan.

But, Ghostface wasn't alone on stage, Cappadonna, the unofficial tenth member of Wu-Tang, took the stage and did a killer rendition of the song "Winter Warz" over Notorious B.I.G.'s "Who Shot Ya" beat.

Sheek Louch also hit the stage and played his verses from The Lox's various albums.

By 8 p.m., the police cut off the crowd, which Ghostface said was about 10,000 deep, from filling the fenced off area in front of the stage. So, as die hard fans still filled the park surrounding the bandshell, they lined up along the fence to dance and rhyme along with the hip-hop MCs. [Patch]

Rap continued at Celebrate Brooklyn earlier this week with Danny Brown and Schoolboy Q opening for Childish Gambino (Instagrams here and here). Ghostface plays NYC again as part of Wu-Block (at Highline Ballroom and in NJ at Rock the Bells)

Meanwhile, Celebrate Brooklyn continues in Prospect Park tonight (6/28) with Ballet Hispanico, "the leading representative of Hispanic culture in American dance" (8pm, free). On Friday (6/29) it's Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, The Brooklyn Steppers, and Dayna Kurtz (7:30pm, free), and Saturday (6/30) it's Angélique Kidjo's Women Waging Peace with Special Guests Laurie Anderson, Sibongile Khumalo, and Somi (7:30pm, free).

More pictures of the Ghostface show below...

Continue reading "Ghostface Killah, Camp Lo & more played Prospect Park (pics); more free Celebrate Brooklyn shows this weekend"