Northside Festival 2015 Day One Recap

A reunited Luna and returning Caveman kicked off Northside '15....
Northside

Northside Festival 2015 Day One Recap

Northside Festival, expanded and invigorated with a healthy Innovation portion, returned to Williamsburg & Greenpoint, June 11th to 14th.

 

 

Green Label showcase at McCarren Park

Luna

Luna

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When the line-up of shows for Northside 2015 was released, the definite standout was the reunion of Luna. Admittedly, this reunion had already begun with some shows in Spain (they must be big their because of the name) and NYC dates in the fall, but the local nineties alternative band surprised folks with a free show announced just a few weeks before. That might have not been enough lead time for some of their older fans who had their summer family plans figured out months in advance (camp, summering in Connecticut, etc.), but the crowd was a nice mix of ages.

Singer/guitarist Dean Wareham (QRO solo album review), wife/bassist Britta Philips (both of post-Luna Dean & Britta – QRO spotlight on), guitarist Sean Eden, and drummer Lee Wall might have aged since the last century/millennium (from a high bar), but their music has held up. Speaking of age, it was actually Phillips’ birthday, and Wareham got the crowd to wish her a happy one. Wareham also mentioned how this was the local group’s first NYC show in ten years, “Do you guys remember the old days?” The group opened with the memorable bassline to “Slide” that opened their debut album, Lunapark, and closed with a cover of Beat Happening’s “Indian Summer” (though no “Superfreaky Memories” for these memories…), and it was a great way to open the festival & their reunion.

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Northside showcase @ Cameo

Caveman

Caveman

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Northside is a great chance to catch local bands, both the small ones playing long line-ups and the big ones playing smaller places, like Caveman did at Cameo (QRO venue review). Very small space for a group that’s headlined Webster Hall (QRO venue review), it was very packed, and had maxed out on allowing in badges well before they started. It was also very hot in the smoky space, jokingly referring to the “velvet fog” (then adding that he, a.k.a. Mel Tormé, wasn’t there…).

Playing many new songs for the first time in front of a crowd, they sounded very Caveman-y, and once again featured Matt Clark (QRO interview) on an extra set of drums, a job he’d done in White Rabbits (QRO spotlight on) – who had played Cameo drummer-less last Northside (QRO photos).

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Other notes:

-Just after getting his badge at McCarren Park, your correspondent stopped by the Northside Innovation cocktail hour at Wythe Hotel, for free food & drinks amidst tech/innovation types who actually wear their badges. But this is where the money is.

-One nice thing about Northside: everything is really close to everything else, basically all within a matter of blocks.

 

 

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Concert Reviews
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