Artist: Blonde Redhead
Venue: McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn, NY
Date: August 5, 2007
Yet one more thing to love about New York: free concerts in the summer. And not free-because-we’re-inviting-no-name-and-no-talent-bands-free, we’re talking awesome groups like Camera Obscura, Battles, and Blonde Redhead. So you’d think that me being a
- Huge music fan, and
- Poor grad student,
I’d have made liberal use of these opportunities in my 2 years here. But alas, as the fates would have it, I’d been deprived this pleasure until today. Having just seen Blonde Redhead a few months ago, I was a little wary about seeing them again (as past experience has shown), and that too in a big venue. But hey, it’s for free, so what have I got to lose, right?
Time, as it turns out. Arriving there a little over 1 hour before they’re supposed to start (mostly because Tim didn’t want to be late), I was prepared for a bit of standing around (although very thankful that I’d have great company to talk to, for once), and I was right — sort of. The line around the place was ridiculous. Wrapped twice around the front, and circling all the way around the back as well, we queued up for the long haul. At least this gave Rob more time to get down here. At first, the line seemed to move fairly steadily (the girl in front of us constantly reassuring her friends that we’d be inside “in like 10 minutes, tops”).
After several of her “10 minutes” had passed, we’d reached the front — only two more passes and we’d be in. It was at this point that Rob called, telling us that the G train service had been cancelled and thus he wouldn’t make it. Too bad…for us. We sweated for another several “10 minutes,” now getting annoyed as BR went on stage and started rocking. When we were finally a real 10 minutes away from getting in, a guy comes out of the entrance warning everyone that the pool was full and they were only letting 1 person in for every 1 that left. What. The. Fuck.
20 minutes later, we did finally get in, although BR’s set was already half over. And I was even more upset to discover that a fifth of the place was empty, roped off (for dodgeball earlier in the day, Tim informed me). It wasn’t really blocked off though, for some people were still standing in it. So why, FFS, were they only letting people in at a trickle? What exactly did I miss half of BR’s set for?
Having read so far, you’re probably wondering how the show was; was it worth all the wait?
Hell yes.
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