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There are plenty of videos on YouTube of the concerts that have been happening at McCarren Park Pool this summer. Forget brunch and the Sunday Times, the almost apocolyptic feeling abandoned pool parties have become a Sunday ritual for many (the crowd yesterday was insane, we're sure there are plenty of missed connections).
Here are some New York bands we like that have graced the stage:
Sonic Youth
More after the jump...
Tiny Masters of Today
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
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Sonic Youth on Friday was outstanding! It was the perfect time of day for the show. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs got the "headlining" spot, but Kim, Thurson and company got to glow in the twilight. Amazing.
Sonic Youth & Yeah Yeah Yeahs broke my heart. I wish the shows weren't so expensive & run by Live Nation / Clear Channel. It's a frickin' public park!
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs & Sonic Youth are basically dumbasses for having the gall to charge $35 a head for their show.
To charge admission when every other show has been free this Summer is lame, and it says something about how "really indie" these bands are. It indicates they're about as Indie as Starbucks...
Any association with Clear Channel reeks of sellout, and it also shows a lack of intelligence on the bands' part.
Well, SY at least hasn't been touted as being an indie in quite some time. They signed to Geffen in '90 and their latest album is their final one owed on that contract.
Yes, the ticket prices were lame, but one can choose to NOT attend if they don't want to. People had/have the option of checking out the GREAT free shows on Sundays. Deerhoof killed it last night and I didn't have to pay a dime.
Deerhoof is right on, but again, anyone knows they don't have to shell out the $35 and they can choose to skip the show. My point was it was lame to see the wrong companies (Clear Channel) profiting from this, and YYY and SY are lamer for letting that happen. (Whereas they could have rolled up and done the gig and even sold tickets at a lower price INDEPENDENTLY. That was my point. Who the fuck needs Clear Channel to sell tickets at an independent venue?
As an addendum to Guy - yes, the shows are too expensive - but, deb, that's not the fault of SY or the YYYs (they're not dumbasses) - these days it takes some effort to be a big band and not be under the power of a major events corporation - the fact that every major group must work with Ticketmaster or some similar overlord is proof that the suits and not the artists (who would make more money without ClearChannel and the like) are in control. Remember Pearl Jam's fight with Ticketmaster in the 90's - ultimately, the good guys lost. If there's a large demand for your music, a corporation is going to get between you and your audience - it's a fact of life for the moment. I, however, didn't feel so bad about paying up for the McPP shows I went to - seems some of the money is being held to refurbrush the place and make it a truly worthy venue. The sound there is already amazing, so I'm generally looking forward to next year - no matter what the kvetchers (G'mst included) say.
Oh, and a note to New Yorkers in general that watching the Sonic Youth footage brought up -
WHEN SOMEONE'S PLAYING PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT HOW COOL IT IS THAT YOU'RE WATCHING THEM. DANCE. SING ALONG. BUT SHUT UP. I DIDN'T COME OUT HERE TO LISTEN TO YOU TALK!!!.
Other than the running talking in the background - great footage.
SY was very appreciative to be there and headlining on saturday night. They weren't trying to take advantage at all. And there were a couple thousand people who didn't mind paying to be there. YYY's didn't really do it for me, but SY was magic.
Seriously, does anyone really think that Sonic Youth and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are indie at this point? Or for that matter, that *any* show at the McCarren Park pool can qualify as "indie"?
It's a little sad that Clear Channel is involved with concerts in the pool, but what's done is done, and anyone who performs there is associating with the corporation, whether they charge or not.
Sure, it would be nice if all the concerts in the pool were free. However, those that are need to be paid for somehow. And I might be wrong, but I suspect that the ticketed shows help make it all happen.
I have a feeling the YYY/SY show was the moneymaker to make all the other shows possible. I can respect that, but next time sell the tickets independently and tell Clear Channel to piss off. That's my only gripe. ;)
Deb, I can sympathize with your position as I'm probably as anti-CC as you could be, but, as some people have pointed out already, sometimes it's unavoidable. It just goes to prove the point that the media giants have their hands in almost everything we see, hear, and experience. It's a shame that so little people know or even care about that fact. And they wonder why the general public is so apathetic...
Clear Channel/Live Nation isn't investing much in the pool at all. They donated some money to the pool last year, but the fees they are paying to use the pool this year aren't going into renovation of the pool at all.
The free shows are raising more money for the pool per person than Clear Channel/Live Nation.
The bottom line is that they shouldn't be using a public park as the most expensive venue in Brooklyn. A SY or YYY show wouldn't come close to $35 plus service fees at Irving Plaza (another Clear Channel/Live Nation venue) CC/Live Nation is a bad operator that does not have the community at heart.
Hey, hows about crediting me for my Teen Age Riot video!!!
the video would have been better if everyone around me wasn't talking. cheers.
Whoah. Tiny Masters of Today are awesome