The Beach at Governor's Island, NYC

[Fred]

Well, this is one wild-a** concert venue.

Governor's Island is just off the tip of Manhattan, reachable only by ferry. It has been a fort, Coast Guard base, etc., over the years, and has been closed to the public for much of its history. At this point part of it is a national monument, and part of it is owned by a public corporation, and it's not clear what its future is. Parkland, casino resort, and private development for housing has all been floated. Right now, the accessible part (the national monument, mostly) is essentially a park with some cultural institutions, and I'd love to see it stay that way forever. It's really nice out there.

One of its stranger features is a concert venue that is sort of a theme park version of a beach, adjacent to the ferry terminal. If you use terrain view on Google maps, you can see its former (and not very well concealed) identity, as a parking lot strip about 100 yards long on the north shore. They (who? some promoter? I guess.) have fenced it off and dumped sand on about the western half of it, and put a concert stage on the east end. There are food stands and bars, and some covered picnic tables, on the land side, and fake palm trees on the harbor side (not good fakes, but obvious, cartoony ones that probably light up at night). The bare-pavement part of the lot, by the stage, is separated from the "beach" by a huge sound booth that blocks the stage view of most people on the beach. The beach is also so far from the stage that the PA system really doesn't reach it very well.

Now, I can imagine that under the right circumstances, this could be quite a magical venue. Those circumstances would be a not-too-warm summer evening with a nice breeze coming in off the harbor, a clear sky with the lower Manhattan skyline twinkling overhead and the fake palm trees alight, a band playing danceable music while you and your partner danced on the not-too-crowded pavement near the stage. Oh, and a couple of beers or maybe umbrella drinks.

Well, that's not what it was like on Sunday when I went to see She & Him there. Midafternoon, 97 degrees, shadeless, breezeless, people packed shoulder to shoulder on the pavement part and blanket-to-blanket on the "beach". (This was July 4.) Tables? Forget it.

I didn't stay long enough to get a beer.

[Fred]

Now, I can imagine that under the right circumstances, this could be quite a magical venue. Those circumstances would be a not-too-warm summer evening with a nice breeze coming in off the harbor, a clear sky with the lower Manhattan skyline twinkling overhead and the fake palm trees alight, a band playing danceable music while you and your partner danced on the not-too-crowded pavement near the stage. Oh, and a couple of beers or maybe umbrella drinks.

Looks like those conditions were pretty well met at the Josh Ritter/Dawn Landes/Justin Townes Earle show (that I did not attend) Sunday night. Yep, the palm trees light up.