2008: My Summer of Music

From the summer of 1997 to the summer of 2007, from my age of 9 to my age of 19, I spent at Timber Lake Camp. During those 11 summers I had the time of my life. Sometimes it kills me that this summer of 2008 is not being spent in the valley beneath Saddle Mountain. When I'm dying on the inside missing TLC, I remember the major upset I had inside of me during the last half of my summers there. The upset of missing out on the wonderful music scene inhabiting New York City that my friends and peers got to enjoy, but I never got to experience. I only knew concerts in winter (with the exception of the July 24, 2002 Weezer show at Jones Beach that I left camp for and sat front row, center). Summer festivals and amphitheater venues were foreign terrains of my music experience. But summer 2008 has changed all that. I've spent June and July enjoying music at Summerstage all the way Shea Stadium. It has been fabulous thus far and after 11 years of waiting for my summer of music, I would like to document, to the best of my recollection, each music-infused evening I have thus far attended.

Los Campesinos!, Bowery Ballroom - May 19, 2008
My summer concert series actually began on the 19th of May at the Bowery Ballroom with Los Campesinos! I spent all winter listening to these youngsters from Cardiff, Whales and I could not wait to get a taste of them live. Boy was it a let down. The show I attended was their fourth and final sell-out in four days in New York City and it totally showed. They did not seem thrilled to take the stage one bit. I was so used to hearing them at top volume from the headphones I had buried halfway to my cochlea, and when they opened with the first song I fell in love with on their debut album, "Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats", I wished I could have just pulled out my iPod and cranked up the volume. The rest of the concert didn't improve much from there. I was so used to listening to the album and having my own mental dance party on the way to class that I was in a mild shock when the sold out Bowery Ballroom barely moved around during their set. The audience barely bobbed their heads and slightly tapped their feet during "You! Me! Dancing!". That was the highlight of the uneventful set. My friend David, who saw LC! at their first night in NYC that weekend assures me that the show he ventured out to was incredible and made him listen to the album non-stop and it must have been fatigue that brought on the drab show I went to. With that said, I hope to see them again and they'll prove David right. For now, I'll continue to listen to Hold On Now, Youngster and pretend like I never actually saw that show.

The Kooks, Terminal 5 - June 10, 2008
Despite creating a pretty poor follow-up album to Inside In, Inside Out, I still shelled out $25 to see the Kooks. It was well worth it. One quality show. Played all the songs I wanted to hear, played them damn well, and I even had a good view in the quite large, 3-tier, Terminal 5! I can't complain about this show and I don't feel like going on about how much I enjoyed it. Instead, I will note something I found shocking: Matt Pinfield introduced the Kooks and not a sole in the audience knew who he was! He is a pretty big deal to me, even if he hasn't done anything spectacular in recent memory (now he's working for the new NYC rock radio station 101.9 FM), he was an actual VJ who knew music--and that counts for something! At that moment I had the minor epiphany of just how terrible VJ's are today. It's been over a month and I'm still not over it.

The Fratellis, Webster Hall - June 13, 2008
Again, another band with a phenomenal debut and not-so-phenomenal sophomore release. Either way, I attended this sold-out Scottish drunkery and besides finally learning what the ticking numbers thing in Union Square is (It's a clock in army time forwards and backwards!), it wasn't worth the downtown trip. The show took place three days after Here We Stand was released and approximately 5 people in the audience (myself included) knew any of the new tracks. On top of that it was foggy in the venue and that was rather fitting, as their sound reproduced with a somewhat foggy tone of the recorded tones I originally loved about them. It was a long set and if I hadn't paid over $20 and dragged a friend there, I probably wouldn't have stayed until the end--'nuff said.

Vampire Weekend/Kid Sister/Born Ruffians, Summerstage - June 14, 2008
I love Born Ruffians. 1) Because getting there early for this show and getting upfront finally got my face on BrooklynVegan. 2) Their music is heavenly. They have their own raw, inimitable sound that makes me feel like a a free spirit. 3) My ears get butterflies from them so intensely that I couldn't have cared less if I was getting soaking wet from rain and was standing next to a huge metal stage where I could have easily been struck by lightning and killed, since they were just so mesmerisingly great.

Kid Sister was whatever. I only watched because if I left I couldn't get back in.
Vampire Weekend was quality. As they only have one album to date, there wasn't much quantity, but they played all of the tracks with quality and perfection, showing off just why the indie world loves them so.

The best part about this show was the fact that the entire audience was between the ages of 18-23, give or take a few audience members. I have never been in a crowd where all 5,000 people were from such a small age demographic. It felt great to be surrounded by peers. From the performers to the people in the last row, we were the same in a sense, and I really loved it. That could be the greatest part of Vampire Weekend--Their fans are so heavily concentrated at the college demographic and that's just a cool thing.

Comedy
In between these concerts I caught some hilarious comedy. First, Stephen Lynch & Mike Birbiglia at Summerstage, then John Mulaney at The Slipper Room. I wasn't a huge fan of Birbiglia; Lynch was his usual musically-inclinded, lyrically genius self; I have the biggest comedian crush on John Mulaney.

Billy Joel, Last Play @ Shea-July 16, 2008
This was the third time I've seen Billy Joel in my life. I grew up listening to him because that's what my parents liked and I think whether or not they would have pushed him on me, I would have eventually learned about him and come to love his tunes. He has so many hits and he failed to bring them all out to the 50,000 person crowd. I was a little sad about that. A rendition of "Tell Her About It" or "Uptown Girl" would have been enough, but no sir-ee. The first half of the set was consumed with songs fit for many a bathroom break. But by the second hour and a half, he did belt out the goodies. The highlight for me was "Lullaby" followed by "River of Dreams" as those hail from the River of Dreams, which is what I was raised on.

The night was filled with several guest spots including Tony Bennett, John Mayer, Don Henley and John Mellancamp. The show two nights after this one got Sir Paul McCartney, so I don't really have bragging rights here. Joel did belt out the Beatles hits, "A Hard Days Night", "Please Please Me", and "She Loves You", but I think it's fair to say that it's not quite the same as McCartney singing "Let It Be". Overall, a splendid evening, and it even got my mom out of the house and dancing, so bonus points to B.J.!

The Village Voice Siren Festival, Coney Island-July 19, 2008
On possibly the hottest day of summer, I ventured with all the hip and unwise to the far and dirty end of Brooklyn. Two stages, 16 bands, I showed up halfway threw the day. I caught the sets by Times New Viking, Ra Ra Riot, Islands and Broken Social Scene.

Times New Viking came to Cornell this past semester. I had something that overlapped with the show (god knows what) and I had never heard of them, so I didn't bother to move the conflict around. That was a big mistake. They don't give a crap what they sound like and I'm fine with that. The first half of their set was stellar, and if the amps weren't so ridiculously ear-meltingly loud, I probably would have loved the second half of the set too. They were fun and now I want to steal their album from someone. I also realized yesterday that I missed their worldless music series show at the Whitney... another big mistake.

Ra Ra Riot are from Syracuse University! Who knew?! Actually... I think Juliana Richer Daily knew. I believe at one point it was listed in her facebook profile as her only favorite band and that always confused me. After learned their from 'cuse and knowing that she hails from there too, it all made sense (There is also the small chance that it was Ratatat in her profile and I am making a coincident out of nothing). Well, I really like em. They're good looking, their music is dandy, and I have listened to the 2 EP's (I think that's what they are) I have from them once each day since the show. Thumbs up for RRR!

Islands, how you disappointed me so. Return to the Sea was one of my favorite albums the summer before arriving at Cornell. I hadn't heard much from their new album prior to this show, but now I never want to. I tried so hard to love the lead singer like I love "Rough Gem" but he made it far too hard. Walking on stage with a metal garbage can over your head? Making dumb worthless banter between songs. Not even performing the good stuff from the first album. Ugh. Because I stayed and watched your show I had a less than awesome spot for viewing Broken Social Scene. Thanks a lot.

Broken Social Scene, Marry me?! Well mixed set between BSS/Kevin Drew/Brendan Canning/Andrew Whiteman songs and of course all beautifully played. They are more than mere musical mortals to me and I can't wait for my next concert encoutner with them. Although they technically weren't on the main stage, it sure felt like they were Kudos boys (plus rando girl named Audrey who filled in on "7/4 (Shoreline)"!

Siren was a fun, sweaty day I would do it all over again! Great new music was discovered and some old loves I learned needed to be covered.

Santogold/Diplo/A-Trak, Summerstage-July 20, 2008
Another sweaty day, but not as much music to fall in love with. A-Trak and Diplo made me wish they put Girl Talk's Feed the Animals on. I know nothing about DJ'ing, but I do know that what I heard on Sunday did not make bearing the heat worth it. This was followed by Santogold's 30 minute set. She was okay. Not the type of music I usually get down with--dance with hints of high-pitched Middle Eastern vocals, but interesting none-the-less. I'm happy I went, if just to check people watch, but I think the most important thing I'll take away from it is that Diplo is super white and from where I was standing super good looking. I'd hit it.

The Future...
As of right now the concerts shall continue with: Ambulance LTD, MGMT/Black Moth Super Rainbow/Ting Tings, We Are Scientists/Oxford Collapse, Metric/Mates of State, All Points West, The Honorary Title, plus many more that are not officially on my calendar, yet. I hope the future is as bright as I image it to be.