Prince, Benzos, The Stills, Madison Strays, Jazzanova guy, Ayro

One of the main perks of living in New York City is the sheer amount of music you can experience live. For example, last Friday, July 9th, I got to check out not one, but two FREE shows. Of course, I balanced out the free shows with expensive Prince tickets, but come on — his name is Prince, and he is funky.

• Prince at Madison Square Garden — How jealous are you that I saw Prince at Madison Square Garden and you did not? Some of you may laugh, some of you may call me a pussy, but come on. How can anyone not like Prince? How could anyone have gone to this show and not come out smiling? The guy killed it. He played just about every hit he ever had, practically the entire Purple Rain album, songs like “Seven” and “Cream”, ripped it up on the guitar during a 45-minute acoustic set, even played the bass for a song, and had Maceo Parker backing him on sax. Are you kidding me? Following the three song encore that ended the show, when I walked out of that place all I could hear were people singing the end part of “Purple Rain”. This guy knows how to put on a show, owns his own label, and gave out free copies of his new album to everyone who went to the show. Wow.

• Benzos at Pianos — Benzos is an unsigned band that is getting some hype around town because they just might be the next good thing to come out of New York. They recently rocked Pianos with a free show, and the crowd seemed to love it, despite some troubles at the sound board early on. The band hits you with a wall of sound made up of layered guitars, Jeff Buckleyesque vocals, and most importantly, tight, pounding drum ‘n’ bass-influenced live drums. They’re still pretty new and could use a little tightening up, but Benzos definitely has the potential to take the world by storm with their unique sound. And man, their drummer really tears it up.

• The Stills at Clinton Castle in Battery Park — Snore. The Stills bored me to death with their free show at the visually appealing but sonically abysmal Clinton Castle. This place was a fort or something back when NY was run by injuns, and I think they kept the same sound system. Anyway, there’s nothing bad about The Stills, but there’s nothing really good about them either. It’s basically The Strokes for Dawson’s Creek fans. It’s got a bit of a dancy indie rock feel to it, but it’s real safe and uninteresting music. I almost started reading but I didn’t want to upset the dainty hipster high schoolers around me.

• Madison Strays at Mercury Lounge — These guys were the first of two opening acts for Jesse Malin at Mercury Lounge, and it was a bummer they went on so early because no-one was there to see them. For the first few songs there were about 15 people in the room. They were real good though.
Their music sounds kinda like a faster, updated version of The Cure, and it’s very catchy and you can picture depressed teenage girls lying around listening to them and writing awful poetry. I know this doesn’t necessarily sound like a good thing, but trust me, these guys could open up for Interpol and it would totally work. The lead singer DJs at a hipster bar off the Williamsburg Bridge on Thursdays, and sometimes the Asian guys in the band make appearances to show off their cool haircuts.

• Jazzanova guy and Ayro at RARE — Jazzanova is a cool group that makes chill, groovy dance music with a jazzy, latin feel to it. They rarely play in the U.S. so its special to see them live, even if it’s just a little DJ gig at an dark little club like RARE. So one of the Jazzanova guys got on the tables and he spun some good tunes I guess, but somehow he was completely overshadowed by the opening act — some skinny white dude named Ayro. With a drum machine, mic and keyboard, this guy created a live house set that had the entire place dancing for more than an hour. When he was done, the Jazzanova guy went on and immediately, half the crowd just broke out.

So those were the shows. But before I wrap this up, I’d like to leave you with a warning. Do not listen to anyone who tells you about a hot new band called The Killers, unless they are telling you that they suck. Because they do. They suck bad. They are nothing but a manufactured boy band, dressed up like hipsters in an attempt to appeal to Franz Ferdinand fans. And speaking of Franz Ferdinand, as wussy as they are, The Killers make them seem like Pantera.

Oh, and don’t forget to download the new Interpol album. God knows you wouldn’t want to be a square and actually buy it when it comes out in stores.

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