ABOVE: The Afro-Punk Festival is just one of the great (Free!) concerts on our list for the 4th of July weekend. Complete details, below.
Each weekend in NYC there are so many concerts that it’s hard to decide which ones to attend–and this weekend’s even more jam-packed because it’s the 4th of July!
So, to help you decide how to work some music into your holiday plans, we’ve assembled a list of the weekend’s best concerts based on some interesting categories, including:
Best Place to See Free Live Music-Skateboards Encouraged:
Best Place to See 2 Dozen Bands in 2 Days for about $1.25 each:
Best Place to Wonder if John Lennon Would Prefer Waffles or Eggs:
Best Place to Sing “Mr. Roboto” without Totally Annoying Everyone Around You:
Best Place to See a Legendary Rock Band That Replaced its Dead Singer with an Actor:
And More!
So, which concerts are on our special 4th of July Concert List for this week? Let’s find out…
Top 10 Concerts this Weekend: July 3, 4 and 5, 2009
1. Best Place to See 2 Dozen Bands in 2 Days for about $1.25 each:
Fri 7/03 @ 979 Broadway Backyard (Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival) All Ages $15
Crystal Stilts, Blank Dogs, Psychedelic Horseshit, caUSE co-MOTION!, Mayfair Set, Gary War, Little Girls, Kid Romance, Beachniks, Gutsies
Sat 7/04 @ 979 Broadway Backyard (Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival) All Ages $15
Thee Oh Sees, Vivian Girls, Kurt Vile, Woods, Tyvek, Dum Dum Girls, The Fresh & Onlys, Brilliant Colors, Ganglians, The Great Excape, The Beets, Real Estate, German Measles, Beach Fossils
Really, what can you get in NYC for $1? Not much. Honey-roasted almonds are $2, a ride on the subway is now over $2. Head over to 979 Broadway Backyard and spend a fistful of dollars on something worthwhile for a change, rock’n'roll.
2. Best Place to Gawk at Bret Michaels’ Broken Nose and/or Count Mullets:
Friday 7/3 @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center (Saratoga Springs, NY)
Def Leppard, Poison and Cheap Trick
Even if you weren’t around in the ’80s, you know plenty of ’80s songs. Chances are pretty good that most of those songs were recorded by one of these three bands. Mullets optional, but encouraged.
BELOW: Bret Michaels’ Tony Awards mishap:
3. Best Place to be Relieved, or Disappointed, That There Isn’t Really any Magic Involved:
Fri 7/03 @ South Street Seaport FREE
Here We Go Magic, Bachelorette
4. Best place to pay $40 to See a Band that Played a Free Show Yesterday, Sucker:
Saturday 7/4 Bachelorette Chelsea Art Museum (Rooftop Films 4th of July Party) All Ages $40
New Zealand electronic pop band, Bachelorette, plays a free outdoor show Friday July 3 at South Street Seaport, but with visuals like this, it might be worth the price of admission on Saturday.
BELOW: Bachelorette’s psychedelic video, “Her Rotating Head.”
5. Best Place to Sing “Mr. Roboto” without Annoying Everyone Around You:
Saturday 7/4 @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center (Saratoga Springs, NY)
Styx , REO Speedwagon
BELOW: You might not like it, but odds are, you’ll sing along.
6. Best place to See How Indie Rockers Cope in the Sunlight:
Saturday 7/04 @ Battery Park FREE 3:30pm
Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band, Jenny Lewis
7. Best Place to See a Legendary Rock Band That Replaced its Dead Singer with an Actor:
Friday 7/3@ Asbury Lanes (Asbury Park, NJ)
The Germs, the Krum Bums
Following the 1980 suicide of frontman Darby Crash, the Germs broke-up, and then reformed after recruiting the actor who portrayed Crash in the 2005 movie, What We Do is Secret.
8. Best Place to Wonder if John Lennon Would Prefer Waffles or Eggs:
Saturday 7/4 @ B.B. King Blues Club and Grill $40
Strawberry Fields: a Tribute To the Beatles, Plus: All You Can Eat Brunch
From the show’s website:
Enjoy A Saturday Afternoon With The Music of The BEATLES & A Delicious All-You-Can- Strawberry Fields is a look-a-like, sound-a-like Beatles tribute, dedicated to bringing you as close to a real Beatles concert as you can get. They take you on a Magical Mystery Tour beginning in 1964 complete with mop top hair, black suits with thin ties & the 1st four albums of music. Next stop, 1967, features the psychedelic era of Sergeant Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band” album with all the costumes & jackets on the album cover. The last stop includes: “White Album”, “Abbey Road”, & “Let It Be”.
BELOW: Ok, but what we really want to know is: Would John Lennon eat waffles, pancakes, or scrambled eggs?
9. Best Place to See Free Live Music-Skateboards Encouraged:
Sat 7/04 @ Brooklyn Academy of Music FREE 3pm
Whole Wheat Bread, Pure Hell, Game Rebellion, American Fangs, The Objex, Funk Face, oOohh Baby Gimme, Jesse Nobody
Sun 7/05 Brooklyn Academy of Music FREE 1pm
Earl Greyhound, Tamar-Kali, The London Souls, Apollo Heights, Sabatta, Sweetie, Peekaboo Theory, The Echo Jinx, B L A C K I E
BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) presents Afro-Punk Festival July 3-12, and this holiday weekend gets the festival off to a roaring start with two days of free live music in the BAM parking lot. The rest of the festival also includes a huge schedule full of films and documentaries. Plus, there’s a skate park in the parking lot.
BELOW: Afro-Punk Fest performers Earl Greyhound with “S.O.S.”
10. Best Place to See a Scary Death Metal Band Play for NYC Tourists at BB King’s Bar:
Sunday 7/5 @ B.B. King Blues Club and Grill
Deicide, Vital Remains
Florida is home to many scary/silly death metal bands, and Deicide is among the most well known. Singer/screamer Glen Benton has been making squeamish parents squirm for decades thanks to his absurdly evil lyrics and the upside down cross branded on his forehead. Adding to the Spinal Tap-ish feel of the evening, the evil festivities take place at BB King’s Bar and Grill-a blues-themed tourist trap near Times Square. Evil, indeed.
"jackson"
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