Summer Concerts: Delorean, Brian Jonestown Massacre

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One thing I love about New York summers are the amount of great bands that tour (and offer free/surprise/outdoor shows) in the city. Seeing two of my favorites in two days this past weekend (Delorean at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn and Brian Jonestown Massacre at Webster Hall) definitely made up for the humid, muggy 85-degree weather... even if there is no air conditioning at Glasslands.

Delorean is an electronic dance band from Zarautz, a Basque town in Spain. Their newest album, Subiza, was released in March, but my favorite song, Deli, comes off their 2009 EP, Ayrton Senna. Stay Close, a single off their newest album, is great too. Yeasayer had a free show the same night at the beach at Governor's Island, and faced with the nearly unbearable feat of choosing between the two concerts, I eventually decided on Delorean-- since I had already bought the tickets, and I had already seen Yeasayer live last fall (even though I unfortunately missed them at Coachella...). Glasslands is a really cool little venue in Williamsburg (I saw Bear in Heaven and Secret Machines there this past February), although they really do need to invest in air conditioning. We were absolutely drenched in sweat by the end of the show, and the ceiling fans provided little to no remedy. That said, it was an absolutely amazing show, and I think we ended up making the right decision.

Music video for Delorean's Stay Close:

A few pictures I took at the Delorean show:

Delorean at Glasslands

Lead vocalist/guitarist Ekhi Lopetegi (and keyboardist Unai Lazcano's feet...)

For those of you who haven't heard of them, Brian Jonestown Massacre is a neo-psychedelic rock band with a slight Eastern influence and some shoegaze tendencies. The closest comparison I can equate their sound to is The Velvet Underground. Founded in San Francisco by Anton Newcombe in the mid 90's, the band has a huge following, and word has it that their name is derived from a mixture between Brian Jones, the guitarist of The Rolling Stones, and the infamous mass suicide of the "Peoples' Temple" cult in Jonestown, Guyana (lead by Jim Jones in 1978). BJM played a beautiful 2-hour set at Webster Hall in the East Village, showcasing their new album, Who Killed Sergeant Pepper? (2010) and playing all of my favorites from past albums, like Open Heart Surgery, Nevertheless, Super-Sonic, The Way It Was, Satellite and Servo. Probably the best part of the show, though, was the return of Matt Hollywood, who left the band in 2002 after an infamous on-stage altercation which can be seen in this excerpt from DiG!, Ondi Timoner's 2004 documentary contrasting the development of BJM and the Dandy Warhols:

Some pictures from the BJM show...

BJM at Webster Hall

the epic return of Matt Hollywood

Anton Newcombe

...And just for kicks, few pictures from the Caribou show I saw at Music Hall of Williamsburg in late May. I highly, highly recommend their new album Swim (2010). Some standout tracks are Odessa, Sun and Kaili.

Caribou at the Music Hall of Williamsburg

God, I love going to shows in New York. Planning to see Blitzen Trapper (for the third time), The Morning Benders and Neon Indian later this month, as well as Sexy Sushi the minute I get to Paris.

xx

Music video for Caribou's Odessa: