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)"

Diplo at Pier 94 - 12/30/12 (via Chris Neil)

Diplo, who was just in NYC opening for Afrojack at Pier 94 on December 30 (pictured above, video below), will be doing an interesting run of shows this month. On January 20, the super producer will set out to play four cities in one day. He'll begin at 6 PM in Baltimore's Ottobar, then make it to Philly's Sound Garden Hall at 9:30, Atlantic City's Mixx @ Borgata Resort at 12:30 AM, and finally he'll end in NYC at The Westway at 3:30 AM. Tickets for the NYC show are on sale now. The flyer for the shows is below.

In related news, Diplo's Major Lazer project will release its new album, Free the Universe, on February 19 via Mad Decent/Downtown. The album features guest spots from Santigold, Amber Coffman (Dirty Projectors), Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend), Wyclef Jean, Flux Pavillion, and others. You can check out the cover art, tracklist, and video for the song with Flux Pavillion, "Jah No Partial," below.

Continue reading "Diplo played Pier 94, playing 4 cities in 1 night; Major Lazer releasing a new LP (videos)"

photos by Eric M. Townsend

Santa Questlove

Rahzel + Shaggy tearing it up, free apple cider shots for the ENTIRE club from our main man + Brooklyn Bowl owner Pete Shapiro, and Big Freedia and her "Azz Everywhere" - you know, just another legendary Okayplayer Holiday Jam with The Roots. What else was amazing? Free dranks thanks to Heineken, aerialists doing the splits above The Roots, and opening DJ sets from OKP Editor at large, Eddie "STATS" and OKA's own Chief Boima, along with LargeUp's own DJ Gravy and so much more. Warming up the stage, the Music Unites Youth Choir opened the show, followed by Black Thought co-signees The Wurx who brought fresh Philly-style raps.

Next up, godfathers The Roots took the stage for an extended jam with a laundry list of Okay family and friends. Throughout the night special guests included Gary Clark Jr. who graced the stage and flexed his guitar chops, Big Daddy Kane who spit classics alongside Black Thought, and Rahzel who showed why he's the human beat box extraordinaire. Angelique Kidjo and Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew tore it up, repping Okayafrica all the way. And LargeUp kept shit bombastic with Shaggy and Patra the Dancehall Queen, along with Mr. Eazy, Red Fox, and Rayvon. We also got some instrumental goodness thanks to Ray Angry and Robert Glasper on keys, repping for Revivalist. And after all that, DJ ?uestlove brought it home on the 1s and 2s with a Bowl Train after-party. [OkayAfrica]

The Roots played their 5th annual Okayplayer Holiday Jam at Brooklyn Bowl on 12/15. As quoted above, there were tons of special guests, including Big Freedia who will return to the Brooklyn venue for her own show on 1/21.

Gary Clark Jr., who also guested at the show, played his own show at Mercury Lounge two days earlier (12/13). You can check out a review of that show on Bowery's website.

Questlove DJs Brooklyn Bowl again tonight (12/22). He tweeted, "Tonight at @brooklynbowl. We celebrate the 5th Anniversary of James Brown's exodus. All James All Jams. #BowlTrain." Tickets are still avilable. He also gives Manhattan some love and DJs at S.O.B.'s on January 3. Tickets are available for that too.

More pictures and a video from the Okayplayer show below...

Continue reading "Okayplayer Holiday Party pics (Roots, Big Daddy Kane, Shaggy, Big Freedia, Gary Clark Jr, Angelique Kidjo & many more)"

And like he does in Coney Island, Marty Markowitz also brings free concerts to Brooklyn's Wingate Field each summer. The 2011 Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series happens every Monday through August 22. The first one, on July 11th, will feature Maze with Frankie Beverly. The entire lineup, mystery guest included, and more info is below....

Continue reading "2011 Martin Luther King concert series lineup (free Monday shows in Wingate Field)"