Woodsist Records has announced the return of its festival for 2022 at Arrowood Farms in the Hudson Valley town of Accord, with 15 acts across two days from September 24 to 25.
In addition to music played between two different stages during the weekend, the event will also include craft beer along with food from local Hudson Valley-based vendors. The gates open at noon both days, with activities closing 9:30 PM on the 24th and 9 PM on the 25th.
Promotional poster for the Woodsist festival. (art credit: Gabe Schneider)
Prominent acts from the 24th include Ohio indie rock icons Guided By Voices and Brooklyn folk band Woods, which is led by Jeremy Earl, the man behind Woodsist. The day also features Les Filles De Illighadad, Myriam Gendron, Pachyman, The Reds, Pinks, and Purples, as well as DJ Jocelyn Romo.
Bigger names from the 25th include Waxahatchee, the project of indie artist Katie Crutchfield, and The Sun Ra Arkestra, the eponymous longtime band of the late experimental jazz artist which has been active for over 60 years. Other performers of the day are Medeski & Martin, Laraaji, Mind Maintenance, Mary Lattimore, Bonny Doon, and Tubby’s DJs.
Information regarding tickets, parking, and more for the June 2022 event can be found on the Woodsist Festival website.
If you’re searching for the eternal sound of summer, the alternative indie punk-pop outfit the Wrecks might be just the thing you need to remember the season is here. The Wellsville, NY band’s sophomore full-length album Sonder drops on June 10 across all streaming platforms via Big Noise Music Group.
Eleven tracks nod to the quintessential pop/punk sound of the early 2000’s paying homage to the pioneers of the genre. But in Sonder, the Wrecks have developed their own unique 2020’s twist incorporating elements of current pop trends and new wave style synth to the mix.
Lyrics are relatable; the kind of lyrics you can apply to your life without knowing original context or origin story. “I’d say our lyrics have always been honest and vulnerable,” noted Wreck’s vocalist/producer Nick Anderson, “and not only was I able to depend on that narrative compass once again, but I found it taking me to a whole new place this time creatively.” Anderson’s vocals shine. There is a powerful delicate balance to his vocal performance, a beautiful dichotomy that fits the band’s musical vibe – soft and tepid to robust and commanding and back again with a natural ease.
The album’s lead single, “Sonder” is a musical punch. Musically, the tune is sharp and demands attention. The chorus’s unexpected hook warrants a “car windows down, singing at the top of your lungs like no one is next to you at the red light” type of moment. “Where Are You Now” showcases a different side to the band’s sound – acoustic guitar and ethereal vocals create an unexpected ballad early in the track listing. The album’s latest single “Lone Survivor”, a flashy earworm, closes the album with a dance heavy bass groove that justifies using the repeat button for a few listens.
The Wrecks are currently touring in support of Sonder with a 33-show tour this summer. New York stops include dates in Buffalo at the Rec Room (June 29), Albany at the Empire Underground (June 30) and Webster Hall in New York City (Jul 8). Full tour dates can be found here.
Key Tracks: Sonder, Where Are You Now, Lone Survivor, I Love This Part
Northern Current, a free annual music festival based in the northern Adirondacks, will return for its third time this Labor Day Weekend. Hosted on September 4 in Saranac Lake’s Riverside Park, the event will feature six different acts from noon to 9:30 PM.
Promotional poster for Northern Current.
Having held its inaugural celebration in 2019, Northern Current replaced Hobofest, a community festival held annually on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend for the decade prior until the organizers’ retirement.
With North Current being cancelled in 2020 and holding a “pared down” event in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2022 marks the return of a full fledged festival. In addition to music, the day will include kid-oriented activities and sale from local food vendors.
Headlined by TEKE::TEKE, a female-fronted Japanese psych-rock band from Montreal, Northern Current states that its mission “is to enrich the cultural diversity of the town by celebrating a myriad of musical heritages.”
Supporting TEKE::TEKE are female-led reggae band The Big Takeover, Brooklyn ten-piece funk group Ghost Funk Orchestra, Ithaca country/bluegrass band Rose & the Bros, New Jersey roots rock group The Outcrops, and the ukulele-led Crackin’ Foxy, a local Saranac Lake band.
Additional information about Northern Current’s partners, location and more can be found on their website.
The Long Island Music Hall of Fame has announced its 2022 Music Scholarship Winners: four Long Island high school graduating seniors from Dix Hills, Manhasset, and Woodbury. These distinction in Music Award Scholarships were awarded to graduating high school seniors who has college plan in music study and further career pursuing.
This year’s winners are Gioianna DiGiorgio and Andrew Arloro, both from Half Hollow Hills High School; Emily Wei from Great Neck North High School; and Stephanie Massimo from Syosset High School.
The Long Island Music Hall of Fame is honored to have the opportunity to support and acknowledge accomplished high school seniors who are pursuing a future in music. The talent that exists on Long Island is something we at LIMHoF want to celebrate. In addition to following their own dreams, we believe these students will encourage and inspire others.
Tom Needham, LIMHoF Education Chairman
Gioianna DiGiorgio from Dix Hills (Half Hollow Hills High School West)
Gioianna DiGiorgio (credit to Long Island Music Hall of Fame)
Gioianna found her passion in music since a young age. She believes that music is a connection to nature and other people and a beautiful way to tell a story and to express yourself and your emotions.
“As soon as I was old enough to understand the concept of theater, I was enamored with the idea of being on stage, and wanted to be a part of that world. My life-long passion for theater inspires me to push through the challenges so that I can pursue my passion.
– Gioianna DiGiorgio
Gioianna raised her career aspiration from her perform experience in local community theater productions. She became interested in being a soprano singer in musical theater and later a performer for the stage and screen.
As for the further plan, Gioianna DiGiorgio will be attending Baldwin Wallace University. She is intend to gain the BFA in their Acting program and a music minor. She is expecting to learn music theory and strong skillset to aid her professional life after college with the scholarship from LIMHoF.
Andrew Arloro from Dix Hills (Half Hollow Hills High School East)
Andrew Arloro (credit to Long Island Music Hall of Fame)
Andrew Arloro is a 17-year-old musician who lives on Long Island, New York. He is a recent graduate of Juilliard Pre-College and a current student at Half Hollow Hills High School East.
He has studied the French Horn under fanmous French Horn musicians such as Jen Montone and Jeff Lang, Principal Horn and Associate Principal Horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra; and currently studies with Erik Ralske and Brad Gemeinhardt, Principal Horn and Acting Principal Horn of the Metropolitan Opera.
Andrew is recognized by the Discovery Competition for Children’s Orchestra Society. He also has extensive performing experience from a dozen times’ solos at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and tours in China, Spain, and Italy. He has been awarded the title of Principal Horn in various ensembles, including Juilliard Pre-College, All-State, SCMEA, Children’s Orchestra Society, Gemini Youth Orchestras’ Festival Winds and Symphony, and Cross Campus Wind Ensemble.
Next year, he will continue his studies with Erik Ralske at The Juilliard School, pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Performance on the French Horn.
I would like to thank the Long Island Music Hall of Fame for the amazing opportunity to work with them, create with them, and share with the world the Joy of Music.
Andrew
Tiantian “Emily” Wei from Manhasset (Great Neck North High School)
Tiantian “Emily” Wei (credit to Long Island Music Hall of Fame)
Emily Wei, also called Tiantian Wei, is a graduating Senior at Great Neck North High School. She has been playing both the piano and violin since age 5. In 2021 she went to the Fete De L’ Alto LaSalle Summer Festival (France) and had master classes with Christophe Giovaninetti.
As the German poet E.T.A. Hoffmann said: ‘Where the language stops, the music begins.’ Music has no boundaries. It has unlimited possibilities and tremendous potential to be created and performed to express one’s unique understanding of music and sentiments, and to be shared with other people who may relate and empathize. I think that is the soul, and one of the missions of music is that it inspires and attracts people. It is an honor to be a LIMHoF recipient, I appreciate the recognition from Long Island Music Hall of Fame.
Emily Wei
Emily has won numerous awards for her music talents and has participated in a wide range of performances with various music organizations, including the New Jersey Youth Symphony Orchestra, NYSSMA, All County and All State Symphony Orchestras and more. Her most recent performances are with Great Neck North High School Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and also violin recitals at Oprea America Music Hall and Episcopal Church.
In this fall, Emily will attend Mannes School of Music. She explained her expectation of future that entering the New York Symphony Orchestra or forming her own chamber music group, performing in concert halls all over the world to show the beauty of music and expressing my unique understanding of music.
Stephanie Massimo from Woodbury (Syosset High School)
Stephanie Massimo (credit to Long Island Music Hall of Fame)
Stephanie Massimo, a Trombonist graduating from Syosset High School. She started playing the Trombone in second grade. She also plays the bass trombone and baritone horn. Throughout the years, she gained rich ensemble experience in Syosset, Nassau Suffolk, All-County, All-State, All National, and various summer camps.
I genuinely loved performing with these groups and meeting new people. Music has always been an important part of my life. It wasn’t until recently, though, that I decided to study music in college.
– Stephanie Massimo
In the fall, Stephanie plans to attend the Trombone major in University of Tampa (UT) to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Music. She hopes to further advance her skills in both music and performance with the scholarship from the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. Her plans in college is to participate in some UT bands/ensembles then eventually return to NY. She hope to work in a Broadway pit orchestra which allows her to use everything she learn in college while enjoying the music she likes best.
Reeperbahn Festival New York hosts a showcase with a diverse line-up of European artists and a panel addressing gender equality at the A2IM Indie Week on June 14.
The festival is the biggest club festival in Europe and the largest international European platform for pop culture and the music industry. For four days in September every year since 2006, all eyes in the international music scene have been on Hamburg’s Reeperbahn for the Festival
Reeperbahn Festival New York is committed to offering a forum at A2IM to address current socio-political and music-relevant topics that affect underrepresented groups of people including female, trans, and non-binary writers, artists, and producers.
On June 14, the Reeperbahn Festival New York will hold discussion panels and showcases. At 6 P.M. participants including representatives from UN Women, Shesaid.so and Keychange will have an interactive discussion with the audience on gender equality in music. At 8:30 P.M. there will be a showcase of many European artists, including ÄTNA from Germany, BILLIE MARTEN, (UK), and SOAK from Ireland.
It will also host two key music industry panels at A2IM Indie Week. On June 13 they will discuss monetizing music and maneuvering European royalties, and on June 14 they will discuss how EU and U.S. executives are implementing transformational leadership and diversity to build an inclusive and diverse work environment.
The Tribeca Festival will be held June 8-19 in New York City. The 20 year-old annual arts festival celebrates film, television, podcasts, musical performances and video games. This year’s highlights include 88 film premieres and musical performances from Lil Baby and Of Monsters and Men.
The Tribeca Festival will feature both live and virtual events at this year’s edition.
A Brief History of the Tribeca Festival
The festival began as a series of dinner parties hosted by Robert De Niro in Lower Manhattan in an effort to revitalize the area following 9/11. The most popular of which had almost 800 people and included former President Bill Clinton. After the initial popularity of the dinner parties, De Niro and fellow co-founders Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff decided to launch a fully fledged film festival.
In 2009 director Damien Chazelle would premier his musical romantic drama Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench. The movie is a heartfelt story of a jazz trumpeter who goes through an unusual break up. Chazelle would go on to direct movies about music throughout his career, such as La La Land and Whiplash.
Tribeca would continue to expand its programming offerings in 2016 when it decided to include television shows in the festival. The same year would also include a commemorative screening on the 40th anniversary of De Niro’s classic film Taxi Driver.
The 2022 edition of the Tribeca Film Festival will feature 111 movies from 40 countries.
This 2022 feature film program leaves us proud and humbled by the boundless ingenuity and passion of our indefatigable filmmaking community. Whether a comedic breath of fresh air or a trenchant expose of the most urgent contemporary issues, this year’s official selections again remind us of the vitality and urgency of independent film in a world that needs it more than ever.
Cara Cusumano, Festival Director and VP of Programming
In addition, to several music films Tribeca will also feature several live performances throughout the weeklong festival. This Thursday at the Indeed Theater Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men will celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their debut album, My head is An Animal with a special live performance. On Saturday, June 11 Lil Baby will perform following the debut of his documentary Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby.
Music has always been an integral part of Tribeca, from the live performances to the countless music docs we’ve celebrated at the Festival. This unique series of events aims to highlight the true power of music and underscores Tribeca’s ongoing commitment to year round programming.
Jane Rosenthal, Founder and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises
To celebrate the relationship between music and film at the Tribeca Festival, here are a few recommendations from both this year’s edition and past ones. The list below includes feature length movies that are specifically about music in New York State
Mr. Soul!
The titular Mr. Soul is Ellis Haizlip, the producer and host of “Soul!” the first Black variety show in America. Which makes “Mr. Soul!” a documentary not about musicians and performers but rather about someone, like Haizlip, who created places for them share their music. Haizlip was a trailblazer for making a TV show centered exclusively on black identity and art. And he was a tastemaker for introducing television audiences to acts such as Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and The Pips, and Al Green. Interspersed throughout the movie are readings of passages from Haizlip’s journal. In it he regularly uses phrases such as “uplift voices” and “create a safe space” when talking about Black artists. Terms that might be familiar to a contemporary audience until we remember he wrote them in 1968 when they were genuinely revolutionary. Not just because they sought to overturn a status quo (although that was certainly the case) but because he’d thought them up himself. At the end of the documentary, when discussing the show’s eventual cancellation, the poet Sonia Sanchez comments, “I was sad not just because of the demise of Soul! but because I knew they wouldn’t replace it”.
Other Music
Another documentary that isn’t about musical artists but rather about the people that surround them—in this case music listeners. “Other Music” is the story of a legendary, alternative record store in New York City run by co-owners Josh Madell and Chris Vanderloo, which was forced to close in May 2016. If someone ever asked you “What is passion?” you could show them this documentary. Its focus isn’t Other Music’s owners—a falling out with an estranged third partner is hinted at but never addressed—or its customers—although the famous ones are interviewed for the movie. The core of this movie is the question of what does it mean to fill your life with art? The record store, its shelves brimming with esoterica and its staff with their trademark curtness is a testament to how fulfilling a life spent in the arts can be. In all likelihood, if you’re on this website you’d be a fan of “Other Music”. Hell, you may have even shopped there.
Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation
The documentary with the most famous subject in our list. It’s also the only documentary to take place outside of New York City. “Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation” is composed entirely of archival footage so expect to see lots of long hair, hippie outfits, and blurred out nudity. The movie doesn’t spend too much time with the famed musical acts and their legendary performances instead it focuses on the festival’s organizers and attendees. The voices of the talking heads are always played over grainy, archival footage from 1969. We never see any of their faces. Which maybe is the point, because it’s not important who went to Woodstock so much as what they went there for: three days of peace and music.
Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes
The documentary opens with a montage of famous Blue Note Records releases. If you’re like me you probably didn’t recognize the album covers but did recognize the names: Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock. “Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes” is not interested in the chronological, nuts and bolts of Blue Note’s time in the music business or a history of jazz music. It’s a worthwhile addition to this list because it’s about the significance of that label. It shows us what happens when well-meaning afficionados, like the label’s founders Alfred Lion and Franck Wolff, work with talented artists. In an interview towards the end of the documentary Hancock explains jazz music in one minute when recounting a recording session with Miles Davis. If nothing else watch the documentary just for that anecdote.
2022 Tribeca Festival Recommendations
Halftime
Tribeca is a downtown film festival and JLo is an uptown girl. Few artists made their New York roots as important to their identity as JLo did. The Netflix documentary “Halftime”, directed by Amanda Micheli, follows Jennifer Lopez over the last few years. In it she prepares for major shows including her 2020 Super Bowl halftime show and the presidential inauguration in 2021. “Halftime” is billed as a documentary in which Lopez prepares for the second half of her career and life. In it she evaluates her own contributions to American pop culture and more specifically Latinx culture. “The Tribeca Festival is eager to bring audiences from all over the world together to honor the importance of purpose-driven creative expression,” said Robert De Niro, the festival’s founder. Likely part documentary, part commercial “Haltfime” promises to be at the very least an entertaining 98 minutes with a charismatic, beloved star and at most a meditation on activism and middle age. Either way Jenny from the Block is here.
Beauty
Gracie Marie Bradley stars as the titular Beauty in the film “Beauty” which will make its world premier at the 2022 Tribeca Festival.
The only Tribeca Festival narrative feature included on this list, “Beauty” is the story of Beauty (Gracie Marie Bradley) a talented singer on the verge of industry success in the 1980s. When Beauty innocently signs her first contract she’s met with the realities of pop stardom, asked to hide her relationship with her girlfriend, compromise her identity as a black woman, and intentionally mispresent her own art in pursuit of audience approval. It’s apparent from the description alone that this movie is as much about legendary real-life singers, such as Whitney Houston, Patti LaBelle, and countless others as it as about the fictional Beauty. Written by Lena Waithe “Beauty” is about the timeless themes of ambition, identity, and love as told through the lens of the music industry.
LIFT
The New York Ballet’s Project Lift offers scholarships to homeless children to learn ballet. This documentary follows international ballet star, Steven Melendez, as he teaches young dancers ballet. The catch? Melendez himself was a homeless seven-year-old before joining the LIFT program. The doc follows Melendez and his students over the span of ten years. The movie culminates in a stage performance from the LIFT students that addresses the pain of homelessness.
Music Performances at Tribeca
Thursday, June 9
8 p.m.: Machine Gun Kelly at the Beacon Theater After the premier of the semi-autobiographical Taurus the rap-rocker will make a special appearance.
8 p.m.: Of Monsters and Men at the Indeed Theater Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men will perform after a screening ofTIU, a feature documentary about the band.
Friday, June 10
6:00 p.m.: Pharrell in Conversation at BMCC Tribeca PAC Pharrell Williams will sit down for a live interview to discuss his career.
8 p.m.: The DOC 54th Birthday Party feat. DJ Quik, Das, and Kurupt at the Beacon Theater Rapper The DOC will celebrate his birthday with the premier of a documentary about his life followed by a live performance.
Saturday, June 11
3 p.m.: A Conversation with Taylor Swift at the Beacon Theater The Grammy winning artist will showcase her movie Red, All Too Well: The Short Film and discuss her creative process with filmmaker Mike Mills.
8 p.m.: Lil Baby at the Beacon Theater Atlanta rapper Lil Baby will premier Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby, a documentary about his life and career. Following the screening will be a special performance from Lil Baby.
8 p.m.: Inner City and Blake Baxter at the Indeed Theater The electronic music group, Inner City, will perform after the screening of God Said Give ’Em Drum Machines, a documentary about the origin of techno music.
8 p.m.: Performance by Onyx Collective and Duenditaat Baby’s All Right Onyx Collective is a jazz ensemble founded in NYC that will be performing with Another artist who is Duendita, a singer-songwriter from Queens.
12 a.m.: DJ sets by Huerco S and Ade Kassim at Baby’s All Right. The two DJ’s will perform at a festival afterparty.
Tribeca Festival Tickets
Screenings will take place across New York City from June 8-19. The festival’s complete schedule is available online. Tickets for both in person and virtual events are available on the festival website.
Spaghetti Eastern Music, the solo venture of genre-fluid NYC/Hudson Valley guitarist Sal Cataldi has released “I Believe in Love,” a stripped-down, all-acoustic ballad previewing the spare narrative style of his forthcoming song-centric EP, Turpentine Valentines.
With “I Believe in Love,” Cataldi serves up his hard-earned take on romance: the pain it can cause and the beauty too… if one is willing to throw his/her heart back into the ring for another go-round after heartbreak. Two crystalline acoustic guitars and a solitary voice carry the tune whose narrative arc is reflected in the below, the first and concluding verses of the song:
I believe in love but not everlasting love Life has shown me, it’s just a temporary disease Attacks the heart, breaks it in two and does something funny to your knees But I believe in love… I believe in love but not everlasting love If you can accept these terms, maybe we can get the disease Warms the heart and make its whole At least that’s what life has shown me so I believe in love
“I Believe in Love”
The song comes with a counterpart video featuring some of the great screen kisses from the classic film era, seen below. It was recorded and engineered by Cataldi at his studios in Woodstock and a floating studio aboard his Houseboat Garlic Knot in Port Washington.
Critics from The New York Times, Time Out New York and Huffington Post have praised Cataldi’s debut album under the Spaghetti Eastern Music moniker, Sketches of Spam. This 16-track, 69-minute surf through a slew of contrasting moods, with largely guitar-driven instrumentals inspired by the acid funk of 70’s Miles, Krautrock, Ennio Morricone’s Spaghetti Western movie soundtracks as well as Fripp & Eno ambience and the sound of ECM guitar god Terje Rypdal.
These contrasted bare-bones acoustic vocal songs are reflective of the influence of John Martyn and Nick Drake, the mode showcased on his latest single. The discs’ acoustic titles included originals like “Wild One” and “Mama Called,” an instrumental cover of the Zappa rarity “Sleep Dirt” and a DADGAD-tuned, ballad paced reinvention of the Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride.”
I have never understood the desire to shove musicians into tiny boxes, the belief that you only get to be and play in one genre. I love all sorts of styles – straight-ahead and avant jazz, post-rock, prog, metal and funk, world music, electronic experimentation and, yes, quiet acoustic ballads like my new single, something that is definitely a 360-turn from my recent releases.
I love it all equally, listen to it all and want to perform it all – and that’s what I do with Spaghetti Eastern Music, at gigs and on recordings. That might make it hard for the algorithms that govern everything in the music world these days, so I guess my genre is best stated as iPod Shuffle.
Sal Cataldi – Spaghetti Eastern Music
The new single is available as of June 7 as a digital download via Spaghetti Eastern Music’s Bandcamp site, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, CD Baby and other online stores.
The Luzerne Music Center in Lake Luzerne has announced concert dates for their 2022 summer season. Included in the three-show Chamber Music Festival and series performed by the center’s faculty and students, with dates that span from late June to the middle of August.
Lake Luzerne is located just west of Glens Falls in southern Warren County, and holds was settled by European settlers around 1770. The town of Lake Luzerne is named after Anne-César, Chevalier de la Luzerne, who served as French Minister to the early United States, after haven supported the American revolution with loans to provide food to the troops. In 1808, the town changed its name to Luzerne and in 1963 to Lake Luzerne.
The main event of the summer, the Luzerne Chamber Music Festival’s first concert Musicians of the New York City Ballet with Elizabeth Pitcairn and Glen Ananga on July 4th will be followed by Fabulous Philadelphians with center co-founder Toby Blumenthal and members of the Philadelphia Orchestra on July 25, and will be closed by the American String Quartet on August 5.
Also a summer camp, the Luzerne Music Center sources youth musicians from ages 8 to 18 to attend, selecting “approximately 150” youth musicians for summer stay on the organization’s wooded 20 acres.
These students will appear on stage during the season’s 17 free student concerts from June to August. The center faculty will also perform six concerts of their own on June 24, July 1, 8, 22 & 29, and August 5.
Information regarding tickets and more can be found on the Luzerne Music Center’s website.
Bardavon will present performances from Resistance Revival Chorus and Imani Perry to celebrate Juneteenth at the Old Dutch Church in Kingston and the Bardavon Opera House in Poughkeepsie.
The Old Dutch Church was often referred to as “The Cathedral of Kingston,” which was originally built in 1660 in the colony of New Netherland. While the Bardavon 1869 Opera Houseowns and operates a 944-seat historic theater in Poughkeepsie and it is operated by the Bardavon.
The Resistance Revival Chorus (RRC) is a collective of more than 60 womxn, and non-binary singers who enjoy singing and express themselves with the music. The singers are in various occupations including not only professional singer and Broadway performers, but also political activists, educators, and more. They aim to be intersectional in our feminism and reveal that all social justice issues overlap heavily with woman’s issues. Tickets start at $20
The Princeton University African American Studies professor and author Imani Perry will speak on her new book South to America, followed by a Q & A and a book signing in the Bardavon lobby. She also wrote 6 other books, including Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry, May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem, Breathe: A Letter to My Sons, etc., which are renowned for the prizes they won.
Free tickets available at Poughkeepsie’s Adriance Memorial Library & Bardavon or UPAC box offices.
Future Islands played a sold-out three night run at Brooklyn Steel over June 2-4, with support from legendary funk-rock band, ESG. Fans were treated to the driving beats, energetic sets, and the nonstop thrills that have made Future Islands a breakout success.
Future Islands at Brooklyn Steel, Photographed by David Reichmann
Opening for Future Islands, ESG brought the exact energy to their funk-rock set you would expect from a band opening for the famously-animated Future Islands. ESG interacted with the crowd with laughter and enthusiasm. At one point bassist Nicole stopped the show and excitedly asked the crowd, “Is your mom as cool as our mom?” pointing to her mother and frontwoman, Renee Scroggins. The crowd raved throughout their sets, with palpable energy rising as they closed out each night’s set.
Future Islands took the stage each night to wild applause. Frontman Samuel Herring briefly thanked the opening band before declaring, “I’m not going to do too much talking. Let’s shut up and do it.” Samuel brought his trademark highly-animated style of performance that made the band a viral sensation following their network television debut of “Seasons (Waiting on You)” on David Letterman, which would go on to become the most viewed YouTube video in Letterman’s history. The entire crowd was jumping off the floor before the band’s second song concluded. Covered in a thick layer of sweat within minutes, Samuel joked, “It’s getting slippery up here!”
Future Islands at Brooklyn Steel, Photographed by David Reichmann
After Future Island’s third song finished (traditionally when photographers must exit the press pit), Samuel fist bumped a few of the photographers for their enthusiastic capturing of his performance. A rare show of class, as photographers are usually ignored by the talent. But in that brief moment, Sammuel showed a clear respect to the whole crew involved in bringing the show to life. He took every opportunity to interact with the crowd and photographers, leading to a dynamic and powerful show that was a joy to both attend and cover.
Each track on their setlist featured Samuel jumping, crouching, and contorting himself with operatic movement. Their set included several fan favorites, including “Peach,” “Plastic Beach,” “Balance,” “Like the Moon,” and their latest single, “King of Sweden.”
“We are meant to experience these things and remember them,” Samuel told the crowd before introducing “Lighthouse” with the story of the song’s inspiration. He told a heartfelt story of a friend who had lifted him from a dark time, and how he always thinks of them when performing this song.
Future Islands at Brooklyn Steel, Photographed by David Reichmann
Samuel performed high kicks, full body stage dives, locked his piercing eyes with several audience members, and put what seemed like 110% of his efforts into every second of the show. The band played with the same energy, pushing driving beats and deep synths. Each band mate brought something unique to the table. As far as frontmen go, some artists steal the show and some artists are the show — Samuel Herring is undoubtedly a frontman who is the show. And he performs as much for the back row as the front.
Future Islands at Brooklyn Steel, Photographed by David Reichmann
Before introducing their breakout hit, “Seasons (Waiting On You),” Samuel told the crowd, “This song is for people waiting on that special someone, I hope that someone is next to you tonight… if they’re not here that’s okay too. Don’t you waste too much time, now!” The crowd cheered and danced as the song played, reveling in Samuel’s all-out performance.
They closed the first night with “Little Dreamer.” Samuel told a tear jerking story of an old love and a specific room this song always brings him back to. He invited the crowd to remember painful moments throughout their lives, and never forget the most difficult times. “This is a dream. We’ve worked so hard for years to be here. This is a song we’ve been singing for 13 years.”
Future Islands at Brooklyn Steel, Photographed by David Reichmann
Future Islands’ sold out, three night run featured incredible setlists, touching and personal anecdotes from frontman Sammuel Herring, and ESG as the perfect opening act.
Future Islands is scheduled to play one more North American tour date in July, before embarking on their European tour in August. You can listen to Future Islands’ latest single and album here. You can also check out ESG’s music here.
Future Islands and ESG at Brooklyn Steel, Photographed by David Reichmann
