With the recent heat wave hitting the East Coast, it’s no surprise that there have been quite a few fire tours hitting Long Island in recent months. This July was a little slow compared to the July of past years for music on the island, but no less entertaining.
Starting the month off was the Long Island stop of the Life and Death tour. Now from the start, it seemed like this show was doomed to fail.
The tour’s consistent roster is a hardcore punk “best of” list, hosting Terror, Power Trip, Harm’s Way, Angel Du$t, Fury and Red Death. However, for just the Long Island date, Power Trip and Angel Du$t, two of the biggest and baddest names on the lineup, were unable to play. Fortunately, Long Island superstars Backtrack and Boston rising stars Countdown were able to replace them.
But that wasn’t the worst of it. Terror’s vocalist, Scott Vogel, had to leave the tour due to complications from throat surgery that were risking seriously damaging his vocal cords. Backtrack was also down a guitarist and the show had to be moved from the relatively spacious Revolution, to the much more compact Amityville Music Hall down the street.
The only place a night like this can still be made into a great reaction for every band playing, though, would be Long Island. Backtrack and Terror both had a wonderful reaction, with people who have been seeing them for the past decade or so still managing to find ways to front flip off of Amityville Music Hall’s foot-tall stage.
A week later, another classic Long Island great hit the stage of the Amityville Music Hall. Iron Chic headlined the local stop of the Slingshot Dakota and Dikembe tour. Slingshot Dakota may not be a local band, but their singer/keyboardist Carly Comando talks on stage about how growing up on the island and going to house shows taught her a set of ethics that she carries with her on tour and on the stage.
Sadly, Iron Chic had the most tame reaction of any performance of theirs that I’ve ever seen. That being said, the front of the stage was still a huge pile-on of people of both sexes and all ages vehemently singing along to every word of this concreted legend.
Similarly, a new local had a positive reaction that had a few people moving and a lot singing that was very impressive. Macseal, a rising Long Island “emo-indie” revival band that sounds like a more upbeat American Football mixed with the pop tendencies of Blink-182, drew quite the crowd considering that they played second on the bill. Mark them down as a band to look out for.
Without risking a notion that the stereotype that Amityville Music Hall is the only place on Long Island where live music actually happens, the last great performance of the month also took place at the Amityville Music Hall.
On what I’ve deemed the “Straight Outta Philly Tour,” The Obsessives and The Superweaks played, along with Heart Attack Man, who are actually from Cleveland.
Although the crowd wasn’t huge, all three bands still left a good impression of their cool alternative style on the island. The Obsessives especially sounded full considering they’re only a two-piece band.
Up Next for Long Island:
Snoop Dogg / Wiz Khalifa at Jones Beach – August 9 – Snoop Dogg is easily one of the most notorious names in hip-hop and entertainment right now. An instant classic from the moment he started putting out albums. Tickets ranging from $20 to $150 can be found right now on Live Nation.
The Common Vision Tour at Revolution – August 10 – The third annual Common Vision Tour is making its third Long Island appearance. This time it’s metalcore-centric, featuring The Acacia Strain, Oceano and the soon-to-be legends of heavy music, Knocked Loose. Tickets are $16 on Ticketfly.
Blink-182 at Jones Beach – August 13 – Fresh off the sometimes okay and sometimes meh album California, after dropping Tom DeLonge from their lineup in exchange for Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba, Blink-182 is taking the nation by storm like it’s 2001. They’re playing along with A Day To Remember and All Time Low. As of press time, very few tickets in the back seats remain for $90 a pop on Live Nation.
Black Sabbath at Jones Beach – August 17 – “The last tour” for these heavy metal pioneers is thankfully hitting Jones Beach. With Ozzy Osbourne back to fronting them, this is sure to be a concert you absolutely cannot miss. Tickets are available on Live Nation and range from $35 to $180
Envy On The Coast at The Paramount – August 18 – This Long Island cult classic band is reuniting after calling it a day in 2010. Alongside a Manhattan show, they’ll be playing The Paramount alongside a cult local band called This Good Robot. Tickets range from $20 to $40 on Ticketmaster.
Beach Slang at the Surf Lodge – September 2 – For a Montauk getaway to hear one of the world’s next big punk bands, head to the Surf Lodge early this September. It’s free, on the water and next to one of the east end’s nicest bars/restaurants.
