Battles and Deerhunter at the Seaport

Around 4 p.m. on Friday, Omar and I decided to bounce from work, catch the F train to the ACE and mosey on over to South Street Seaport for some hot Deerhunter/Battles action, the last of the free summer shows at that spot.

We were delayed by shenanigans on the orange line which left us stranded on a train, motionless for no less than 20 minutes, child screaming in my ear and all until we switched to the red line and mere minutes later, found ourselves at Fresh Salt, the coolest and only decent bar in that area. We ran into some old Atlanta cohorts of mine, Jay and Jaheem, and Omar's friend Amy.

After a few drinks, we made our way over to the seaport to catch the end of Deerhunter's set. They sounded excellent, much better than I remember when I resided in the ATL, veering somewhat into shoegazer territory.

Amy had a backstage pass from the Fourth of July Seaport show (New Pornographers, which I missed) and she said it should still be good for access. Then she threw out the two little words that sealed the deal for me: "Free Beer," evidently a perk for those who hold such a pass. She offered it up to a guy in the crew but he was disinterested in testing it out so I jumped on it.

It worked like a charm. Moments later, I found myself snapping pics of Bradford Cox and downing delicious, free Coors Lights. (They taste better when they're free, which is fortunate when they're Coors Light.)

I hung out for the remaining few Deerhunter numbers, snuck into the photographers pit and then wandered back out into the crowd to find Omar and report to the others that the tales were true: the pass worked and the beers were indeed flowing freely backstage. I tempted everyone else with it but inexplicably, no one wanted in on the action so Omar and I made our way back to the area and I situated myself backstage with him on the other side of the barricade where I could easily hand beers over and we could enjoy the show together.

Eventually, Battles took the stage. They sounded amazing and played a long and solid set. The crowd ate up every jam served up by the local math rockers.

Before Friday, I hadn’t jumped onto the Battles hype train along with the rest of the internet but I'm picking up Mirrored as soon as I can get my hands on it. You can’t go wrong with any project involving John Stanier (I was a huge Helmet fan back in the day too.)

Sadly, this was the last show of this concert series. It marks the end of the summer. But in true robot style, we ain't just letting the summer go out like that. The next few days were set aside for some tubing madness in the frosty rivers of Connecticut and after no less than six free beers, I found my way home only to awake at the ripe hour of 6:30 the next morning to catch the Jake Express to Farmington River.

Sound interesting? Check this space for the full details on those good times real soon.