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The Oblivians Live At The Beekman Beer Garden, New York City, June 7, 2013.

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    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • The Oblivians Live At The Beekman Beer Garden, New York City, June 7, 2013.



    The Oblivians Live At The Beekman Beer Garden, New York City, June 7, 2013.

    On any given night, there's a lot of competition for your rock 'n roll dollars in a city as big as New York, but on June 7th, the competition was considerably more fierce than usual. Not only were The Queens Of The Stone Age playing a sold out show in Brooklyn but down the East River a couple of miles there were a whole lot of people doing the all day festival thing at The Governor's Ball, a three day event that was going to happen rain or shine. Note the use of the word 'rain' there - it's important. Why? Because The Oblivians were also slated to play that night, as part of the ongoing Seaport Music Fest, a series of free concerts put on at the South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan.

    And then the rain came. It didn't stop.

    Thankfully, the good people next door at the Beekman Beer Garden came to the rescue and offered the use of their tented patio area. This meant that it was no longer an all ages show, but it was still free and it was still a damn good reason to come to an area that is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Sandy more than six months after this particular area of NYC got its ass kicked. A lot of local businesses were hit hard and were still recovering. However, with all that competition going on, and with a consistent and torrential downpour happening throughout the day and long past the close of the show, it made sense that the show wasn't packed. Given the odds stacked against it, and the fairly early start time (Ex-Cult, the opening act, went on at 7:00pm - there was no way I was getting there in time for that), the turnout was good and if it wasn't packed to the rafters, well, the crowd made up for it with enthusiasm, a special 'high five' going out to the two girls who just said 'to Hell with it' and danced their asses off outside, soaking wet and having way more fun than anybody else.

    But enough about that. The Oblivians were playing New York City for the first time in ages in support of their first new album in well over a decade, Desperation. There was no fuss, no stage show really, and not a whole lot in the way of crowd interaction. The band got up, introduced themselves and played fast and loud. There was a bit of joking back and forth when 'Jack broke a guitar' and when the band 'traded places' and switched up drumming duties but for the most part, original members Greg Cartwright, Jack Yarber, and Eric Friedl got up and did their thing. Cartwright started out on guitar and vocals then switched to drums, Friedl more or less stayed on guitar all night and did vocals while Yarber started out on drums and later switched to guitar and vocals. The band played a pretty solid seventy minute set comprised of tracks off of the new album like Woke Up In A Police Car (which sounds killer live) and a good mix of 'popular favorites' like Bad Man, Motorcycle Leather Boy and loads more.

    Lots of energy from the stage and the crowd made for a really fun show despite the fact that, by the time it was all over there was an inch of water on the ground under the tent. But hey, why let the rain spoil a good time and the Brooklyn Bridge sure does look pretty all lit up at night.

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