The Village Voice has annually crafted one of New York City’s premier summer concerts with their Siren Festival. Last year marked the 10th and final installment of that gathering though as the downtown free paper turned over a new leaf and started advertising their new 4 Knots Festival this summer. The obvious change was that no longer would the show take place out in Coney Island but downtown in the South Street Seaport.
Throwing a concert smack dab in the middle of a major tourist location on Manhattan Island provided some new challenges. Gone were two stages of music which lead to obviously less live acts, instead a DJ locale was set up a few blocks from the Main stage but didn’t have nearly the same drawing power as the “Surf Stage” used too. The live acts this year were as strong as ever, with three headliners floating to the top and delivering sonic goods each via their unique styles.
Davila 666 punk/pop charge had young fans in attendance bopping and crowd surfing along to the Puerto Rican bands Clash inspired sound. The group’s lo-fi delivery focused on their newest release Tan Bajo. The repetitive lyrics and short numbers were catchy background to those strolling by or a call to mosh for the excitable front of stage revelers singing along to the Spanish lyrics.
The rambunctious festivities got even more amped when New Jersey’s Titus Andronicus took the stage next. Patrick Stickles began strumming out notes and singing with primal abandon before jumping on the barrier, joining the crowd for sing-a-longs to his lyrics and a bit of crowd surfing of his own. The 5 piece turned late afternoon observers into participants, shouting refrains from the bands fantastic recent offering The Monitor out into the New York harbor as the high power energy flowed like the Civil War gun shots sung about. “More Perfect Union” opened the show, but they trotted out a new tune and also dipped into older ones, playing their self titled track with its Irish Jig vibes and flailing aggression. Sweaty smiles and even a USA flag dotted the crowd as an all-out performance from the band obviously earned them new admirers.
The show was far from over as the headlining Black Angels got the stage prepped with racks of guitars, a trippy backdrop and cans of Bud to place on their keyboards and amps. The Austin drone rock proprietors didn’t have a dark club or light show to hide behind and the performance actually seemed more upbeat because of the setting sun. That didn’t stop the band from warping the mind with echoes, feedback and drone. They played tunes from all of their releases and even broke out a 3 axe slinging attack at one point. Alex Maas is a compelling front man who commands attention as the band wound there way through “You On The Run and “Young Men Dead”, while all along the sharpest dressed girls in the crowd sang note for note with him and admired the band.
This year’s biggest story to come out of the show will still probably be the location change, even though all the music presented was top notch. While Coney Island would annually be invaded for one day by hipsters catching the new “it” bands, the Brooklyn mingling of inner city beach goers, Coney Island boardwalk barkers and outdated attractions all combined to produce a true festival vibe.
Things are certainly changed at the Seaport. From a purely visual standpoint it seemed attendance was down, there was an odd VIP ship which kept bands from mingling all that much with the crowd as they had in the past, and confused Euro Tourists going shopping in a Mall a few feet away can’t take the place of those who in past years were just catching some tunes before they rolled up on the Skee-ball tables or flopped out into the sand.
While the new location contains pluses (Seaport is, you know, in Manhattan) and minuses (No Nathans or mid set Cyclone rides) we need to give it a few years to settle into the new home. With the Village Voice team behind 4 Knots and an 11 year track record of quality acts one shouldn’t be scared of the new upscale digs, and besides, you still can’t beat the price.
