2013 CBGB Fest Is On Now: Picks on What to See

The second-annual CBGB Festival is underway at venues near and far from the original Lower East Side club, and music lovers will be able to continue their festival bingeing when the CMJ Music Marathon starts on Oct. 15th. Here are some places to find listings of the many events, with picks by music critics and other sources.

The CBGB Festival is back, with shows throughout the city.

See the official 2013 CBGB Festival schedule to get the lay of the land for the showcases, panels, films, and more still to come. The Village Voice offers its picks for bands and speakers to see, and for music-only events, check out the Oh My Rockness guide to the CBGB Festival.

As with last year's CBGB Fest, there will be a free concert in Times Square with multiple stages, and it's taking place tomorrow from 10 a.m. till 7 p.m. The festival says there will be five stages and more than two dozen bands and performers. The South Stage will feature Lisa Loeb, The Wallflowers, a DJ set by James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem), and My Morning Jacket.

The North Stage will have "up and coming artists," the site says, as well as supergroupthe Divine Fits and Brooklyn indie favs Grizzly Bear. There will also be music on acoustic stages.

Last year's free Times Square show was fun (though eerily sparsely attended until the late afternoon), and featured performances by The Hold Steady and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, among others. 

Out in the clubs, tomorrow features highlights including Bell X1 at Bowery Ballroom and Meat Puppets at Brooklyn Bowl. On Sunday, the festival's final day, the schedule looks to be all films, except for one notable live music event: legendary rock and jazz drummer Ginger Baker at Iridium.

Saturday: Two Great Free CBGB Fest Shows (and Maybe Record Temps)

The two free CBGB Festival concerts on Saturday should be great, presuming you can tolerate what might be record-high temperatures in NYC. The thermometer is expected to hit between 99 and 102 degrees, depending on which forecast you read, and the SummerStage venue in Central Park has no shade whatsoever. I'd guess there won't be much shade at the other free show, in Times Square, but there are supposed to be vendors there, which might provide a bit of relief from the sun.

Below are details on the two shows, taken from the CBGB Festival website (which often had limited info on events, such as mentioning the Times Square show without providing a link to any information on it.)

The set times for the Central Park show match what SummerStage sent out via Twitter Friday night, give or take five minutes. SummerStage says that doors for the show will open at 2 p.m., and the line to get in will form before then. It's hard to say how early you should get there to be guaranteed getting in, but I'd recommend checking SummerStage's Twitter feed on Saturday, which during regular SummerStage shows posts updates on how long the lines are to get in. (You can check the CBGB Twitter feed, but it doesn't seem to be updated as often.)

It's even harder to predict how things will play out at the Times Square concert, since it's not a regular venue but a large, blocked-off area of the streets. I can't remember any concert event of this size being held in Times Square.

Free CBGB Festival concert in Times Square, Noon to 6 p.m.
(Stages on Broadway at 46th St. & 51st St.)

• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• The Hold Steady
• Duff McKagan's Loaded
• Superchunk
• Glint
• Upper West
• Zulu Wave

Free CBGB Festival concert in Central Park, 3 to 8 (?) p.m.
(Rumsey Playfield, center of park near 72nd St.)

• Guided By Voices - 6 p.m.
• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - 4:45 p.m.
• The War on Drugs - 3:45 p.m.
• Cloud Nothings - 3 p.m.

Needless to say, the heat and humidity will keep some folks away, and cause others to stay a shorter time than they had planned. If you go, make sure to use plenty of sunscreen, keep hydrated (with water, not beer or other alcohol!), and stay safe.

If you're not up for being outdoors in the steambath, there are plenty of CBGB Festival events in the great indoors. (See schedule for times, links to tickets, etc.) Music events include:

• Soft White Sixties, The Young Things, Raccoon Fighters, and The Head at the Studio at Webster Hall
• D Generation, Romans, Brass Knuckle Evangelists, and The Bamboo Kids at the Bowery Electric (SOLD OUT to general public; first come, first served for pass holders)
• Mongrel Bitch, The Whores, A Devil's Broadcast, Brunch of the Living Dead, Drugstore, Bannor at Hank's Saloon

Movies on Saturday include a showing of the 1980 cult classic "Times Square" at 2 p.m. and Sid and Nancy at 7 p.m.,  among many others.