Laura Marling / Michael Kiwanuka, @Prospect Park Bandshell, June 14th

Bestest Boy and I went to Prospect Park to catch our first Celebrate Brooklyn! concert of the summer.  Tonight featured the lovely Laura Marling and soulful Michael Kiwanuka, both from the UK.  I have enjoyed their tunes on turntable.fm so I thought a free concert on a crisp night would be a perfect way to check them out.  Both played gorgeous sets, but I was not completely entranced, as their low key performances seemed better fit for a smaller venue, and I wasn't up front as usual.  I will say, however, that their music is perfect to listen to on a rainy Sunday afternoon while trapped indoors.

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings @Prospect Park Bandshell, Aug. 7th

Wow...just wow. I don't know why it took me so long to experience the stunning Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, but lawdy, I'm sure glad I went to the concert that closed out a great summer of Celebrate Brooklyn! at the Prospect Park Bandshell and finally got to witness the phenomenon that she is. Sharon Jones blew my mind with her energy, singing, dancing -- you name it, she was a solid gold MVP, James Brown heir-apparent. For 2+ hours, she and her stellar bandmates (including members of the Bushwick Philharmonic) kept the 20,000+ crowd on their feet, grooving along to a wonderful retro-soul/funk sound that did not let up. She was also assisted on a few songs by the charming Lee Fields.

(More words, pics and a video after the jump.)

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Metric @Prospect Park Bandshell, Aug. 5th

After the prior night's amazing Arcade Fire concert, I had already somewhat written off this interesting line-up of female fronted bands. I was pretty exhausted, but figured it's the last week of Celebrate Brooklyn!, so I dragged my butt over to Prospect Park, especially since it'd be a good opportunity to see Holly Miranda again, and to check out Joan As Policewoman and Metric for the first time.

I bought a Metric album (Live It Out) when it came out a handful of years ago and dutifully loaded it onto my iPod, but it never really got a hold of me. I was more interested in other Canadian exports at the time (The Dears and Stars, for example), but always appreciated lead singer Emily Haines' contribution to Broken Social Scene. Last night was my first opportunity to see her own proper work.

I can see why the kids love Metric's music. It's danceable and catchy. I would not call it pithy by any means. But Haines' performance makes it worth watching if you feel like moving. She's got an incredible energy level that's enviable, and a fierce stage persona that alternated between sexy hot and crazy scary. By the time the band hit the stage after 9pm, the sky was dark, which allowed the strobe lights and thumping bass line to put a flutter in your step.

Good to see, but aided by the fact that it was a free show. Plus, there was a truck giving out soft serve ice cream.

(More pics after the jump.)

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The Swell Season @Prospect Park Bandshell, July 30th

By now, everyone and their mother has seen the movie "Once" starring musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, so it came as no surprise that the crowd for The Swell Season was packed to the gills. Luckily, because I am a Friend (member) of Celebrate Brooklyn!, I was able to avoid the tremendous line and secure my seat early -- front row center! There was also a special pre-concert reception for Friends, so you betcha I consumed my share of cheese, fruit, chicken skewers, beer and Vitamin Water. While I had already taken advantage of my Friends pass a number of times this summer (Allen Toussaint and JG Thirlwell just to name a few), this evening alone was worth the meager $50 contribution.

(More words, pics and vids after the jump.)

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The Low Anthem @Prospect Park Bandshell, July 30th

The Low Anthem opened up at Celebrate Brooklyn! in Prospect Park on Friday night for The Swell Season, and they were fantastic! They were very different from Glen Hansard, et al., but the two bands' music really complemented each other well.

I didn't know anything about The Low Anthem prior to the show, but thoroughly enjoyed their eclectic, mostly gentle but at times rockin' sound that had its roots in folky and Appalachian music. I particularly loved how each member of the band played multiple instruments, perhaps the most unique being a pair of cell phones using whistling and feedback, almost mimicking a theremin, on "This God Damn House." Gorgeous harmonies, too. I can't wait to check out more of their music.

(More pics after the jump.)

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The Roots & OkayAfrica@Prospect Park Bandshell, July 11th

My god, yesterday at the Prospect Park Bandshell for Celebrate Brooklyn! was perhaps the biggest crowd I've seen there, ever. By the time Bestest Boy and I got into the Friends line at 4pm, the regular line extended around beyond where we could see. I was so glad we had our passes.

We were lured into venturing out in the questionable weather (it was 90+ degrees out, muggy, and raining at times) mainly by headliners Talib Kweli and The Roots (both of whom I hadn't seen since a very sweaty show at Webster four years ago). The long afternoon showcased lots of other music, however, as this afternoon also served as the launch of Okay Africa, a new blog highlighting music that is African and/or African-influenced. We got a tease of The Roots to open the show, and then emcee Sahr Ngaujah, the star of Broadway's Fela!, led us through a lineup of bands from several African nations. We heard from diverse bands such as Dragons of Zynth, Zakee, Baja + The Dry Eye Crew, and Ngaujah himself, but my personal favorite was hearing the excellent hip hop artist Blitz the Ambassador from Ghana, who made the crowd forget the sticky humidity and got us on our feet, with his rapid lightning lyrics and big horn sound.

Unfortunately, Bestest Boy had an early call time the next morning, so we had to leave before Talib Kweli and The Roots' main set since the show was running up to an hour late. Even with our premature departure, we didn't feel that the time spent in the gross outdoors was a complete waste of time, for we did get a good 3+ hours of entertainment.

(More pics after the jump.)

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Ozomatli @Prospect Park Bandshell, July 9th

If I had to characterize LA band Ozomatli's sound, it would not be an easy task, for they play music with a sound that varies as much as its performers, ranging from rock to hip hop to Latin to R&B to soul...anyway, you get the idea. With every song came a different lead vocalist from the prior. A few of the band members also proved adept at playing multiple instruments. Also, with such different styles, the band was able to cover much ground in terms of sentiment, be it political or love or just plain fun. What resulted was a great energetic blend that had the crowd stomping, clapping and dancing along with the beat.

(More words and pics after the jump.)

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JG Thirlwell @Prospect Park Bandshell, June 18th

We rallied up the troops for this Celebrate Brooklyn show at Prospect Park because our friend Karen (of The Roulette Sisters) was playing in a twenty piece orchestra led by composer JG Thirlwell. They performed his Steroid Maximus project as well as some music from The Venture Brothers (which pleased Bestest Boy a lot, he being a fan of the Cartoon Network show). What does this all mean, you might ask? Well, for orchestra music, this was perhaps the grooviest, funkiest stuff I've ever heard live in such a format, sounding like something straight off of a '70s James Bond soundtrack. I often expected some villains to storm across the stage. It was quite fantastic to see the audience bopping their heads and feet along to the retro beat.

(More words and pics after the jump.)

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Allen Toussaint @Prospect Park Bandshell, June 12th

Despite having to work the next morning, I dragged Bestest Boy out to Prospect Park on Saturday to make use of our Friend passes we received for contributing to Celebrate Brooklyn!, the group responsible for the excellent line up at the Bandshell summer after summer. We caught a great pairing of New Orleans pianists, the legendary Allen Toussaint, and the entertaining Davell Crawford.

(More words and pics after the jump.)

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Deerhoof @Prospect Park, July 18th

(Bad cell phone pic!)
After catching the amazing Dark Knight earlier in the day (man, Heath Ledger was good!), I brought Bestest Boy to Prospect Park for the $3 Deerhoof concert, where we met up with Shana, her Michael and Julie1 and sat in the row behind the pit. The only other time I have caught these guys was opening for Radiohead when I went out to Berkeley a few years ago, so I was very excited to see them again as headliner, and from a better vantage point. I dig their music -- experimental, punk or whatever you want to call it, and also I dig their lack of pretension. They're clearly all in a row, up front, ready to rock. They, like the time I saw The Thermals, just play the kind of music that makes you bounce your head hard without being too goddamned angry. And man, that drummer sure can tear up his four piece drum kit! It was definitely weird sitting for most of the show, but then again, my legs were probably thankful. At any rate I was happy to be bopping along to the nonsensical lyrics sung by Satomi Matsuzaki, sitting next to my sweetie.

PS -- Shana's Michael spotted part of Blonde Redhead sitting in front of us.

The dude -- which twin brother it was, who knows for sure -- got up before Deerhoof's set to twiddle with the drum kit, so we were hoping for a guest appearance, but no such luck!

Yo La Tengo @Prospect Park Bandshell, July 13th

Tonight, poor Ste was detained by work, so I ventured to Prospect Park late by myself to catch the amazing Yo La Tengo (go Jersey!). In 2001 they recorded an instrumental soundtrack for eight short undersea documentaries of Jean Painleve, entitled The Sounds Of Science, which was the subject of tonight's program.

I showed up as the sun was setting, so I knew I didn't have much time before YLT started. I used my handy dandy Friends pass to enter the pit and quickly searched for a seat. It was packed, I guess cos the front area of the pit, normally filled by about 3 rows, was taken up by the band's instruments and setup. Amazingly, the first unoccupied seat I found? Front center! Yeah, baby!

YLT came to the pit -- a threesome of middle aged, unassuming individuals -- James, Ira and Georgia (as pictured above). The films started up on the large white screen suspended above them, and they began.

The films were old school documentaries, with occasional English subtitles. Almost Zissou-esque, if you will. I didn't pay too much mind to the film, however. Friggin' Yo La Tengo was playing right in front of me, as if I were sitting on my couch, watching them in my living room. The music they played was completely without lyrics, and mostly ambient type noises you might imagine that would accompany marine imagery of seahorses, octopi and the ilk. Lots of quiet plinky noises with gentle drumming mainly by Georgia. But there were occasional moments of crazy dramatic feedback, and for those moments, I was especially thrilled to be seated RIGHT THERE. While Georgia primarily played the drums, James the bass and Ira the guitar and/or keyboards, they also played musical chairs with each taking a turn at some other instrument. Very cool!

Tonight was also a chance for me to play around with my old digital camera. I've had it for almost 4 years, and I don't think I've ever read the instructions or properly learned how to operate it in manual mode. Because the lighting for the band was minimal so as not to detract from the documentary (and I didn't want to be obnoxious with a flash), I had to fuss with the exposure and shutter speed settings, and rely on the light generated by the projection itself. Yeah, so I had no idea what I was doing, but luckily, some shots came out. Not easy!


I am happy that I pushed myself to go even though Ste couldn't make it. What a marvelous experience!

Barrington Levy @Prospect Park Bandshell, July 7th

Tonight returned to Prospect Park to take advantage of my Friend membership to see Barrington Levy, reggae man extraordinaire.

It's time for bed -- I wanna Kung Fu in the morning....I'll have to write more later! Good night!

TV On The Radio @Prospect Park Bandshell, June 30th

Tonight headed over to the Prospect Park Bandshell for the free concert -- yay Brooklyn! I missed the opener, Voxtrot :( , since I didn't escape work soon enough, but made it in time for Matt Pond PA and then the headliner, TV On The Radio.

I am about to crash, so I'll write more later....here are some pics for now:

Now it's later. So I missed Voxtrot (rats) but got to Prospect Park before the second act, Matt Pond, PA, started. I found Whitney and her friends chilling on a blanket on the lawn so I hung with them for a bit. As Matt Pond, PA started up, Whitney, her friend and I headed over to grab some beer. While we were waiting in the slow moving line, I spotted Kyp Malone just standing on the lawn, casually chatting with someone. Nice.

So after I bought my $7 Bud Light, I used my Celebrate Brooklyn Friends Pass which allowed me access to the pit up front. Yeah, did you know for a measily $50 donation, you can have a reserved seat in the pit for virtually all the shows at the amazing Prospect Park Bandshell all summer? In the past, I'd have to worry about getting to the park early enough for a good spot with a buddy who could watch my seat whenever I got up. Now, with my pass, I can pass to and fro since the seats in the pit were more than enough for those who had access. Totally worth it. Especially when for any one concert, I might spend $50 easily to be up front.

Matt Pond, PA was your typical average indie band. The crowd got mildly interested for their last song -- I think it was on the OC?

While I was psyched to be in the second row, I was feeling a little lonely, so I convinced Wawa to abandon the Indie Twins, Heather and Julie2 (and some other dude) and join me in the pit. I loaned him my pass so that he too could get the magic bracelet. Woo hoo!

We ended up grabbing two seats 2nd row center. This was the fourth time he and I caught TVOTR together (the third was a few months earlier at Bowery). I think I can safely say for both me and Wawa that it was utterly amazing this time around. The lead singer, Tunde, was so hyper I couldn't get a clear shot of him. He was a constant whir of motion and sang with so much emotion. The larger stage also allowed additional musicians including members of Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra and backup singers to join them on stage.

They played a nice mix of songs from their first cd as well as ones from their upcoming release. And from start to end, they did not let up with the frenetic level of energy. I didn't even mind the fact that they skipped "Staring at the Sun."

Seeing TVOTR so closeup gave me the high that I so love from live music. My $50 was definitely well spent, even if I don't end up seeing any other show this summer.

Afterwards, Wawa and I met up with the rest of the crew and headed down 9th Street to a bar. Drunken hijinks ensued. I won't mention specifics, other than Wawa, Stevie Nicks, Gypsy dance. That is all.