Gil-Scott Heron played Marcus Garvey Park (pics)

photos by Benjamin Lozovsky

“Gil didn’t perform The Revolution Will Not Be Televised [on Thursday] night, but he did enthrall an appreciative crowd of several thousand people with a 90 minute selection of songs from his new album, I’m New Here, and a number of classic songs from his recording career including Pieces of A Man and The Bottle.

It was a great performance from a man who, quite frankly, has not aged well. As little as three years ago, Scott-Heron was doing time in New York’s infamous Riker’s Island prison for cocaine possession. He looks ten years older than his 61 years. And yet. And yet, Gil Scott-Heron still has it. If his voice was any lower – it would be gravel. He still knows how to command a stage, and the audience was not there to see the last gasp of a great poet, songwriter, and author, but to see a man reborn.” [The Compleat Traveller]

Gil Scott-Heron played his 2nd free Summerstage show of the summer on Thursday night, this time in Marcus Garvey Park (the first was in Central Park). His next NYC show will cost you money. More pictures from Marcus Garvey Park, below…