Stars @Mercury Lounge, Sept. 22nd

The last time I saw Stars, I was in the front row of Town Hall 5 years ago, so I wasn't motivated to catch them at Webster Hall for their most recent tour, figuring that memory would be hard to top.  But thanks to a nifty little iPhone app called Thrillcall, I managed to snag a pair of FREE tix to see the ever charming band at the itty bitty Mercury Lounge for their after-show gig.  And the late start worked out well, as it allowed me to go to a turntable.fm meetup in Williamsburg earlier in the evening and head back into the City with a few of my tt pals -- Angela, Just Dave and jessipedia -- for the gig.

(More words and pics after the jump.)

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Bon Iver @Radio City Music Hall, Sept. 21st

I had made up my mind a long time ago that I probably would never bother seeing Bon Iver again after the first time I caught him four years ago at the Bowery Ballroom.  Not because I dislike the band -- far from it.  That concert was so intimate, so perfect, that I knew catching Justin Vernon again in a larger venue would never recapture the magic we felt that night.  But when I randomly checked Ticketmaster a week before his four show run at one of the city's largest venues, Radio City Music Hall, I managed to pull up a front row pit ticket that was impossible to refuse.  So I bought myself an early birthday present and prepared myself to see him on night 3.

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

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Bahamas @The Bell House, Sept. 19th

Last night, hunkered down to The Bell House in Gowanus for some good tunes courtesy of Canadian sensation, Bahamas, the band of Afie Jurvanen.  I have to credit my turntable.fm friend Dave#4 for turning me onto this guy, whose sweetly languorous voice and clear guitar picking brings musicians like M. Ward and Bill Callahan (Smog) to my mind.

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

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Bob Mould @Williamsburg Park, Sept. 7th

A week ago, I remembered that Bob Mould was playing a free show at Williamburg Park that evening, and despite having to work the next morning at 5am, I made sure I was there because he was playing all of Sugar's Copper Blue, an album that was released twenty (!) years ago.  To give you some context, that album came out just as I was starting freshman year of college, and was probably one of the first 50 cds I had ever purchased.  Yeah, I'm that old.

(More pics and words after the jump.  Click photos to enlarge.)

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Beirut @Central Park Summerstage, Aug. 29th

I finally bit the bullet and bought tix to see Beirut.  Okay, well, I bought them back in January for a show that wasn't happening until the end of the summer, which seemed a bit ridiculous to me at the time, especially because I tend to dislike outdoor shows.  One might assume that such advance planning indicates a strong affinity for the band. Truth be told, I had dodged seeing this band for ages because I found their music a bit too twee for my tastes, but had gotten into their tunes a bit more last summer because of turntable.fm, so I figured I'd give them a roll.

(More pics including setlist, and words after the jump.  Click to enlarge.)

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Afro Punk Fest @Commodore Barry Park, Aug. 26th

Bestest Boy and I wandered over to near the Brooklyn Navy Yard to Commodore Barry Park, the site of this year's totally free Afro Punk Fest, a two day affair that featured an amazing music line-up on two stages, as well as some amazing skateboarders and bikers, and met up with orange bear @eightrack.  We didn't have too much time there, unfortunately, but managed to catch the wonderfully entertaining Reggie Watts, who dazzled the crowd with his beat-boxing and improvisational stylings despite some technical malfunctions.  I wished we had more than the 40 minutes allotted to his set, but you take what you can get when it's free.  Before Reggie, we also caught a local band called Body Language, who, upon hearing them, I immediately thought they'd be good to spin in the turntable.fm room I help run called Indie While You Work.  And, yeah, I got home and spun some, and the song "Falling Out" went over very well.

(More pics and words after the jump.  Click to enlarge.)

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My Morning Jacket @Williamburg Park, Aug. 19th

First time seeing My Morning Jacket live.  Face melted.

Rolled into the fan club line early courtesy of Wawa and managed to get up front on the rail very easily.  All the people around me assured me that it'd be a great time tonight in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for my first experience, and boy, they weren't kidding.  I also had the company of emmyjane and Angela from turntable.fm, so we awaited the entrance of Jim James and Co. like a bunch of kids on Xmas morning.

(More pics and words after the jump.  Click to enlarge.)

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