Live Review - 4Knots Music Festival

New York – This Saturday at South Street Seaport marked the fourth installment of The Village Voice’s 4Knots Music Festival. As the masses of NYC convened in downtown Manhattan’s historic, waterfront district to revel in a day’s worth of free concerts by a handful of up-and-coming and established indie acts, the natural forces at play coupled with the locale to produce a majorly enigmatic experience.

Festival goers of all ages braced themselves against powerful winds on the banks of the Hudson for the all-day endeavor. While natural forces provided a mighty backdrop to the festival’s ambience, they never seemed to upstage the supercharged on-stage performances. And to match, the audience swelled with a collectively charged, natural energy throughout the day’s showings on stage.

4Knots Festival boasts two stages, and the day hosted performances from Dead Stars, Radkey, Re-Tros, Speedy Ortiz, Jaun Waters, Viet Cong, Nude Beach, Those Darlings, Mac DeMarco and Dinosaur Jr.

Two acts that put forth particularly notable showings were Speedy Ortiz and Those Darlings. Sadie Dupuis is the front woman of the Northampton-act Speedy Ortiz, and her work is grounded in the grittiest of jagged-edge rock-and-roll. To see a female vocalist lead the hard rock charge so seamlessly is refreshing, and on stage Dupuis was a knockout. Dupuis’ stage presence is reserved, but she seemingly conserves all her energy for her tremor-inducing, percussively abrasive sonic brilliance.

Likewise, Those Darlings cornered the spotlight market. Playing the Pier 16 Stage, the Tennessee quartet preceded Mac DeMarco and set the tone for the night’s two closing acts. Theirs is a sound steeped in bluesy folk, and faultlessly encapsulates all the dustbowl sentimentalities an indie-phile could ever lust for. The group was humble onstage, audibly grateful for their fan base in attendance, and offered up a set in cool-blue crooning vocals and fully-charged instrumentals.

By this point in the day, the crowds swarmed the Pier 16 Stage to watch the closing performances. Although Mac DeMarco was on deck to headline the day, Those Darlings was arguably the day’s apex performance. Moored alongside the pier was the Peking VIP Ship, and the most privileged of festivalgoers enjoyed a bird’s eye view of the happenings onstage from atop the ships’ deck.

When DeMarco took the stage around 5:30pm, the pier cradled an at-capacity audience. Onlookers gazed over the ship’s ledges with beers in hand, creating what felt like a meeting of pirates on leave. Boisterous, fun loving and rowdy, the setting was both rogue and wild. Simply put, it was a meeting of the music industry’s frugal-yet-impassioned elite, and the crowd was ready for a seaside rodeo.

DeMarco braved the stage outfitted with (comically) not one, but two hats. After launching immediately into “The Stars Keep On Calling My Name,” he invited some casual banter. “Beautiful day! God bless us all,” he exclaimed, “I’ll see you all at church tomorrow,” he added. As is typically the case with this character, assuming ironic intent is always a safe bet.

DeMarco and co. cycled through some much-loved tracks, like “Treat Her Better,” “Let Her Go” and “Passing Out Pieces.” Love was a current throughout much of the set, and the sea-weathered crowd clearly appreciated the gentler sentiments embedded in the works. Of course, when DeMarco played “Viceroy,” the crowd all but lost it. But the climax of the set, and quite likely the day in full, was DeMarco’s “I’m A Man.” This track in particular bolstered the crowd’s propensity for crowd surfing, much to the dismay of the security guards charged with crowd control.

Before DeMarco struck into “Cooking Up Something Good,” the crowd sensed the song was coming and one member loudly voiced an open invitation to dinner at her place. To this, DeMarco demanded an address in order to procure an official after party.

Surprisingly, DeMarco closed the set with the slow-swelling ballad “Together.” Never would one ever suspect such dynamism from the track’s calmly recorded counterpart. Yet, the song proved to be an energizing and validating finale. “Together” sent many in attendance off into the early evening with satisfaction enough to leave before Dinosaur Jr. ever surfaced. All in all, the day was full of reprobated grace, and felt like a notably milestone of a yet perfect city summer.

Mac DeMarco Photo By Ilyse Kaplan

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Liz Rowley

Born in Mexico and raised in Toronto, Jerusalem and Chicago by a pair of journalists, Liz comes to BestNewBands.com with an inherited love of writing. After discovering a niche for herself in music journalism and radio while at Bates College in Maine, she always keeps a running playlist of new music to soundtrack her place in the world. Liz is passionate about helping dedicated, talented musicians gain the exposure they deserve. A recent transplant to Brooklyn from Hawaii, she is plagued by an incurable case of wanderlust and cursed with an affinity for old maps and old things like typewriters and vintage books. She adores photography and running and is very good with plants. Having come of age in Chicago, Wilco speaks to her soul. If she could be anything, she would be a cat in a Murakami novel.