Menomena at the South Street Seaport

Free concert season is blowing up all over town! Last night at the Seaport those "experimental-rockers" Menomena tore through an outstanding hour-long set in front of what sax/ bass/ guitar/ singer Justin Harris called "by far the largest crowd" they've ever played for.

I'm not so up on the band that I can give you a full set list, but I do know that they started with Weird, ended with My Monkey's Back, and the ten or so songs in between definitely included Rotten Hell and Wet and Rusting. I can also report that the audience was enormously enthusiastic (especially Matt Levy); that the band was tight and excited and worked hard from start to finish; that drummer/ singer Danny Seim was excellent on the kit; that I thought guitar/ keyboards/ electronics/ singer Brent Knopf's heart-ibook was cute (have I seen that before, somewhere else?); and that this would have been a great $25 show, but for free? Just one more amazing thing about living in this beautiful city.


By the way, freewheeling opening act Beat the Devil (below) was also terrific, I thought—I had never heard them before today—if maybe a little repetitious in their sound. Singer/ harmonium-ist Shilpa Ray can really belt it out, no?

The South Street Seaport is located at the eastern end of Fulton Street. I arrived last night at around 6:45 (for a supposed 7:00 start) and, especially being a single, probably could have stood as close to the stage as I wanted. The whole show ended around 9:30. Don't forget to come see The National, playing here on August 17.