Scene and Heard

Jelly Pool Party 2009, week 1

Photos by Will Deitz » With Mission of Burma, Ponytail, and Fucked Up.

Text by Will Deitz
Posted on July 14, 2009

Break out the sunburn and the Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tube Men; JellyNYC has returned for another summer of free concerts in Williamsburg. The Manhattan skyline provided a fantastic backdrop for the show, which kicked off in mid-afternoon. The stage on the western shores of Brooklyn coupled with an ever-setting sun means concert-goers are going to be squinting at silhouetted performers for the duration of the summer, which started painfully but by sunset softened to "dramatic."

Mission of Burma, Fucked Up, Ponytail, and Jemina Pearl (ex-Be your Own Pet) took the stage this week. I struggled remembering what Pearl sounded like even a minute after she walked off, so by the time Ponytail’s Molly Siegel was bleating full-throttle into the microphone, you couldn’t ask me to pick Jemina’s music out of a lineup with a gun to my head. Meanwhile, we love taking pictures of Molly Siegel’s face, so we couldn’t help but shoot a few hundred more. And if it seems as though we like writing about these skittishly sunny energy balls from Ball Murr, it’s because they just… keep… getting… better.

Fucked Up may have been the afternoon’s penultimate act, but the crowd went ape shit for them more than anyone else, and most of the young kids crushing towards the stage were arguably not there to see legendary post-punk music from Boston. Security guards struggled to support the makeshift barrier as the crowd surged towards it, an effort not helped by Fucked Up frontman Pink Eyes continually hurling himself at the audience.

And then there was Mission of Burma. Roger Miller, Clint Conley, and Peter Prescott seemed a bit out of place on a stage that had, for the duration of the afternoon, been occupied by much, much, much younger people, but as one of the very few bands making relevant 25-odd years after breaking up, all was quickly forgotten, especially with favorites like “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver” energizing the crowd as the sun began to set.

Opinions on the new setting will undoubtedly be mixed (the last trace of anything pool-like was eliminated when wading pools were deemed unsafe by park officials) but anyone who complains too much about Mission of Burma playing for free in front of the Manhattan skyline needs to calm down. It’s the Dirty Projectors, Magnolia Electric Co., and Crystal Antlers next weekend. A giant vat of sunscreen later, I’ll be ready for it.

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way to pick the prints that make Molly look slightly retarded. haha. peace to the cat in the hella old Garnett jersey and the Descendents t-shirt.

— blake on July 15, 2009

Love squeak the noise more than anything!

— Milo on May 06, 2009

Apparently being able to sing is no longer a requirement for a frontman/frontwoman. Just mewl, coo or growl aimlessly along to passable music, and you'll be the object of worship for hipster morons across the country.

— Jeremy on May 04, 2009

These guys really blow

— me punks on March 06, 2009

Good times in Gowanus!

— K on January 27, 2009