Image: Devorah Klein
Ben Sollee at The Bell House, November 2008

The Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn is having some FREE shows this summer. The Bowery Presents just announced three free shows there:

• Love as Laughter on July 12
• Ben Sollee on July 31
• The Rural Alberta Advantage on August 4

Sweet! All great bands! And I think there may be other bands announced to play with these bands as well.

One of my all-time favorite bands, The Thermals, are in town. They played two shows this weekend at Bowery Ballroom and are at Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight. Last I checked, tickets were still on sale.

I had the privilege of seeing them on Saturday night and boy did they bring it. They opened with “St. Rosa” off their last album and continued the ngiht with a good mix from all their albums, inlcuding the new one, Now We Can See. As Wes Hutchinson “Don’t worry we’re going to play all the hits.” They also threw in a cover of Nirvana’s “Sappy” and The Breeder’s “Summer is Ready When You Are.” To make it a true 90s night, Wes took off his shirt for the encore. How punk! And at the end of the show Kathy shook hands with the corwd! Man, I love these guys.

More pics after the jump!

Read more

Image: Newscom
Craig Finn of the Hold Steady at Terminal 5 in November 2008

The two Hold Steady shows that went on sale earlier today have sold out, so they have added two more shows. Their NYC schedule looks like this now:

June 8 - Bowery Ballroom (sold out)
June 9 - Bowery Ballroom (ON SALE NOW)
June 10 - Music Hall of Williamsburg (sold out)
June 11 - Music Hall of Williamsburg (ON SALE NOW)

Sonic Youth will be headlining this year’s No Fun Fest, which is May 15-17 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Here is the full schedule (thx Brooklynvegan):

No Fun Fest 5/15/2009
Bastard Noise / Thrones / Grey Wolves / Xeno and Oaklander / Carlos Giffoni / Chris Corsano / Axolotl / Raglani / Noveller / DJs: Greh Holger, Steve Lowenthal

No Fun Fest 5/16/2009
Sonic Youth / Bardo Pond / Rafael Toral with C. Spencer Yeh, Trevor Tremaine / Sons of God / Pedestrian Deposit / Blank Dogs / Yellow Tears / Mattin / Pulse Emitter / DJs: Invernomuto, DJ JONBENET

No Fun Fest 5/17/2009
Merzbow / Skullflower / Con-Dom / Black Pus / Emeralds / Peter Rehberg/Marcus Schmickler / Cold Cave / Jazzfinger / Conrad Schnitzler Con-Cert / DJs: Mike Bernstein,CG Warrior

Tickets are ON SALE NOW.

Beirut played two shows at BAM this weekend, but on Wednesday night they played at the more intimate Music Hall of Williamsburg. Although the usually very full band was short a few people (there were only 5 people on stage), Zach Condon and Co. still managed to put on a great show. They played a great variety of old and new, with songs from every album, as well as a few covers from the likes of Ary Baroso/Ed Russel and Serge Gainsbourg. They played two lengthy encores but still the crowd (and me!) couldn’t seem to get enough. I can’t wait for the new double EP, March of the Zapotec, recorded in Mexico, which comes out on February 17.

All Images: Jennifer Perutka

Cat Power had two show scheduled at the Apollo Theater for this Friday and Saturday (February 6 & 7) and she has now added a third show on Thursday, February 5 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets are on sale now.

Lots of tickets on sale or going or presale:

• Israeli band Idan Raichel Project at Town Hall on March 26, tickets here
• The Gaslight Anthem at Webster Hall on March 27, tickets here
• Anathallo at Mercury Lounge on March 4, tickets here
• The Airborne Toxic Event at Bowery Ballroom on March 8, tickets here
• Phosporescent performing their new album of all Willie Nelson covers at Bell House on February 28, tickets here
• Bell X1 at Highline Ballroom on March 14, tickets here
• Goblin Cock with Rob Crow of Pinback at Highline Ballroom on February 11, tickets here
• Black Kids and Mates of State at Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 5 and Webster Hall on April 6 is on AmEx presale now, regular sale Friday at noon
• Cursive at Bowery Ballroom on March 10 is on AmEx presale now and regular sale Friday at noon, their March 9 show at Music Hall of Williamsburg is also still on sale
• Clem Snide at Bowery Ballroom on March 18 is on AmEx presale now and regular sale Friday at noon
• Bloc Party added a second date at Terminal 5 on March 25. Tickets are on AmEx presale now and regular sale on Saturday at noon
• The Oddity Faire featuring Les Claypool with special guest Saul Williams, Secret Chiefs, and O’Death at Terminal 5 on March 28 is on AmEx presale now, regular sale Friday at noon
• The Leonard Cohen presale started today. The password is Fingerprints. (Thx Brookylnvegan)

Cursive will be in town in January and March to play three shows, two of which are at very small venues.

• January 18 at Union Hall. Sold out.
• January 19 at Mercury Lounge. Tickets on sale now.
• March 9 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets on sale Thursday at noon.

 
Vampire Weekend @ the Q Awards in London 2008. Image: Newscom

Tickets are back on sale for the Vampire Weekend show tonight at Terminal 5. Teenagers open.

Teenagers are also playing their own show tomorrow night at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets for that are still on sale.

Deerhunter @ (le) Poisson Rouge
Photo permission: Devorah Klein

Stereogum is hosting an actual show this year for his annual online music awards, the Gummy Awards. Deerhunter, Bell, and Violens will be playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 8 at the live awards show. Tickets are on sale. You can vote for Best Album and more here.