Now that Memorial Day has unofficially started the summer season, it doesn't take long for all the summer festivals to get their schedules out. Celebrate Brooklyn, in Prospect Park, has a particularly good-looking lineup this summer, but of course the usual suspects - Central Park SummerStage, the River To River Festival, and Midsummer Night Swing, to name just a few - have a wealth of concerts for the those who have a little less wealth this year.
Free concerts are always a great thing, but especially in tough times. You know how it is with the schools - when the budgets get slashed, the arts, music included, usually are the first to go. My kids' public school in Brooklyn has a strong PTA that fundraised for music and art and dance programs; and I see the people who support and program the summer free concerts as doing a similar service.
Anyway, there's lots to look forward to this summer. Celebrate Brooklyn has a number of benefit concerts that require you to buy a ticket, but you can always sit on the hill behind the seating section for free. But Blonde Redhead on June 26 and the daylong African Festival on July 18 (with King Sunny Ade, among others) both look good and are part of the usual $3 contribution series, which is pretty close to free. And this Sunday is the summer's first big event, the annual Bang On A Can Marathon, taking place at the World Financial Center's Winter Garden, where all the events are free, all the time. This year's marathon is once again a smorgasbord of new composed music, heavy on the Downtown scene, with indie rock (including the indefinable and influential Tortoise), world music (Chinese pipa music by Wu Man), free jazz, and even a bit of a Danish invasion, with some choral and chamber works by that country's leading young composers, most of whom are unknown here.
And that's the other great thing about free concerts: A $50 ticket (or more) might temper your enthusiasm to try out some music you've never heard before. It's a lot easier to do it when the price is right.
Tell us: what summer concert series do you enjoy? What concerts are you looking forward to this summer?
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John Schaefer has hosted Soundcheck since the show’s inception in 2002. He has also hosted and produced WNYC’s radio series New Sounds since 1982 (“The No. 1 radio show for the Global Village” – Billboard) and the New Sounds Live concert series since 1986.
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