What: Northside Festival
When: June 14-21 (Music portion from June 14-17)
Who: Ceremony, of Montreal, Future of the Left, Kool Keith, Olivia Tremor Control, GZA, Buke & Gase, Caveman, EULA, and loads more (full lineup here)
Where: Various venues in Williamsburg; Music Hall of Williamsburg, Warsaw, 285 Kent, Europa, Glasslands, Knitting Factory, Brooklyn Bowl and more (full list and locations here)
Price: Badges start at $80 and go up to $250 for VIP access (purchase here)
The Lowdown: L Magazine's annual music festival plays out like a summer version of CMJ, but limited to venues on the north side of Brooklyn (hence the name). Discovering new artists is major point of of the festival, with many up and coming local acts performing alongside established indie artists. Badges of different denominations can be purchased which in theory will allow you access to all shows, but even Northside's website admits that admission is not guaranteed (due to the fact that all of these shows are also ticketed to the public and a lot of the venues are pretty small). Basically, get to a venue early if it's an act you're dying to see, or just buy tickets to individual shows if you don't want to deal with a badge.
Highlights: The big pull of this year's lineup is GZA performing Liquid Swords in its entirety (an early and late show will take place at MHOW on June 14), but personally I'm excited to get to see Future of the Left (their only North American show on the horizon) at Europa on June 17. It will also be great to catch Olivia Tremor Control once again, as well as Ceremony and one of my newest favorites, Caveman (who are playing BrooklynVegan's showcase at MHOW on June 15). Also do your best to make it into our friend NYCTaper's showcase at 285 Kent on June 14, where White Hills are sure to melt faces and EULA are bound to destroy. Northside's day-by-day schedule (which also includes cinema and art exhibitions) can be found over here.
What: Governors Ball
When: June 23 & 24
Who: Beck, Passion Pit, Modest Mouse, Fiona Apple, Explosions in the Sky, Built To Spill, Santigold, James Murphy & Pat Mahoney DJ Set and more (full lineup here)
Where: Randall's Island
Price: One day tickets start at $95, two days tickets start at $180 (see full ticket options here)
The Lowdown: Governors Ball is an annual music festival in New York City that used to take place at... yes, Governors Island. Apparently that wasn't such a convenient place to hold a two day music festival, so the organizers found it best to move it to Randall's Island. I'm not sure how much more convenient that will be. The good news is that the lineup is one of the stronger ones of this summer's multi-day festivals in New York City, so a two day pass is a pretty good deal. Another good aspect is there their website claims there will be no overlapping sets. So you won't have to make the rough decision to catch Beck over Modest Mouse.
Highlights: For those who were unable to see Fiona Apple during the handful of intimate shows she held in New York City last March, this is your chance to finally watch her perform. Also considering Beck hasn't performed a show in the area since 2008 (I can't believe that's true, but apparently it is), that just may be the sole reason to buy a ticket. Not to mention that James Murphy & Pat Mahoney (aka Special Disco Version) will throw down one of their legendary DJ sets -- sure to be a highlight of the weekend.
What: CBGB Music Festival
When: July 4-8
Who: Guided By Voices, Cloud Nothings, Richard Lloyd, Superchunk, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Sick of It All, Rocket From The Tombs, Craig Finn, D Generation, David Johansen, and may more (full lineup here)
Where: Various venues in New York City (full venue list here)
Price: Badges start at $69 for just music, and go up to $299 for a music/film combo badge (see full ticket options here)
The Lowdown: CBGB the venue may be long gone, but that hasn't stopped the owners of the club's assets from planning a festival that aims to represent the aesthetic once associated with the iconic Bowery spot. Modeled somewhat after SXSW and CMJ, the first annual CBGB Festival will take place amongst dozens of venues throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, with the film portion taking place at Sunshine Theatre and Village East Cinema. Many of the films (all music based) have been previously released (like Sid and Nancy, 24 Hour Party People and New York Doll), but you can also catch new movies like What Did You Expect?, the Archers of Loaf documentary during the festival. Check out the film lineup here.
Highlights: The biggest show of the festival will be a free show at Central Park SummerStage on July 7, headlined by the one and only Guided By Voices, featuring opening sets from The War on Drugs, Cloud Nothings and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (great lineup). You can also catch the legendary proto-punk acts Rocket From The Tombs, David Johansen and Richard Lloyd, who no doubt paved the way for the scene that emerged at CBGB. This is being billed as an emerging artists festival though, so be sure to check out many of the lesser known acts once the full schedule is released. For now, you can see the initial music schedule over here.
What: 4Knots Music Festival
When: July 14
Who: Archers of Loaf, The Drums, Crocodiles, Hospitality, Bleached, Nick Waterhouse, Team Spirit, Doldrums and Devin (with more to be announced)
Where: South Street Seaport, Pier 17
Price: Free
The Lowdown: What was once the annual Siren Music Festival at Coney Island has now become the 4Knots Festival; still organized by the Village Voice, and looking to still be an annual free July festival. Bands play from 1-8pm during the day on two separate stages.
Highlights: Siren long held the reputation for booking bands that would eventually become huge months later. This year, many of the acts are already established indie bands, but it will still be fun to see Hospitality again, and of course to check out Archers of Loaf do what the do best (play amazing, energetic shows). The Seaport is also, let's face it, a much nicer backdrop for live music than the humid, sketchy environment of Coney Island in the summer--as much as I loved going there for Siren. You can't really argue with free indie music festival during the summer, so you'd be silly to not make it down there for this.
What: Catalpa NYC
When: July 28-29
Who: The Black Keys, Snoop Dogg, TV on the Radio, Girl Talk, Cold War Kids, Hercules and Love Affair, A$AP Rocky and more (full lineup here)
Where: Randall's Island
Price: $99 for two days, VIP for $239 (ticket options here)
The Lowdown: The first annual Catalpa Festival is a smorgasbord of a lineup, featuring artists throughout the hip-hop, indie, reggae and electronic music scenes. Considering it's the first year they're holding it, they've managed to confirm a pretty solid two days of live music, and for a really affordable price.
Highlights: Considering The Black Keys are seemingly headlining every festival on Earth lately, I wouldn't really call them much of a highlight. But seeing Snoop Dogg performing Doggstyle in its entirety should be fun, in addition to performances by TV on the Radio (who haven't played here since last summer), as well as indie band Cold War Kids and dance-punk act Hercules and Love Affair. Again, for $99 Catalpa is the most bang for your buck this summer.
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That settles it for part one of our summer guide. Stay tuned for part two, where we will highlight Prospect Park's Celebrate Brooklyn series, Central Park SummerStage, the Williamsburg Waterfront shows and more.
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