(Photos) 4 Knots Fest: Hot Bands, Hot Weather, & a Real Fire

The second 4 Knots Music Festival at the Seaport crammed in a lot of music in its eight-plus hours… along with some real-life drama. The festival showcased a number of popular young bands and up-and-coming groups, but was headlined by the reunited Archers of Loaf, who delivered a rousing set clocking in at just under an hour to conclude the festivities. (See the Village Voice's 4 Knots coverage for more details and photos that are a lot better than mine.)

Team Spirit on the "Skipper" Stage.

This year's festival featured a small adjacent stage (the "Skipper" stage) near the main performance space, allowing for live music virtually nonstop during the afternoon. The only band I saw on the Skipper stage—a small, uncovered affair that was barely a foot the ground—was Team Spirit, which lived up to its pre-festival acclaim with a high-energy set. The band is a project of Ayad Al-Adhamy of Passion Pit, who sings and plays guitar.

The festival was humming right along till nearly 4 o'clock … until a three-alarm fire on Pier 17 brought things to a screeching halt. Hospitality announced during its set that it had to stop playing but would be back, and firetrucks could be seen and heard approaching the Seaport.

Hospitality on stage... before The Fire.

Amber Papini of Hospitality. More 4 Knots photos below.

The members of Hospitality stood at the back of the stage, watching the firemen putting out a fire that damaged part of the pier and caused the evacuation of several hundred people there. Fortunately, the many fans assembled to watch the main stage show didn't have to leave.

Hospitality came back on stage eventually, but played only one or two songs before exiting, to try to keep the festival schedule reasonably on schedule. San Diego's Crocodiles took the stage 40 minutes after its scheduled time of 4:40.

The indie-pop played by Brooklyn's The Drums mellowed things down a bit after the guitar assault of Crocodiles, but was enjoyable nonetheless. Archers of Loaf brought the crunchy guitar-rock sound back to the stage to wrap up 4 Knots. I've never seen them before, but judging by the crowd's reaction they seemed to do a good job of re-creating the sound they had during their heyday in the 1990s.

All in all, a good time at the second edition of 4 Knots. It didn't feel as hot as I thought it would, and overcast skies kept the sun from beating down on the crowd much of the time. The fire was a downer, not only because it delayed the show but caused the remaining acts to shorten their sets to close the stage down at 8 p.m. (Archers of Loaf ran maybe a couple of minutes past that with their abbreviated set).

Crocodiles:

Crocodiles at 4 Knots.

The Drums: 

Archers of Loaf: 

I don't think anyone had a better time at 4 Knots than this young fan: