The Modern Sky Festival NYC happened in Central Park last Sunday (10-4-15) headlined by Yoko Ono and The Plastic Ono Band.  The 82 year old widow of John Lennon launched the group along with John in ’69 as a concept; a kind of umbrella that would encompass whoever got involved, even the audience, in music making with them that lasted about five years.  Ono, however, revived the name about six years ago.  For this performance, the band was not announced ahead of time and it turned out to be stacked.  She was backed by Yo La Tengo along with, depending on the song, Jared Samuel on keys, tabla player Nitin Mitta, drummer Denardo Coleman, cellist Kris Hoffman, singer Julianna Barwick, Sean Lennon, and Thurston Moore.

Modern Sky is a bit of an umbrella as well as it’s a record label and concert promoter as well as a magazine and other things but it’s best known for the festival that began in Beijing in 2007.  The lineup in Central Park was heavy on Beijing artists with New Pants turning in an especially exciting performance.  Sex, Drugs, Internet (a taste is given in the video) was the song of the day from the unpredictable quartet.

Gang of Four is down to one original member these days but Andy Gill chose his current cohorts well.  The 2015 incarnation was tough and did justice to the classic material.  Just booking a band whose name is a reference to a part of airbrushed Chinese history seems like a coup for the organizers!

As with last year when I shivered through a Cat Power set, Modern Sky marks the end of outdoor concert season in NYC for the year.  Cheers to Summerstage for a great 30th anniversary year…

Cool event last night at the intimate Marlin Room (capacity 500) at Webster Hall with Thurston Moore.

It was a free show presented by Norton Antivirus and Pandora that you had to RSVP for and it featured an open bar – really!  The former Sonic Youth guitarist/singer is now living in London and is doing shows supporting the album he put out earlier this year called The Best Day.  The album was recorded with a neighbor in his new town – James Sedwards on second guitar, another Brit – Deb Googe on bass, known for her work in My Bloody Valentine and Primal Scream and, his old pal from the Sonics – Steve Shelley on drums.  All were present last night with the exception of Shelley.  The album follows last year’s self-titled effort by Chelsea Light Moving, the first band Thurston Moore formed after the breakup of Sonic Youth which – although there wasn’t any kind of formal announcement – now looks like a one-off.  This new band may have some legs as Googe is an excellent counterpart to Shelley in the rhythm section and Sedwards a fine foil for Moore on guitar with both of them playing some leads and allowing the other to drive the song or add textures.

No band that Thurston is in would fear feedback, distortion, or dissonance and the show (as well as the record) delivered those things but there was no shortage of melodies either best exemplified by The Best Day‘s title track.  The highlights of the set were the tunes that allowed the players to stretch out and find some magic in the spaces that opened up.  The opening cuts on the album – the 8 and a half minute Speak to the Wild and the 11 minute Forevemore filled that bill perfectly and were very satisfying.  Enjoy Sedwards’ bangs of doom and Thurston’s Charlie Brown tongue in the picture gallery…