Blonde Redhead was glowing on Friday as lightning ended and
an eerie twilight set over Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. The band's free concert, held as part
of the Celebrate Brooklyn! festival, saw the trio drive rain away with a killer
set list and behemoth sound. On the other hand, tiny Ólaf Arnalds opened the show solo with her guitar, throwing jokes out in the crowd to rid herself of obvious uneasiness. A slow honorary cover of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” combined with her childish accent—coming from Iceland—only resulted in the audience smiling hesitantly.
“Aww, she’s cute,” a few people awkwardly hummed,
blurring conversation with acoustic song.
Fittingly, rays of light beamed through a humid post-rainstorm sky and hipsters and Park Slope mommy types alike could put down their umbrellas for Blonde Redhead. Kazu Makino and twins Amedeo and Simone Pace opened up the set in twilight, with the dreamy “Heroine,” a track off 2007’s 23.
Stage lights soon blazed blue, red and green, but before they could take full effect, Kazu released her guitar and sat down at the synthesizer. Her unidentifiable riff mutated into an otherworldly opening for the song “Messenger,” and upon hearing this, devoted fans jumped up from their seats and poured into the aisles.
The Deerhoof-resembling “In Particular”, off of 2007’s Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons, was a deviation from Blonde Redhead’s focus on music from their last two albums. Many audience members didn’t know how to react to the bouncy song.
But true fans of NYC’s dream pop band danced, and they grooved even harder when “Spring and By Summer Fall” came on. For this piece, Kazu and Amadeo Pace alternated guitar roles—whenever he sang, his counterpart would provide the underlying riff.
Perhaps most electrifying is the way Blonde Redhead offset their melancholy style with a hardcore feel. Seeing them live, this quality was exemplified to the point that one got goosebumps just from hearing the contrast between Simone Pace’s subtle drumming and his twin brother’s persistent guitar.
They showered the park with a new song (soon to be released on their 2009 CD), and even came back for two encores. Standing ovations caused Blonde Redhead to close with the classic “Misery is a Butterfly,” and after last year’s canceled show at Hudson River Park’s Pier 54, New Yorkers were finally satisfied. Such powerful music—coming from a group of just three people—blew the audience away.
