Modern News

They’re baaaack!  It took a while to get off the ground, but July 11 marked the return of JellyNYC’s Pool Parties series to Brooklyn.  While being back in last years setting of the Williamsburg Waterfront, one noticed several marked changes upon entering.  The biggest, obviously, was the stage being moved so that the performers get the skyline view instead of the crowd.  Additions also included a makeshift bar in a building behind the stage, the much larger 21+ area complete with metal turnstiles and a wood burning pizza oven courtesy of Roberta’s Pizza.

The crowd seemed a little sparse at first, probably mostly due to the World Cup championship game which Jelly was unfortunately not able to show.  Those who did come early saw performances by Pictureplane, Fang Island (prior to its tours with The Flaming Lips and Stone Temple Pilots) and Cincinnati’s Why?.  It was my first experience with Why? in person, but the performance left some audience members cringing, while others sang along to every word.

This all set the stage for Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu collaborating to perform Joy Division’s album Unknown Pleasures in its entirety.  Jamie Stewart was actually an impressive ringer for Ian Curtis today with his low baritone voice.  The unit made good on its promise and played the whole record from beginning to end.  The only problem was it was 10 songs totaling around 40 minutes.  A short but sweet nostalgic set closed out what hopefully will be a great summer of music.