All day yesterday, there were hundreds of bands all over the streets of
over 300 cities worldwide as part of the Make Music Festival, based on
France’s 25 year old
Fete de la Musique. New York joined cities
in countries as diverse as Congo, Chile, Germany, and Mongolia, for
its’ first ever Make Music Festival. Throughout all 5 boroughs,
musicians set up on street corners and in front of shops, playing a
eclectic variety of music from reggae dub to gospel to punk rock to
jazz. I was able to catch the children of
Tap City
tap dancing away on the corner of 27th and 7th in Manhattan. And then
after making my way out to Williamsburg, I traveled up and down Bedford
Ave., where there seemed to be a different band on every block. A 6pm
threat of rain shut things down for about 15 minutes, but the bands
came right back out to the sidewalks, and masses of people gathered
around to watch them. While Stereo Stereo played catchy rock in front
of the Mini Market at N. 4th & Bedford, Subatomic Sound System
brought the sounds of reggae dub to the street, only a block away. Even
further up the street, hordes of people gathered around Best Fwends,
who were performing at the stage set up at N. 7th. On group of
musicians refused to remain stationary and played, marching up and down
Bedford, scaring any dogs in the vicinity. Passer-bys really seemed to
be enjoying the free entertainment, stopping to watch for at least a
minute or two, before moving on. And plenty of skateboarders, who were
on their way up to KCDC skate shop for the final festivities of Go
Skateboarding Day, stopped to watch the bands. Right before the nasty
storm that hit Brooklyn at around 8:30pm, NY PRESS favorites Bling Kong
put on an incredible performance in front of the Mini Market. The
relatively large crowd that piled up around them really enjoyed their
perverse catchy rock tunes. A spectator from an apartment above them
even joined in on the rock, playing his own tambourine. When the rain
hit at full force, most bands and spectators called it quits, but I
caught one incredibly insane band (The Shemps, I think), braving it
out, getting absolutely soaked in front of S&B restaurant on
Bedford Ave. Despite the late rain that brought an early end to a bunch
of performances, Make Music New York helped to make it a really fun day
to spend outside in New York City. Hopefully, this will continue on as
an annual event, growing larger every year.
Street Films has some video coverage of a bunch of the performances.
Click
here to see more photos from the day.
Photos courtesy of Jonny-Leather
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