Cold War Kids celebrate Brooklyn

Friday night I spent a lovely night in Prospect Park for part of the Celebrate Brooklyn series. It was supposed to rain, but the weather couldn't have been much nicer actually.

First up was Sam Champion. They didn't blow me away but they had a decent energy and I liked their music for the most part. They had a few great poppy rock tunes, including the one I've posted below, which is rising its way into my list of favorite tracks of the moment. On a side note, the bass player made me really happy because he was smiling and rocking out with his cool hair the whole time.

Next up was Elvis Perkins in Dearland, who I saw last year at Siren Festival. They were even better than I remember them being. They looked like they were having so much fun on stage and their music really is great. They're each such talented musicians, particularly the guy who plays 4 or 5 different instruments. Though it seems to me they all play a bunch of different instruments because some of them came out with the Cold War Kids and created a brass/woodwinds section for them. I also really like the drummer of Dearland, because he doesn't let himself get stuck in the back at the drum set. For some songs he gets up and carries this big bass drum and cymbal and jumps around the stage. He's pretty fun to watch. I would have to say Elvis Perkins in Dearland stole the show.

Cold War Kids were headlining and they were good, but Elvis Perkins in Dearland was a tough act to follow and the times when I liked them most was when Dearland came up and played with them. It amped everyone's energy up quite a bit each time. One cool thing about Cold War Kids though was that they played a lot of new stuff that hasn't come out yet, so that was fun to get a sneak peak at that. Overall a good show.

Be Mine Everyone [mp3] - Sam Champion - "Heavenly Bender" (iTunes unavailable)

All The Night Without Love [mp3] - Elvis Perkins in Dearland - "Ash Wednesday" (iTunes)

We Used to Vacation [mp3] - Cold War Kids - "Robbers & Cowards" (iTunes)

share this post on de.licio.us / facebook