Having The Teenage Prayers, The Big Sleep, and The Hold Steady made this one of the better nights for the free shows at Prospect Park . It was kinda neat to see The Big Sleep play outdoors to such a large crowd. They shyed away from their more vocal laden songs and focused on their more successful instrumental explosions of sound. Their songs are better live and the outside air trembled with them. They played a bunch of new tunes which I enjoyed and talked to Sonya after the show and she tells me a new album is in the works.
America’s Bar Band The Hold Steady drew a very large crowd including his parents to a perfect Brooklyn night. This Brooklyn-via-Minneapolis group headed by Craig Finn played an entertaining set of sing-along anthems to a majority white fratty crow. The music is catchy but it’s Craig who controls the show. His narrative tales tell of the mundanity of modern life, but they throw in some rage and chunky guitar riffs to a guarantee a good time over a few (more) beers.
Links:
http://thebigsleep.net/
http://www.theholdsteady.com/