(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:

2012 4 Knots Music Festival: Schedule, FAQs, Official After Party, & More

The second annual 4 Knots Music Fest takes place Saturday, July 14th, starting at 1 p.m., and you'll find the complete schedule below. The Village Voice-sponsored free festival, which is the successor to the decade-long Siren Festival on Coney Island, will be held at Piers 16 and 17 at South Street Seaport. (See directions to 4 Knots.)

The festival is all-ages and will go on rain or shine.

Archers of Loaf headline the second 4 Knots festival.

A standalone guide to 4 Knots is included in this week's edition of the Voice. If you don't have it handy, you can find out more about 4 Knots at this Voice article, which includes links to articles on some of the bands such as Archers of Loaf and Crocodiles, a map of South Street Seaport, and even a Voice food critic's guide to his favorite eating spots in the area. Also, see the Voice's 4 Knots schedule page, which also includes the 4 Knots Twitter feed; descriptions of the bands; and the 4 Knots FAQ.

Although the official start time being given for the festival is 1 p.m., there will be a couple of brief sets beginning at 12:15, as shown below.

Main Stage
12:15 p.m.: The Smiling Lies
12:30 p.m.: The Fast Years
1:30 p.m.: Nick Waterhouse
2:30 p.m.: Bleached
3:30 p.m.: Hospitality
4:30 p.m.: Crocodiles
5:30 p.m.: The Drums
6:30 p.m.: Archers of Loaf

Skippers Stage
1 p.m.: Doldrums
2 p.m.: Devin
3 p.m.: Team Spirit
4 p.m.: Delicate Steve

There's also an official 4 Knots After Party at the Beekman Beer Garden Beach Club, featuring Black Lips and Kid Congo Powers with DJ Jonathan Toubin serving as host. Tickets are $15 (get tickets and more info here); doors to the party are at 7 p.m., with the show beginning after the Archers of Loaf set wraps up. Learn more about Toubin here and see an interview with him here.

The only 4 Knots act I've seen before is Crocodiles, which I saw at Maxwell's last year and enjoyed, so there will be a number of new discoveries for me. In particular, I'm looking forward to seeing Archers of Loaf, Hospitality, and The Drums, and I've heard good things about Team Spirit as well.

Saturday's temperatures should be in the mid 80s to 90 or so (much better than last weekend's temps of near 100 degrees). There's a chance of stray rain or thunderstorms, but any heavy rain isn't expected until late evening.

It should be another great free music festival in New York; check out the details and head on down to the Seaport Saturday.