This Weekend In New York: The Wake And Weekend Get Rained On But Not Rained Out, Ted Leo And Screaming Females Shine In The Sun

Sweaty DIY venues are great, but even Waste Of Paint needs a break from them once in a while. Furthermore, I haven't been leaving my dark cave much lately, and my chalky skin is starting to convince me that maybe I should. It was with all this in mind that Debbie and I set out to spend as much time outdoors as possible this weekend. Luckily, it just so happened that four great bands were booked to play en plain air at the South Street Seaport.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate on Friday, and the show starring The Wake and Weekend got moved to Littlefield in Gowanus. Worried that the venue's greatly reduced capacity would cause admission issues, we got there on the early side, only to find we had greatly overestimated the number of people who liked these two bands enough to cross the river.

This wasn't so bad, though, because it weeded out all the people who were just going to get drunk and talk the whole time. And the San Francisco shoegazers Weekend did not disappoint, either, delivering a long set of magical, noise-swaddled pop with echoes of Joy Division, My Bloody Valentine, and the Jesus and Mary Chain. As nice as it would've been to watch the sun set behind them, I think this kind of music works best in a cool, dark, slightly damp club. The better to pretend you're in Manchester.