How could going to see the B-52s prove to be such a tiring and complicated undertaking? I was super excited to hear they were performing a free outdoor show this summer, but I was a bit nervous that the venue was Asser Levy near Coney Island, which is just about the opposite side of the island from where I live. As usual, despite having plenty of time to get to Brooklyn, I lingered and took my time, and, as always, left later than I should have. I ran home to drop off some stuff then ran to catch a train. I get there and it's PACKED, like someone decided to throw a parade on the subway. Everyone's lined up to take the elevator to the 1 train as I try to politely maneuver my way through the crowd towards the A train while my brain is thinking rushrushrushrush. Finally, it dawned on me to ask someone what was going on, and a woman told me that the downtown A trains were completely dunzo, and our only options is to take the 1. A completely ideal situation during rush hour. So I stand amongst the masses waiting for an elevator down to the bowels of my neighborhood station. It seemed as if everyone was waiting for the same two of four elevators, so luckily I was able to sneak onto one at the very end of the hall. Thanking the higher powers above, I saw a 1 train waiting in the station and to my dismay it was filled to the brim with other displaced patrons just hoping to make it home at a reasonable hour.
The ride downtown was painful. The train lurched forward as more and more people shoved their way inside. I didn't even know how to get to Asser Levy from the 1, and I just shook my head at all the transfers I knew I'd have to make and how that would make me even later to the show than I already was. After finding out that the A, B, C and D trains were not running downtown, I eventually ended up on the Q train which took its time to get going, and was finally in the vicinity of Coney Island. I got off at the NY Aquarium stop and breathed in the beachy-smelling air. I heard the music faintly in the distance and tried power-walking towards the park and still hoping I'd be fairly close to the stage. Unfortunately that wasn't really an option. The venue was overflowing. With all the hipster-laden shows I've seen this summer, it was almost disarming to see a concert audience of families, including toddlers and grandmothers, who didn't seem very concerned about having a certain look or being a scenester.
I got to Asser Levy with strains of Belinda Carlisle's Circle In the Sky filling the air, which I swear I haven't heard since I was a kid and made me really nostalgic. Apparently all of the Go-Go's were supposed to tour this summer, but because of an injury, they've had to forgo and Belinda was performing as a solo act. On stage with just her backup singers, she explains that her usual backing band missed their flight and she would have to perform with a karaoke-esque backup tape for her music, but she was a professional. She ran through most of her solo hits as well as some Go-Go's favorites (the burly-looking firefighter dad types in the audience got really excited over Our Lips Are Sealed).
After a brief intermission the B-52s came out in all of their kitschy glory to the cheers of suburban moms and their kids far too young to know who they were. The show was really high energy, but I was sad to see the crowd rather muted during any song that wasn't Roam, Love Shack or Rock Lobster. I was kind of hoping they'd performed one of my favorite songs of theirs, The Girl from Ipanema Goes To Greenland, but they kept it strictly to their latest material and their greatest hits. The crowd really perked up for Roam, and I definitely spotted some fruging happening on and off stage. I think I was most surprised that the crowd was most looking forward to hearing Rock Lobster than Love Shack. Maybe that's because Love Shack was inescapable growing up, seeing as it played at every single middle school dance I went to. As the band left the stage before their encore, the crowd chanted for Rock Lobster. After a slow-burning intro with Planet Claire, the B-52s deliver the crowd favorite and grandmas and hipsters alike are dancing alongside each other. It's not often a band can unite such a diverse crowd, but if I have to go to Brooklyn to witness such things, so be it.
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