Blistered in the Sun
The New Pornographers' gig in Battery Park celebrates America's birthday
; "NEKO SMILE: New Pornographers play through the rain at Battery Park.")
NEKO SMILE: New Pornographers play through the rain at Battery Park. : Jesse Delaney (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION) |
New York City is still a dirty, dirty town. Rudy Giuliani may have swept Times Square free of smut ages ago, but the Big Apple still yearns for pornography and they'll import it from Canada if they have to. So it was that the New Pornographers came to play a free gig in Battery Park to celebrate America's birthday within sight of the Statue of Liberty.
Nearly at full strength (Dan Bejar was missing), the NP's played a lengthy set and debuted material from their forthcoming Challengers album. Neko Case featured prominently on the new tracks (particularly the title cut), which musically seem to resonate with more of her style than anything on the band's previous album. The new songs still get their hooks in, as on "All the Old Showstoppers," which boasts big vampy chords that left the PA system humming.
There's definitely a looser vibe to the New Pornographers in concert when Neko's aboard. She and A.C. Newman banter well separately, but when thrown together the interplay seems to relax the whole band. After references to The Simpsons and remarks about eagles' nests (Neko: "I built it before the show. I'm moving in, it's all I can afford."), A.C. quipped, "I don't like to throw around the word, 'beloved' too often," before launching into "Mass Romantic." Neko's powerful vocals on the much-beloved number seemed to shake loose the rain from the overhanging clouds and a stagehand scurried for an umbrella to hold over Blaine Thurier's laptop.
With "Sing Me Spanish Techno" resounding clearly through New York's financial district all the way to the World Trade Center site, those July Jones-ing for more pop music hightailed it uptown on the 1 train to Penn Station for a quick, costly Amtrak to Philadelphia. Convenience definitely comes at a price, but drinking beer in a dining car beats missing a free Hall & Oates concert because you're stuck in holiday traffic on the BYOB bus.
Pulling into the birthplace of liberty, the light sprinkle turned into a drenching shower. Patti LaBelle's voice became a siren song for pedestrians making the trek along the Schuylkill River Trail to the Art Museum without umbrellas. Her declaration, "Philadelphia, you can count on my love forevermore," spurred waterlogged walkers to crest the final rise and join their star-spangled brethren in Eakins Oval.
It was a long, wet wait between Patti and the main event. Parents wrapped their children tighter in Old Glory for warmth and one toddler chewed on the flag either in protest or as a way of internalizing his patriotism. The following cheers failed to ignite in the chilling downpour: "U! S! A!" "Hall! And! Oates!" "H and O!" and "Met-alli-ca!"
Finally the stage was sufficiently dry and it was time for ... Bianca Ryan??? The crowd didn't seem to care for this perceived bait and switch and pleas of "she's just a child" didn't spare 12-year-old Bianca from scattered exhausted boos when she told the soggy crowd she was a millionaire.
"Hall & Oates made the rain stop!" Sure enough, as the duo took the stage the rain abated briefly. God loves "Maneater."
The precipitation resumed shortly after the last saxophone bleat, but the Parkway was still packed with revelers when the powers-that-be incorrectly announced that the post-concert fireworks were canceled. About 30 minutes later, explosions in the sky could be heard over the sound of squishing shoes as the crowd dispersed.
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