For most who made the trip way downtown for the River To River / Seaport Music Festival kick-off show, it was the official start to NYC's summer concert season. And you couldn't do better, opening with the uniformed Danielson and his familyre sounds 'til dusk, and the extraordinary avant-everything strawberry jamming of Animal Collective. For free. Love NYC.
Friday night AC were a trio; Panda Bear, Avey Tare, and the Geologist graced the Seaport stage, while Deakin did not. Well not technically; after moving around to a rear-view of the performance platform, friends pointed out Deakin sitting behind the PA system, on stage but out of sight to the crowd, just watching. We're told that he's not on this tour, but this has us pretty confused. Which is to say, we were at an Animal Collective show.
The set was dedicated to Sung Tongs and the forthcoming Domino-released LP; after a fantastic jaunt through "Who Could Win A Rabbit," Avey announced they'd be playing "some new songs." With a crowd pleaser and the slowly setting sun out of the way, the Seaport got its first taste of Strawberry Jam, sitting somewhere between Tongs' madcap bluster and Feels' inviting structure. Unlike their Webster show last year, which saw an already divisive band split its own fans into the frustrated and the fawning (the Geologist was "feeling it" that night, morphing every tune into a looping, abstrat sound collage), Friday's set rang true to most of the massive crowd gathered by the water.
To complete the set's Sungian symmetry, the Collective capped off the night with a perfectly spastic "We Tigers" (Geologist's whiplashing staredowns in full effect) and the classic, psychedelic vocal exercises of "Leaf House" -- but the trance-y calypso of new jam "Chores" ended up the night's post-show conversation piece. One of the year's best shows, easily, but being a free show, with one of the world's most creative bands, showing off excellent new material ... how could it not be? Lots of pics from both sets after the jump, plus a game of "Where's Deakin?" for your enjoyment.
DANIELSON
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