Lake Street Dive returned to its old stomping grounds with a new-look lineup and an album worth of new material on Tuesday for a performance at Capital One City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage at Rumsey Playfield in New York’s famed Central Park.
Following an opening set by young upstart Zia Victoria, singer/songwriter/poet/banjoist/clarinetist Allison Russell was up next to showcase her poetic, conscious folk-jazz sound alongside an ad-hoc trio featuring Larissa Maestro (cello/vocals) and Mandy Fer (Sway Wild) on electric guitar.
Lake Street Dive took the stage just as the sun finally dipped behind the horizon and launched into the performance with Obviously‘s “Know That I Know”, which featured a “good to be home” nod to New York. Here in New York—Brooklyn, specifically—LSD initially set upon achieving its goal of making jazzy, cleverly-written pop music for a broad audience. The band’s warm connection to the city was apparent throughout the sold-out gig as its ever-growing catalog kept the “hometown” crowd singing seemingly every word.
Related: Lake Street Dive Adds New Summer/Fall Tour Dates To Growing Schedule
The band continued with a clever old favorite, “Bad Self Portraits”, before thanking the NYC crowd for being “cooperative” with the venue’s required proof of vaccination policy. “I’m pretty nervous, which feels good,” mused vocalist Rachael Price before welcoming the band’s new guitarist, James Cornelison, who replaced founding member Mike “McDuck” Olson when he amicably left the band’s lineup earlier this year.
The performance continued with a number of catchy tunes from the new record like “Hypotheticals” and “Same Old News”, the latter featuring vocals from keyboardist Akie Bermiss and a nod to New York’s newly appointed first female governor.
“Nobody’s Stopping You Now”, the Rachael Price/Bridget Kearney collab written to their teenage selves, provided another emotional moment before the band grabbed acoustic instruments and gathered around a single mic for “Stop Your Crying”, “Feels Like the Last Time”, and an NYC-appropriate “Neighbor Song” (“I can hear my neighbors making love upstairs, I’m just tryna get some sleep on the ground floor”).
Later, drummer Michael Calabrese shined on the disco-style “Red Light Kisses”, Price crooned away on “Seventeen”, and the crowd sang along to the chorus harmonies for “You Go Down Smooth” before fan-favorite “Good Kisser” closed out the main part of the set with emphasis. Eschewing an encore break, the band finally closed the evening with a sentimental a cappella “Sarah” and an emphatic, closing cover of The Beatles‘ “Don’t Let Me Down”.
Below, check out a selection of videos and a gallery of images from the evening below courtesy of photographer Andrew O’Brien.
Lake Street Dive – “Mistakes” – 8/24/21
[Video: W42ST]
Lake Street Dive – “Neighbor Song” – 8/24/21
[Video: Anne DeAcetis]
Lake Street Dive – “Hypotheticals” – 8/24/21
[Video: pgdouce]
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