Quantcast

Rock, out: Top outdoor concerts in Brooklyn this summer

Rock, out: Top outdoor concerts in Brooklyn this summer
Associated Press / Gerald Herbert

Going to see bands in dark, stinky, overcrowded bars is no way to spend your summer. Fortunately, plenty of great musicians and acts will be playing concerts in parks and other outdoor spaces around Brooklyn this year — many of them free — so you can enjoy the tunes with the sun on your face, rather than some stranger’s sweaty armpit. Here is an extensive guide to some of the best alfresco shows ahead.

Khaaan!

Ain’t nobody better for the job — the “Queen of Funk” Chaka Khan kicks off this year’s Celebrate Brooklyn! series of free concerts in Prospect Park.

Prospect Park bandshell (enter at Ninth Street and Prospect Park West in Park Slope, www.bricartsmedia.org). June 3 at 8 pm, gates open at 6:30 pm. Free.

Kids rock

Flatbush teen metal band Unlocking the Truth — which has skyrocketed to fame in recent years, appearing all over television, opening for Guns ’N’ Roses and Motorhead, and scoring a major-label record deal — will close out a six-night series of SummerStage shows at Red Hook Park. Bands from the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls and Black Girls Rock! will open the show.

Red Hook Park [Halleck Street at Bush Street in Red Hook, www.cityparksfoundation.org]. June 7 at 4 pm. Free.

Pop rocks

The stars of indie-pop come together when Built to Spill, Best Coast, and Alvvays — three bands that really dig the combination of jangly guitars and sweet vocals — play 50 Kent as part of Northside Festival, which hosts shows both outdoors and indoors around Brooklyn’s northern neighborhoods from June 11–14.

50 Kent (50 Kent Ave. between N. 11th and N. 12th streets in Williamsburg, www.northsidefestival.com). June 13 at 5 pm. $30.

Punk in the park

Punk outfit Against Me! will rock Williamsburg’s McCarren Park with a free show as part of Northside Festival.

McCarren Park (N. 12th Street and Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, www.northsidefestival.com). June 13 from 2:30–7 pm. Free, but online RSVPs required.

Jazz hands

The Red Hook Jazz Festival will bring a collection of cool cats and hot horn sections to the eponymous neighborhood’s Urban Meadow Community Garden across two Sundays in June. This year’s lineup includes guitarist Ben Monder, saxophonist and flutist Eric Person, and Brooklyn Qawwali Party, a 10-piece band that reworks the music of Pakistani folk singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan into jazz tunes.

Urban Meadow Community Garden (19 President St. at Van Brunt Street in Red Hook, www.facebook.com/redhookjazzfestival). June 14 and June 21 at 1–6 pm. $10, kids free.

What gems

Acclaimed hip-hop duo Run the Jewels — featuring Brooklynite El-P — close out this year’s Northside Festival, supported by local noise-poppers Sleigh Bells and rapper Vince Staples.

50 Kent (50 Kent Ave. between N. 11th and N. 12th streets in Williamsburg, www.bkhiphopfestival). June 14 at 6 pm. $30.

Met life

Get some class in the grass when stars from the Metropolitan Opera perform famous arias and duets at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1 [enter at Old Furman and Fulton streets, www.metopera.org). June 17 at 7 pm. Free.

Just two friends

Brooklyn rap legends Biz Markie and Masta Ace will take to the mic at Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Herbert Von King Park, opening a five-night run of SummerStage shows there.

Herbert Von King Park [Marcy Avenue at Lafayette Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, www.cityparksfoundation.org]. June 17 at 7 pm. Free.

String fling

No tuxedos necessary — see the New York Philharmonic while wearing shorts and flip-flops when the famed classical group performs at Prospect Park. Big-deal Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit will lead the orchestra in works including Stravinsky’s “Petrushka” and Ravel’s “La Valse,” and there will be fireworks afterwards.

Prospect Park, Long Meadow Ballfields (enter at Prospect Park West and Prospect Park Southwest, www.nyphil.org). June 18 at 8 pm. Free.

Praise her

The Brooklyn Academy of Music’s annual R&B Festival brings a little sunshine and soul into the dreary lives of Downtown MetroTech cubicle monkeys. As part of the festivities, Erica Campbell — probably best known as one-half of contemporary gospel duo Mary Mary — will bring her Grammy-award-winning pipes to the lawn of the office complex for a free lunchtime concert.

MetroTech Commons (2 Metrotech Center between Jay Street and Flatbush Avenue Downtown, www.bam.org). June 18 at noon. Free.

Americana idol

Widely-beloved alt-country singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams brings her soulful strains to Prospect Park for a Celebrate Brooklyn! concert, supported by local gospel and soul singer Jason Walker.

Prospect Park bandshell (enter at Ninth Street and Prospect Park West in Park Slope, www.bricartsmedia.org). June 25 at 7:30 pm, gates open at 6:30 pm. Free.

Independence sway

Celebrate Fourth of July by dancing up a storm when the George Gee Swing Orchestra plays patriotic and all-American tunes at Kingsborough Community College.

Kingsborough Community College Lighthouse Bandshell [2001 Oriental Blvd. at Quentin Street in Manhattan Beach, (718) 368–5596, www.onstageatkingsborough.org]. July 4 at 8 pm. Free.

Rapper’s delight

Rapper Common is headlining this year’s Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival, but it’s not un-common for unannounced big-name special guests — like Kanye West and Jay-Z — to give surprise performances at the fest.

50 Kent (50 Kent Ave. between N. 11th and N. 12th streets in Williamsburg, www.bkhiphopfestival). July 11 at 1 pm. $50.

We need the P-Funk

George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic is gonna tear the roof off MetroTech, when the legendary weirdo funk collective plays the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s R&B Festival. Expect to see a few Courier Life staffers spending their lunch break in the audience.

MetroTech Commons (2 Metrotech Center between Jay Street and Flatbush Avenue Downtown, www.bam.org). July 16 at noon. Free.

Party people

Massive outdoor party the Greatest Day Ever! returns for a second year with artists including Travis Scott, Trippy Turtle, and Walshy Fire.

50 Kent (50 Kent Ave. between N. 11th and N. 12th streets in Williamsburg, www.bkhiphopfestival). July 18 at 1–10 pm. $55.

I want to hear ‘Bright Lights’ tonight

New York rock icons Interpol will fill Prospect Park with its broody, moody melodies, playing tunes from the band’s newest album “El Pintor” and no doubt plenty of cuts from its now-classic “Turn on the Bright Lights.”

Prospect Park bandshell (enter at Ninth Street and Prospect Park West in Park Slope, www.bricartsmedia.org). July 21 at 7 pm, gates open at 6 pm. $35.

Beach party

Electronic dance music record label Mad Decent is bringing its touring Mad Decent Block Party festival back to Coney Island for another year, with a lineup that includes Cashmere Cat and Trippy Turtle, Major Lazer, and bizarre South African rap-rave act Die Antwoord.

MCU Park (1904 Surf Ave. between W. 18th and W. 19th streets in Coney Island, www.maddecentblockparty.com). Aug. 8-9 at 2 pm. $45 per day.

Old gold

Country music legend Willie Nelson is on the road again and headed to Prospect Park, where he will play a show backed up by members of olde-timey Americana band Old Crow Medicine Show.

Prospect Park bandshell (enter at Ninth Street and Prospect Park West in Park Slope, www.bricartsmedia.org). Aug. 12 at 7 pm, gates open at 6 pm. $55 ($52.50 advance).

Punk’s not dead

As of printing, details have not yet been released for this year’s Afropunk Festival, an annual two celebration of black alternative bands and artists. But expect it to be back in late August, expect it to be at Fort Greene’s Commodore Barry Park, and expect it to be awesome — previous acts have included Bad Brains, Body Count, D’Angelo, and Janella Monae.

Commodore Barry Park (Flushing Avenue at Navy Street in Fort Greene, www.afropunkfest.com). Date TBA.

Funk master: George Clinton will bring his fantastic hair — and also Parliament Funkadelic — to Downtown on July 16.
Associated Press / Keystone / Georgios Kefalas