Les Savy Fav at The “New” Knitting Factory (09/09/09)
Photos: Jessica Amaya
On Tuesday of last week I made my first foray to the Knitting Factory Brooklyn for their opening night festivities. I was pretty impressed by the venue itself; the 200 capacity performance space is just about the right size, the 4 foot stage was high enough off the ground to see from the back, but not too high as to be impersonal, and while I wasn’t personally amazed by the sound (it was night 1 after all), it was certainly more than acceptable and I’m sure will only get better as the club matures. Fans of the old Knitting Factory may be disappointed by lack of columns in the main space, but I’m sure most folks will be pleased with the lack of obstructions. On off nights, the front room bar will be open for drinks and on show nights, non-ticket buying patrons can look in on the main stage if the curtains are up, in fact, there is an even an option to pipe in the music to the bar if management so desires. The Brooklyn Knitting Factory is a welcome to the NYC music scene, and if the booking is solid, I don’t see any reason why people won’t go there in droves. Speaking of which, the KF schedule doesn’t have anything super exciting coming up as far as I’m concerned (Helado Negro is tomorrow night), but the club is still pretty new and the calendar still has quite a few holes in it. In three months time if things are still pretty weak, that might be cause for concern, but for right now I’m content to sit back and give them a little time to work on their bookings. According to talent buyer Chris White big things are being planned for the future and the eventual goal is to get the performance space up and running 7 nights a week.
Many more photos and a review of Les Savy Fav and Hannibal Buress at the new Brooklyn Knitting Factory after the jump.
As expected, Tim Harrington and Les Savy Fav kicked off the inaugural festivities at KF Brooklyn with a bang, not a whimper. Harrington stormed the stage dressed first as a witch (or maybe a pilgrim), then later as the policeman reject from the Italian Village People, and finally as a thrift store Carmen Miranda complete with red shorts and a faux fur boa. He gyrated on stage, dry humped the front row, spewed alcohol like a fountain, and in a move i’d not seen before, tipped over a beer on the edge of the stage with his bare foot, jumped into the crowd and then proceeded to lap up the spilled drink as he made his way back on stage… and that was just the first few minutes. There were many more moments like that in LSF’s highly charged and enjoyable show, including Tim getting up close and personal with the audience on several occasions, Tim dancing on the bar, Tim using the monitors as his personal chez lounges, and Tim belting out lyrics atop a movable staircase which he’d dragged into the middle of the crowd. While Harrington’s antics, outfits, wigs and indecipherable stream of consciousness (sometimes muttered into an imaginary cell phone) compete for your undivided attention, I also should mention that the rest of the band was in pretty tight shape, these guys have been at it for a while, they know what they’re doing and it shows.
“Like riding a horse bike. You’ve got the legs of a horse, wheels of a bike, and the pedals do nothing.” – Tim Harrington
Last but not least, comedian and newly minted SNL writer Hannibal Buress started us off with a 30 minute set that still managed to kill despite the presence of a heckler/douchebag in the front row. Up until now, I had only seen Hannibal do shorter sets at Union Hall and Comix, but I was really happy to learn that he’s got more than 10 minutes of great stuff. (My expectations for this season of Saturday Night Live are rising every day.)
Les Savy Fav at The “New” Knitting Factory (09/09/09)
Hannibal Buress at The “New” Knitting Factory (09/09/09)
The Knitting Factory Brooklyn
