Deerhunter, Real Estate Give a Rocking Wrap-Up to Hudson's RiverRocks

Another summer concert series came to an end Thursday night with Deerhunter and Real Estate performing the last RiverRocks concert at Hudson River Park on Pier 54. It was a great pairing of bands, and the weather even cooperated for the most part, with light rain falling only toward the end of Deerhunter's set.

Above: New Jersey's Real Estate.

The concert drew a good crowd. Although most fans were there to see Deerhunter, Real Estate got a nice reception from the audience. They are apparently from Bergen County in the Garden State; they asked if anyone was there from (I'm guessing) their respective towns, which included Mahwah and Midland Park.

Above: Deerhunter closing the RiverRocks concert series.

Deerhunter hit the stage around 8:30 and played for a little over an hour and 10 minutes (I think... I left during the long, instrumental ambient tune the band was playing as its final encore, and it was still going on after I crossed West St. and headed east on 14th St.)

Deerhunter mentioned that Real Estate would be on tour with them this Fall. Deerhunter only lists a few shows on their schedule, coming up in the next few days. Real Estate plays only a few dates through early September, then has no dates schedules until their tour with Deerhunter the second half of October (which opens on October 15th in New York at Webster Hall).

Upcoming Deerhunter shows:

Fri., August 13 - Royale Nightclub, Boston, Mass.

Sat., August 14 - Pearl Street, Northampton, Mass.

Sun., August 15 - Flying W Airport and Pool, Medford, NJ

Upcoming Real Estate show:

Mon., Sept. 6 - Hampshire College, Amherst, Mass.

Free Concerts in NYC: Public Enemy, Deerhunter, Dr. Dog, Neon Indian, The Wedding Present, More

The summer concert season in New York is starting to wind down, but there are still a number of good shows coming up in the next few weeks. Here are a few highlights from this week (check websites for details on capacity, etc,; some venues have limited space):

Thursday, August 12
* Deerhunter with Real Estate, Hudson River Park's RiverRocks, Pier 54, Hudson River (entrance at 14th St.), 8 p.m. (doors open at 6)

* White Rabbits with Hospitality - "Dual drummers and a honky tonk calypso rhythm section bang out jarring sonics"- SummerStage, East River Park, 7 p.m.

Friday, August 13
* The Wedding Present, legendary U.K. band, with Brooklyn's Savoir Adore, Seaport Music Festival, Pier 17, South Street Seaport, 6 p.m.

Saturday, August 14
* Neon Indian with Prefuse 73, DOM and Nite Jewel - the Beach at Governors Island, 8 p.m. (doors open at 6)

* Chief, Frankie & The Outs, MINKS, Total Slacker - Jelly Presents at Rock Yard, 2 p.m.

* Bachata Fest (Latin American music): Andy Andy, Luis Miguel de la Amargue, Kiko Rodriguez, and Alexandra - SummerStage, Central Park, 3 p.m.

Sunday, August 15
* Public Enemy, Blitz The Ambassador, & DJ Kool Herc - SummerStage, Central Park, 3 p.m.

* Dr. Dog with Eli "Paperboy" Reed & The True Loves and Chief - the Beach at Governors Island - 8 p.m. (doors open at 6)

* !!! (chik chik chik), Lee Fields, Strange Boys, Future Islands - Jelly Pool Parties, East River State Park, doors open 2 p.m.

Arcade Fire Rocks MSG - Watch Webcast Highlights

OK, this will be my last post on Arcade Fire, their new album "The Suburbs," and their current tour... for a while, anyway. Last Thursday's concert at Madison Square Garden was great, and the nine (or 10?) band members on stage had no problem creating sound big enough to fill the cavernous arena.

Of course, being at the show meant that I missed their live webcast of it, directed by Terry Gilliam, Monty Python member and director of films including "Brazil," "Time Bandits," "The Fisher King," and "12 Monkeys." You can see some of the Arcade Fire webcast highlights at their YouTube page, including Arcade Fire favorites "Wake Up" and "Keep the Car Running" and tunes from "The Suburbs" including "Ready to Start," "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)," and "Rococo."



Speaking of Terry Gilliam, he did a video with Arcade Fire before the webcast (below) in which he talks about directing the program. (The video also reveals the band members to be robots whom Gilliam controls with a large computer-game console.)

Metric Headlines Free Brooklyn Concert Thursday

Metric played a sold-out show at Manhattan's Terminal 5 a few months back, but on Thursday, August 5th they'll be crossing the East River to headline a free concert in Brooklyn.

The outdoor show, the latest in the annual Celebrate Brooklyn series, has Emily Haines and band leading a trio of female (or female-fronted) acts. Also appearing on the bill are Holly Miranda and Joan as Police Woman.

Gates open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7. Find out more details about the free Metric concert at Celebrate Brooklyn at show's the event page. (Although the show is free, a $3 donation is requested.)

Unfortunately I won't be able to make it to the free Metric concert, but the good news is that it's because I have tickets to see Arcade Fire at Madison Square Garden Thursday. That show, which also features Spoon on the bill, now has Canadian singer, composer, and violinist Owen Pallett as the the opening act, so it will be quite an evening for Canadian musicians in New York.

Get Arcade Fire's New "The Suburbs" MP3 Download for Just $3.99 - Tuesday Only!

I'd planned on buying "The Suburbs" on CD so I could check out the artwork, credits, etc., but I may reconsider that since finding out that Amazon. com has made the new Arcade Fire album its "deal of the day" for Tuesday, August 3rd (the album's release date). For this day only, you can get the album for just $3.99 (U.S. customers only, I'm pretty sure).

Amazon.com has featured Arcade Fire's first two albums in the last couple of months as part of its regular "100 MP3 albums for $5" deal, so I took advantage of those deals. If I buy "The Suburbs" today, I will have gotten all three Arcade Fire albums for $14.00. No album artwork, credits, band photos, etc., but you can't beat the price.

Listen to Arcade Fire's New Album "The Suburbs" Free Online

Arcade Fire's eagerly awaited new album "The Suburbs" drops tomorrow, and you can stream the entire album FREE online below via NPR Music. The band is on the road with shows in Philadelphia and New York this week (two dates at Madison Square Garden, Wednesday and Thursday). Spoon is also on the bill, so is Owen Pallett, the Canadian singer/composer/violinist/Arcade Fire collaborator who won the inaugural Polaris Prize in 2006 (under his former identity, Final Fantasy).

The Thursday, August 5th Arcade Fire show will be webcast live, in a production directed by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame. (Tickets are still available for the August 5th Arcade Fire concert, though the August 4th show is sold out.)

Music stores around North America are having Arcade Fire listening parties with food and drink, giveaways, and more; to find out about these and other events follow the Merge Records Twitter account.