As the sun begins to set on Hell Gate's Beach Week, we think it's only appropriate to invite you to spend the next two evenings with us on Rockaway Beach. We're thrilled to be partnering with the gang from the booking collective (and erstwhile, if-you-know-you-know DIY venue) Shea Stadium to host a concert of local bands at burger shack Rippers at Beach 86th in the Rockaways. Last year's event was a great success, so this time we're coming back for more, doing two consecutive concerts on July 10 (that's today!) and July 11 (that's tomorrow!), starting at 5 p.m. It's absolutely free, just come on by.
Tonight's festivities will start with Evan Wright, a Brooklyn-based folk-country singer and producer. His 2021 album "Sound From Out The Window" is hypnotic from front to back—for a taste, we recommend starting out with "Just A Sign"—and Wright has been playing some new songs at recent shows, so perhaps he'll treat us to some of those.
Following that will be the increasingly prolific jazz-folk guitarist Wendy Eisenberg, in trio with bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Ryan Sawyer. Eisenberg's self-titled album came out this year to much acclaim, but they've been a stalwart of the city's experimental music scene for a long time.
Headlining the Friday night show will be Steve Gunn, a prolific folk singer-songwriter and Brooklyn mainstay with a dreamy voice on the guitar. You may know him from the two albums he released last year: the ambient delight "Music for Writers," which came out last August, and the rollicking "Daylight Daylight," released in November.
Make your way back to Rippers on Saturday evening, too, because we'll still be partying. Pets, the new-ish Brooklyn lounge pop project, will get the ball rolling with twinkling synths and saxophones as the sun begins to set. Brooklyn party rockers Foyer Red will follow, and then we'll enjoy Quemarlo Todo Por Error, the sometimes-mathy, sometimes-dreamy Brooklyn-via-Colombia band. Quemarlo just happened to put out a new song, "Reloj," today, so give it a listen.
Then, some soulful vinyl DJing from friend-of-the-blog Marc Myst will hold down the day as we prepare for Discovery Zone, the hosts of our indie pop party, to round out two nights of Hell-Gate-meets-Shea-Stadium-meets-Rippers excellence. What's not to love? We'll see you there!