The 5 best NYC shows to see this week
Every day — 365 days a year — we post a list of suggested NYC shows happening that day, along with a reminder that you can also browse our full show calendar. Every Monday, we’ll also give you a preview of the week with our TOP 5 NYC SHOWS HAPPENING THIS WEEK:
in date order…
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4: Lankum, Katie Kim @ Mercury Lounge
I was so surprised to see that Lankum chose to play at Mercury Lounge on their short North American tour this month. I thought for sure that their Brooklyn show at Rough Trade over the summer would be the last chance to see the rising group in such a small venue, and since then they even made multiple end-of-year lists for their wonderful 2019 album The Livelong Day (it made our honorable mentions). Known for their live show, the Irish folk band mixes ambient, drone, psych, male and female vocals, and more sounds for a truly captivating and sometimes hypnotic experience that appeals to indie, traditional Celtic music fans and metalheads alike. Fellow Irish folk singer Katie Kim who contributed vocals to their 2019 album, opens Wednesday’s show. Not surprisingly, it is sold out, but where there’s a will there’s a way.
status: sold out
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THURSDAY, MARCH 5: Gladie, Brush @ Rough Trade
Gladie is one of a few current projects of Augusta Koch, singer/guitarist for the now-defunct Cayetana, and their just-released debut album Safe Sins is some of Augusta’s best work yet. The band — which Augusta formed with Three Man Cannon’s Matt Schimelfenig and which now also includes bassist Ian Farmer (Modern Baseball) and drummer Pat Conaboy (The Spirit of the Beehive) — take a more atmospheric approach than Cayetana, but Augusta’s unmistakable and instantly-recognizable voice gives Gladie that familiar feeling that Cayetana’s best songs always have. Before they head out on tour supporting Tigers Jaw, they’re doing a headlining tour which hits Brooklyn tonight.
Status: Tickets are still available.
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FRIDAY, MARCH 6: Birkin Gainsbourg: The Symphonic Starring Jane Birkin at Beacon Theatre
Jane Birkin is once again bringing her symphonic tribute to her late husband and collaborator, Serge Gainsbourg, to NYC, featuring 20+ classic Serge Gainsbourg songs, ranging from the beginnings of his career in the 1950s to those written especially for Birkin like ‘Jane B’ and ‘Baby Alone in Babylone,’ with orchestral arrangements by Nobuyuki Nakajima. Helping out at Beacon Theatre will be Iggy Pop, whose baritone should make for a nice Serge stand-in, and her daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg. The 2018 Symphonique tour was terrific and it’s rare you get to hear Gainsbourg’s sweeping material brought to life like this.
Status: Tickets are still available.
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FRIDAY, MARCH 6: Dry Cleaning / Control Top @ Saint Vitus
UK band Dry Cleaning draw on a variety of nervy post-punk influences — The Raincoats, Gang of Four, Lilliput, Delta 5 — but what really makes them distinctive is frontwoman Florence Shaw’s spoken word style, delivered in a distinctively dry but attitude-filled style. Having released two two great EPs in 2019, Dry Cleaning are now on their first-ever U.S. tour, which includes two NYC shows this week: Friday at Saint Vitus with Philly’s fearsome Control Top (who made one of our favorite albums of 2019) and Saturday at Union Pool with Patio and Basic Bitches. Control Top, meanwhile, also have a second show, playing Union Pool on March 5 with Brooklyn’s Weeping Icon which is also a pretty killer double-bill.
Status: tickets for Vitus, and the three other shows mentioned, are still available.
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SATURDAY, MARCH 7: Destroyer, Nap Eyes @ Brooklyn Steel
Destroyer’s terrific Have We Met is is like the sleek, synthetic third cousin, twice removed to 2011’s Kaputt, pulling influence from ’80s John Hughes soundtracks and atmospheric “sound design” movie scores, so it’s no real surprise setlists on this tour are pulling primarily from these two albums. (Songs from Ken, Destroyer’s’ Rubies and Poison Season have also been showing up, too.) Dan Bejar’s songs really come to life thanks to a crack six-piece band that includes trumpeter JP Carter who uses effects pedals to make his instrument sound otherworldly. If you miss the more guitar-oriented ’90s Destroyer sound, opening act and fellow Canadians Nap Eyes may scratch that itch.
Status: Tickets are still available.
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runner ups: Corridor/Deeper, Richard Lloyd, Sanguisugabogg, Wye Oak, Sun Ra Arkestra, Orville Peck at the MoMA Armory Party, Heart Bones (Har Mar Superstar & Sabrina Ellis), yMusic, The Jayhawks
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see also: More suggested NYC shows happening today.
