Thousands attend P.S. 1 Warm Up concert

BY AHMED LAKHANEY

Wednesday, July 22, 2009 6:14 PM EDT

Beautiful sunny weather and live music from local and international musicians drew crowds of more than 4,000 to this year’s third installment of the P.S. 1 Warm Up summer concert series in Long Island City.

Four musical acts entertained the crowds, who came from throughout the Metropolitan area, on Saturday, July 18 to hear the music, which is part of the Museum of Modern Art’s summer programming. The festival is in its 12th year.

Cheveu, a native French group, was one of the first bands to go on stage at 4 p.m. Their unorthodox style drew the crowd in with the lead singer’s three microphones – each one connected to a different effects pedal, typically used for guitars.

In addition, lead singer David Lemoîne controlled the drum machine that kept the beat throughout their set. As for guitarist Etienne Nicolas, he held the rhythm and also played numerous guitar leads. Their keyboardist, Oliver Demeaux, sported a vintage Roland synthesizer from the 1970’s, which is a rarity in live music.

The end product was a hybrid of house and rock music that had the audience doing a dance that seemed like a mix of the two.

“In the beginning we had no idea what we wanted to do, no direction,” said Lemoîne, referring to how the band started out. “We just played what we liked, and we’re here today.”

They recently had the fortune of touring in a French community in Quebec, which was a different experience than they got in Long Island City.

“The North American crowd is definitely more enthusiastic and more into the music than French people,” Lemoîne said. “We love touring in North America, no matter where.”

As for the future, Cheveu hopes to tour with Seattle punk band The Intelligence, whom they have encountered in the past.

Following an hour-long intermission with dancers dressed in drag throwing beach balls into the crowd, the group Xeno and Oaklander took the stage. A two-piece group comprised of Sean McBride from Maryland and Liz Wendelbo from France, the two met at a loft party in Brooklyn approximately five years ago and have been making music since.

Their sound is electronic, as McBride mentioned, “analog synth, with voices, and drum machines. It’s quite simple to talk about it outside the genre.” He also added that it is “quite dark, quite cold – a lament for the bleakness of our times.”

McBride stated their set would be “fast and furious – melodic, hemorrhaging at times.”

P.S.1 will host other musical acts on Saturdays throughout the remainder of the summer until September 5. For more information on upcoming performers, visit http://ps1.org/warmup/.