You know how they say spring is the time when a young man’s fancy turns to love? Well, spring can go take a hike (and take winter with you). If you live in New York City, your favorite season should be summer. You know, because of the sheer amount of summer shows (many of which are free!) that are at your disposal!
Since we last talked, the 2010 lineups for two of the city’s biggest summer concert series, SummerStage/Rumsey Playfield and Celebrate Brooklyn (the same concerts with which we told you about last week) have been updated. And let’s just say your studio apartment beneath the nail salon isn’t the only place that’ll be heating up in the Big Apple this summer.
While SummerStage already had a lot of big names filling out the whole ordeal, there’s been a few substantial additions, including Gil Scott-Heron, St. Vincent, The xx, tUnE-yArDs, and more, all of which will be playing free shows. The likes of Hot Chip, Gov’t Mule, The Black Keys, and The Morning Benders will also be taking part in the SummerStage festivities, however, their respective performances will all come in the form of benefit concerts to support the full season of free programs. So, you’ll have to pay to get into ’em.
It should be noted that while all the shows listed (which you can peep below) are at Rumsey Playfield, not all are SummerStage shows.We’re talking pretty much about the Cake, Ween, Coheed and Cambria, and Broken Social Scene gigs. But don’t let that stop you from enjoying your summer and a group of awesome shows, including some by some band Pavement.
And while the sheer number of concerts at SummerStage almost eclipses the shows we think you’ll dig when compared to the 2010 Celebrate Brooklyn event, don’t you dare skip out on a trip to Prospect Park. Kicking off the summer extravaganza is Norah Jones, and it only gets better as the degrees in the thermometer tick their way north. Expect free performances from Sonic Youth, The Swell Season, Metric, The Roots, and Ozomatli. Plus, Passion Pit, Rufus Wainwright, The National, and The Dead Weather will be performing ticketed benefit shows.
Find a complete list of SummerStage and Celebrate Brooklyn shows below. Special thanks to BrooklynVegan for the through pre-coverage. For additional info on SummerStage and Celebrate Brooklyn, head here and here.
2010 Summerstage/Rumsey Playfield Lineup:
05/16 – Leon and the Peoples
05/26 – Coheed and Cambria, Circa Survive, Torche #
06/05 – Living Colour w/ Ebony Bones!, Pillow Theory, and CX KiDTRONik (3 p.m.)
06/14 – Baaba Maal, Mamadou Sarr ( 7 p.m.)
06/15 – John Butler Trio, State Radio (6:30 p.m.) #
06/19 – Meshell Ndegeocello (NYC LGBT Pride Rally) (4 p.m.)
06/23 – Stanley Clarke ft. Hiromi, McCoy Tyner Quartet w/ Ravi Coltrane, Esperanza Spalding, Francisco Mela (CareFusionJazz Festival) ( 7 p.m.)
06/26 – Tinariwen (3 p.m.)
06/27 – Gil Scott Heron (3 p.m.)
06/30 – Def Poetry Jam ft. Carlos Andres Gomez and others ( 7 p.m.)
07/25 – Bassekou Kouyate, Fool’s Gold (3 p.m.)
07/26 – The Flaming Lips (7 p.m.) #
07/27 – The Black Keys w/ The Morning Benders (6:30 p.m.) #
07/28 – The Black Keys w/ The Morning Benders (6:30 p.m.) #
07/31 – Los Amigos Invisibles (3 p.m.)
08/01 – St. Vincent w/ tUnE-yArDs and Basia Bulat (3 p.m.)
08/04 – Hot Chip w/ Hercules and Love Affair, Holy Ghost! (6:30 p.m.) #
08/08 РThe xx w/ CHairlift and Jack Pe̱ate (7 p.m.)
08/11 – Gov’t Mule (6 p.m.) #
08/15 – Public Enemy w/ 7th Octave and Blitz the Ambassador (3 p.m.)
08/22 – The Specials (3 p.m.)
09/16 – Cake #
09/17 – Ween #
09/18 – Broken Social Scene #
09/21 – Pavement (7 p.m.) #
09/22 – Pavement #
09/23 – Pavement w/ Slothbear #
09/24 – Pavement #
2010 Celebrate Brooklyn Lineup:
06/09 – Norah Jones (Opening Night Gala) (8 p.m.)
06/29 – Passion Pit w/ Tokoy Police Club (Benefit Show) (7:30 p.m.) #
07/09 – Ozomatli w/ Fidel Nadal and Toy Selectah (Bud Light Latin Music Series) (8 p.m.)
07/20 – Rufus Wainwright (Benefit Show) (7 p.m.) #
07/27 – The National w/ Beach House (Benefit Show) (7:30 p.m.) #
07/30 – The Swell Season, The Low Anthem (Bud Light Music Series) (7:30 p.m.)
07/31 – Sonic Youth w/ Grass Widow and Talk Normal (7 p.m.)
08/03 – The Dead Weather (Benefit Show) (7 p.m.) #
08/05 – Metric w/ Joan as Police Woman and Holly Miranda ( 7p.m.)
08/07 – Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Budos Band and more (7 p.m.)
# = Ticketed show, aka it will cost you money. For tixs, head here for SummerStage and here for Celebrate Brooklyn.