On June 8th I caught my first free Summerstage performance at Central Park, a special night spent with Parquet Courts. The band are still touring in support of their well received 2018 album Wide Awake!, following up their big headlining show last winter at Hammerstein Ballroom.
The show kicked off with a special perforamnce from Japanese cult folk legend Sachiko Kanenobu who was inspired to start playing again with the help of guitarist Steve Gunn. They performed many lovely offerings from her 1972 debut album Misora, which is being re-released via Light In The Attic Records.
Parquet Courts meant business on this Saturday night, opening up their Summerstage set with the hard-hitting and high energy old favorites “Master of My Craft,” “Borrowed Time,” and “Donuts Only.” From there they handed off to some of the newer material from Wide Awake and gave us a fair mix of old and new that had the crowd moshing with them all throughout the night. They brought out a School of Rock children’s choir out, to help sing on “Death Will Bring Change,” a welcome and pleasant surprise that delighted all of those in attendence.
Chances are this was the last NYC show from them until their eventual new album but we are excited to see what the future holds for Parquet Courts, quickly becoming one of the more reliable bands in the game at the moment.
Find a full photo gallery from both Sachiko Kanenobu and Parquet Courts (as well as their setlist) posted below.
Sachiko Kanenobu:
Parquet Courts:
Parquet Courts setlist:
1. Master of My Craft
2. Borrowed Time
3. Donuts Only
4. Total Football
5. Dust
6. Almost Had to Start a Fight / In and Out of Patience
7. Freebird II
8. Before the Water Gets Too High
9. Death Will Bring Change
10. Tenderness
11. Wide Awake
12. Normalization
13. Berlin Got Blurry
14. She’s Rolling
15. Pretty Machines
16. Outside
17. Light Up Gold II
18. One Man No City
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