Eskimeaux, Sharpless and Jawbreaker Reunion at Shea Stadium (May 15, 2015)

Last week Eskimeaux, the recording project of Gabrielle Smith, released her brand new album O.K. via Double Double Whammy. Last Friday, to celebrate the occasion, Smith and co. played a record release show at Shea Stadium along with Jawbreaker Reunion, Sharpless, Emily Reo and Free Cake For Every Creature.

My night began with a set from Sharpless. I’ve seen them play a few full band sets, but this time around it was just the core members, Jack Greenleaf and Montana Levy, representing the group on stage. While they didn’t have their full band to help them bring their tunes to life, they brought out some coordinated dance moves to go along with them. Their set ended with a performance in the crowd, a full on rock star moment for both Greenleaf and Levy.

Following them was Jawbreaker Reunion, a quartet formed out of Bard University. Their sound is a joyful blend of pop and punk with an eager youthfulness that is totally contagious. This was my first time catching the group live, but I found a great deal of enjoyment watching them play. Check out their wonderful track “Patches,” which was featured on the Le Sigh Vol. 2 mix.

It was an emotional night for Eskimeaux, who finally got to share all the personal cuts that make up of the rather fantastic O.K. Smith jokingly took bets with her band and the crowd about how many times she would cry throughout the night (I think the final count was 3). She powered through her set with a little help from friends such as Sharpless’ Levy (Greenleaf plays bass with Eskimeaux), Jawbreak Reunion’s Bella Mazzetti, and Greta Kline, who you probably know better as Frankie Cosmos.

The beautiful and delicate songs off of O.K. bursted to life on stage at Shea Stadium, brought to full realization and hitting all the right emotional marks. The crowd played a big supporting role that night, acting as an unofficial chorus, singing along throughout the entire performance. You got a full sense of how meaningful it was for Smith to share these songs with us, and it left us all in in sheer awe, because they’ve become pretty damn important to us as well.

Sharpless: