all words and photos: Milica Wren
Just in case you have not had enough SIREN festival, or Future of the Left for that matter, here is the second batch of Coney Island photos to carry you through:
If you weren't a huge fan of this years Siren Festival lineup I can almost sympathize. But when you take into account Superchunk's free show at Pier 17 on Friday night and the Dirty Projector's free show at the Williamsburg Waterfront on Sunday night I've got to say, love or hate Siren, NYC was the place to be this past weekend.
So maybe I had a slight ulterior motive for going to NY in that I was supposed to film an interview with Future of the Left before their set at Siren on Saturday, but that aside, any qualms I may have had about making the trek were laid to rest once I got to Coney Island. Come on, who hasn't heard of the euphoria inducing effects of eau de funnel cake? By the way, I'd never been to Coney Island/Siren, man, what a cesspool of stale Americana. Anyone want to place bets on whether they're really going to level the place by next year?
I'll admit, waiting in line to use the bathrooms gave me strange flashbacks to high school history class when we watched a video about Chernobyl. And yes, when my friend paid 15 bucks for a daiquiri that tasted more like frosty the snowman's puke than pina colada it wasn't exactly my definition of a good time but hey. Was the sun shining? Was there a breeze? Was there free music? Right then.
I won't repeat what Alyssa has already covered since judging by some of our photos we were more or less in the same places at the same time(Alyssa, I'm sorry if I spilled beer on you and/or stepped on your toes, it was just one of those weekends...).
I did however managed to keep all of my clothes on which is more than I can say for Ami Shalev of Monotinix. While the Raveonettes ground out some mint sounding tunes at the Main stage, Monotonix and a speedo wearing Ami upheld the band's reputation for insane antics by playing far and wide into and on top of the audience at the Stillwell stage (regrettably no photos).
The rest of my Siren experience can be distilled into time spent feeding my growing obsession with Future of the Left and time spent making friends in line at the free beer tent. By the end of the night I was more than happy to sit through Built to Spill's set- whether that's a reflection of their performance or not, I can't quite remember.
Previously in Tangents:
- 12/28: Terrible Boyfriend/ Girlfriend Generator.
- 11/2: PHOTOS: TAXLO Halloween (feat. Chain Gang of 1974)
- 10/10: #OccupyWallStreet
- 8/10: PHOTOS: Lawn Mover Racing, Eastern Seaboard Regionals @ Bowles Farm
- 7/26: Special List: Things the BYGays Want Now That We Can Marry In DC (and NY!)
- 7/20: PHOTOS: Artscape
- 7/19: Miho Hatori's Guide to New York City
- 4/11: Cirque Du Soleil: Totem (A Review)
- 12/29: War, Reenacted
- 12/29: What in Hell is Slaughterama?!?
God loves a cheerful giver.
ok, i am actually IN one of your photos - too weird!
next time hopefully if we're covering the same thing we can know in advance and maybe split up the work or something. cheers
I'll agree with Milica... monotonix absolutely kicked ass-imagine speedos, static crowd-surfing while playing their instruments, all the while demanding beer from frenzied fans. oh yeah- the music was pretty enjoyable as well.
spank rock wasn't to shitty either- besides the fact that security turned bitchy when they told the crowd to climb over the VIP divider (I was mid-straddle before being rushed by a very large-lady-security guard). security also cut them off before they finished their last song... much to the dismay of the band members who were obviously pissed- the lead was even escorted off the stage by security, and one of the members dropped his pants. but it was an incredible set, the music was fresh and Amanda Blank was the hottest thing ever.
for monotonix fans, go here:
http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/music/please-dont-fking-miss-monotonix/
alyssa! too funny. that's some small world shit for sure. I'm glad I thought to submit all this to BYT since originally I was just shooting photos for myself. Maybe I'll see you at next year's Siren if they haven't bulldozed the place by then