Stay All Day, If You Want To (Across the Narrows, Keyspan Park, Day 1) [EDIT]

Well, almost all day.  I missed Nine Black Alps. 

More pictures now available at my Flckr account.

As silly as it seems, I had to be talked into the Across the Narrows shows at Keyspan Park.  Saturday’s line-up was pretty damned impressive – Pixies, Gang of Four, Built to Spill, Rilo Kiley, DFA1979, Mando Diao, and Nine Black Alps – and it was scheduled so that no act got less than 45 minutes, with headliners allotted a full 90.  All for $55 – less, per show, if you went for the two-day package – which is only (if I remember correctly) $10 more than those Pixies shows at the Hammerstein cost by themselves.

Was it worth it?  Let me put it this way:  If you like a sure thing, you would have loved this show.

One of the reasons I had to be talked into it is that, with the exception of the two earliest acts, I’ve seen all these bands within the last year.  Some of them, twice.  And when you become too well acquainted with an act’s performance, the magic drifts out of it.  You realize that they do more or less the same thing, every night, every where.  The job-ness of it becomes more apparent.

...unless you’re a die-hard fan, of course.  But when you’re a die-hard fan, you often want to be in a crowd of die-hard fans, and then, in a small club.  Not in a sports stadium.  I was pleasantly surprised with Keyspan Park, though.  Home to the minor-league Brooklyn Cyclones, it’s not huge, and relatively clean.  Though the large stage spread the performers out a bit too much, its wide area – and the sparse attendance – allowed you to get pretty close. 

That’s right:  No one was there.  Though the first band was scheduled to go on at 1:30 in the afternoon, there didn’t seem to be a sizeable crowd until after dark.  Gang of Four went on at about 7pm, and that was the first time there seemed to be a noticeable crush.  It wasn’t until the Pixies finished off the show that I noted a decent amount of people dotting the bleachers, and even then, the back part of the field seemed pretty empty.

And fewer people will be there, today:  The Brooklyn line-up isn’t nearly as good – I’m going because I’ve always managed to miss Beck (who’s touring behind a pretty lame CD, but still...) and because I could really use me some Polyphonic Spree.  Hypocritically, I’m heading in late today, and will miss the early bands – all those little possibilities (I can’t even find a website for this “McCrorie” band...); but my Rams are playing the Giants.  Priorities.

I’m not sure towards what the lack of interest should be chalked up:  Are the line-ups a bit behind-the-curve?  Did Coney Island seem too far a hike for a show that wasn’t free?  Was the concept confusing?  Perhaps enough Jersey-folk and ferrymen made it to the Brit-centric Staten Island shows (though the video “simulcasts” we were treated to made the bleachers on that side of the narrows look equally empty) to help Ron Delsner & Co. recoup their bucks, but I’m guessing this is going down as a failed experiment.

Anyway, brief bits about the show itself, from the top down:

Pixies – This is the third go-round for me, and it was pretty much the same as the other shows:  Kimmy sang her David Lynch cover, Joey had his little drumstick-on-geetar solo.  First part of show had Frank/Francis/Charles on acoustic, second on electric.  Good set list (the Neil Young cover “Winterlong” was a real pretty surprise – but I still haven’t heard “Tony’s Theme” live, aargh), and a happy little mosh pit formed.  The drummer only embarrassed the band a couple times.  The draw of the ‘xies is the songs:  They can just stand there – and they do that, just stand there – and barrel through a catalog of perfect little rock ditties.  

Gang of Four – I never wrote about the show at Irving Plaza back in May; I’m not Mr. Post-Punk, and felt like I was taking someone else’s place at that show... which was remarkably energetic and thankfully Entertainment!-heavy.  This time, I was much closer, and just let myself enjoy the show.  There’s no denying what a great show these guys put on.  Jon King explodes on stage and had more stage on which to explode, this time... though it looked like he was going to have a heart attack a few songs in; Andy Gill is a genius, providing pure staid contrast.  He.  Will.  Not.  Move.  It’s like he’s staring down every fucker in the crowd:  Blink, motherfuckers.  And blink again.

The set was made of the same stuff as the Irving Plaza gig, starting with “Return the Gift” (still my favorite Go4 song).  Again, King played a microwave over as a baseball bat... but here, the taped-up appliance didn’t go to pieces, so he picked it up over his head and threw it down.  Twice.

Built to Spill – Doug Martsch smiled, to himself, a lot.  I suspect he’s a guy who just loves to sit back and play his guitar, and is pleased enough that he gets to do that, every night.  He doesn’t try to use anything but his fingers to forge a connection with the audience.  B2S has three guitarists, all fairly self-involved; it’s not a kinetic performance.  When I saw them in May – the same week and venue as Gang of Four – it took about half a show for the music to take off.  Here, things were kept on a pretty mellow playing field, a Beatles cover (“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”) and a new(?), reggae-flavored anti-war song the highlights.  Martsch had a W with a slash through it on his guitar, another guitarist had scrawled “KILL BUSH” on his; “Go Fuck Yourself, Mr. Cheney” crawled around the circumference of the bass drum.

Rilo Kiley – It’s been almost a year since I saw them headline at the Bowery; since then, the opportunistic Angelinos have opened for Coldplay.  This mid-afternoon gig was the last of their “More Adventurous” tour.  Singer Jenny Lewis (who also took turns on keyboards, guitar, and bass) hid behind bug-eyed sunglasses for most of her set, removing them only to lead the crowd on a sing-along; Blake Sennet sang only one song (“Ripchord”), and introduced a roadie (and possibly their dealer?) named “Hemp Willie,” who told the crowd he loved them, even though we were being a bit dull.

Even though the band wasn’t exciting (though a lot of fans were there), they were incredibly pleasant; theirs was the only set that seemed too short.  “I Never” made for a pretty weak opener; it was too early to give the song the oomph it needs to get through its ad-nauseating chorus (“’cause I never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never...”), and even the band looked bored during the lengthy bit of playback that starts “The Execution of All Things.”  But they did play my favorite song, the torchy “Does He Love You?”

One question:  Did they wear this much plaid before they passed through Saddle Creek?

Death From Above 1979 – I’ve also seen these guys twice before this year, and this was probably the weakest performance of the lot.  It was agreeably sloppy, but you got the sense that it was too early in the day for Sebastien Granger and Jesse Keeler to get properly pissed-off.  Granger only intermittently pushed the tempo into thrash territory.  One missing element was reported by the crowd, and promptly fixed:  Volume, volume, volume.  “Louder!” a number of folks screamed, and when the sound guy cranked it up almost everything got better.  Granger even started bantering back and forth with what was a pretty small gathering.

Mando Diao – Just another Swedish Garage Band, not such a bad way to start the day.  A good amount of energy.  When I sampled their last CD, they sounded an awful lot like the Libertines; here, Strokes-worship dominated.  But it’s agreeable enough meat-potatoes rock, and the bassist was bouncy enough to make things interesting.  They also had the best song intro of the day:  “This next song is about the love between a man and a woman.” 

In-between acts, video screens broadcast footage from the simultaneous Staten Island concert, a nice reward for having had to choose between them.  We only got to see short bits of Tegan and Sara, British Sea Power, and Interpol, though; the rest of the time was given to ads from sponsor Playstation and – strangely enough – music videos.  Why not more S.I. footage?  The show was professionally run – it was even ahead of schedule, until Gang of Four’s set started late.

And if I sound less than enthused about the show, it may be that it never broke from routine.  The show was professionally run – it was even ahead of schedule, until Gang of Four’s set started late.  A great day of music, some great bands; everything as promised... but no more than promised.  An extra element – someone from Staten Island jumping the water to guest over here, or even some sort of interaction between the bands here – would have made the show a continuous event, rather than a series of bands... and would have created some buzz for future shows like this.

If you’re thinking of heading in today, I’m sure tix will be available at the door... and you might get them even cheaper from someone on craigslist.  And:  Bring sunscreen.

For more recaps/photos check out Central Village (who also reviewed the show for Gothamist), the Nick Sylvester's RiffRaff, and the comments at Brooklyn Vegan; meanwhile, Brother Lawrence was at Saturday's Staten Island show, and hung out backstage with the New York Dolls. 

tags: gang of four  concert photos  death from above 1979  rilo kiley  pixies  concert reviews  built to spill  across the narrows  mando diao  

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