Day 6: NYC pt. 3
Welcome
Yesterday we played a show in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.
After a quiet morning we assembled in the lobby at 12.30 to arrange transport to the park. Liz, Jon, and Gabe piled into an Uber with the heavy equipment and Tristan and I took the F train which spat us out at the 15th Street station, a short walk from the stage.
I enjoyed a green room breakfast of blueberries, raspberries, and a Kind bar.
Setup and soundcheck were a breeze thanks to the twenty or so stagehands working at the Prospect Park clamshell. The birds of our inflatable backdrop flew higher than they had ever before and were dwarfed by the huge art deco arch.
We had several hours to relax in the afternoon and it was a pleasure to be joined in this relaxation by friend of the blog and head of Carpark Records Todd Hyman.
The festival was called Celebrate Brooklyn and it is a free event that has been happening for 33 years. That evening after a rousing speech by New York City comptroller Brad Lander that eulagised Jacinda Adern and condemned the US Supreme Court the show was underway with Toronto-based singer-songwriter Charlotte Cornfield playing a beautiful set of harmony-laden indie-folk songs. This was followed by the LA based Sasami delivering a heavy rock set packed with guitar solos, screaming, double kicks, and hooded capes.
It was just past sunset by the time we were getting ready to perform. At this point we hadn’t quite clocked the size of the crowd so it was quite scary to see more than 5000 people sprawling up the shallow slope in front of the Lena Horne Bandshell. We blasted off with our usual choice ‘Not Getting Excited’ and from there the journey was all inertia with 75 minutes flying by before we had noticed. This Brooklyn crowd was amazing and gave us huge amounts of singing support as well as loudly voicing their appreciation.
Friend of the band Amanda Cheng was backstage to document the show and has graciously agreed to provide me with a few of these photographs which I’ll post below.
The first prank of the tour was accomplished while Tristan took a foolishly long time to return to our hotel room. Arriving to find his bed already occupied by a stranger he was furious and discharged a series of insults and curses.
Still feeling a bit wired after the show we relied on Discovery Channel’s melatonin to send us off to sleep.