Free on Saturday: Ted Leo and The Screaming Females at the Seaport

Ted Leo and the Screaming Females play the Seaport Saturday, a week before the big 4 Knots Festival.

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists play a free show tomorrow at South Street Seaport's Pier 17 that's billed as a kickoff show for next Saturday's all-day 4 Knots Festival, also at Pier 17. New Brunswick, NJ's Screaming Females are also on the bill with Ted Leo. The show starts at 6 p.m. (See the Village Voice's story on the 4 Knots kickoff show.)

You can get to Pier 17 by taking the 2, 3, 4, 5, J, Z, or M trains to Fulton Street or the A or C to Broadway-Nassau. (See map and directions.)

The 4 Knots Festival is the free shindig that's replacing the Siren Festival, which was held on Coney Island for the last 10 years. Like the Siren Festival, 4 Knots is presented by the Voice, as well as the Seaport Music Festival.

Speaking of 10 years, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists have been around for a decade (and have played many free shows in that time, including the Siren Festival), and for their appearance Saturday they'll be playing their first album, "The Tyranny of Distance," in its entirety. The Voice looks back at some of Ted Leo's 10 years of free NYC shows, with videos. (Below is an amateur video of Leo doing "Little Daw" from the 2010 Siren show, which I attended.)



The 4 Knots Festival takes place from 1 to 8 p.m. and features The Black Angels, Titus Andronicus, Davila 666, Oberhofer, Eleanor Friedberger (of Fiery Furnaces), and Mr. Dream. While the Siren Festival featured two stages, I'm not sure if that will be the case with 4 Knots. Which may be just as well, since you won't have to choose between two acts you really want to see that are playing at the same time.