Yeah Yeah Yeahs (McCarren Pool, Brooklyn, NY 12 August 2006)

New Yorkers have this term called "summering." It's like "simmering", given that New York summers tend to be hot and humid, but there is also certain non-essential factors involved in that term. For Brooklynites living in Williamsburg, it involves wearing hipster clothes, a bottle of rosé, oversized sunglasses, shorts that are either (a) American Apparel or (b) altered from a pair of old jeans and, of course, either (a) cool hair or (b) one of those communist hats that Castro would wear.

In 2006, another factor was added to the term "summering" for Brooklynites: a concert at McCarren Pool.

McCarren Pool is, obviously, in McCarren Park. It's nothing but an abandoned pool that looks like shit. However, the place has a certain charm to it. Given the amount of people in there and the festive mood.

And it was fairly obvious that a majority of people there were "summering" even before the show. I know I was at P.S. 1.

The YYYs and Sonic Youth were the next installment in this summer concert series at said pool. Unlike the others this is a paying show, which makes sense because it subsidizes the free shows. There was a fair amount of people at McCarren today, basking in the warm NY sun. The temperature, atmosphere and the crowd couldn't have been better.



YYYs came on and they opened up with "Black Tongue." Karen O. was dressed up in her (un)usual dress. Nick is the same as always. And so is that other guy. Oh, and the second guitarist was there too. The YYYs didn't exactly move the crowd much other than getting them to stand up instead of sit down.



A plethora of new songs from the rather "okay" record Show Your Bones was played. My personal favourite, "Cheating Hearts" was great although it didn't quite move me as much as before. "Gold Lion" was also quite good, but it wasn't necessarily groundbreaking by any means.



I think the reason why the YYYs were so "ok" was: (1) I was summering way too long before the show and (2) the fact that they played when the sun was still out detracted from the usual panache that accompanies each YYYs show. I mean, how can one appreciate Karen O's dress and theatrics without the lights colorful lights shining on it? You can't. At least that much.

Beer Rating: