David Byrne @ the Prospect Park Bandshell

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Thursday, 11 June 2009 14:39

The way to truly enjoy a free concert is to get there a little bit later than most people. I’m not talking about missing half the show, but I would suggest you let the crowd build up some, before you go colonizing spots on the lawn around the stage. The reason for this—and there needs to be a reason, considering you’ll probably be faced with longer lines and fewer seats—is what I like to call the impact of arrival.

When I saw David Byrne in Prospect Park this past Monday, I arrived a bit later than I had previously planned. As I walked down the streets of the surrounding Brooklyn area, I was met with some music that had already started. I walked closer to the park and saw the crowd that had amassed, and in a moment I felt a wave crash on top of me.

Imagine this: you walk into a park that you have been in once before, when it was empty and peaceful, except that this time it’s filled with thousands of people—27,000 to be sure—all gathered together for the collective purpose of listening to music. That’s the impact of arrival.

When you get to the free concert, never wait in line if you don’t have to. It’s free, and that means anyone can go, so you just find yourself a spot and hop the fence into the venue. This will help you avoid waiting outside, and maybe missing a huge part of the show in the process.

Last Monday, for David Byrne, so many people showed up that the gates were closed off halfway through the show. Frustrated kids found weak spots in security and hopped the fences ten by ten. The less shrewd and the less fortunate joined forces behind the fence, and set up blankets to watch from a distance. I managed to make it in and find my friends, on a blanket, drinking wine, to the right of the stage.

The show as a whole was a wonderful experience. I emphasize experience, because a show like this is taken in differently from others. For one, it is open, and the freedom that is bred from simply being outside wells up inside every spectator and forces on a new perspective that is beautiful, the same way that a baseball game, or barbecue is beautiful mid-summer. At a show like this, it would be strange to sit in rows, although there were those people that did choose to do so, and even stranger to spend all of your time looking, rather than experiencing the show, as almost everybody did. At a show like this, a picnic is what’s called for, and the best way to enjoy it is with wine and friends and constant friendly conversation.

At one point during the show, a tiny woman came to talk to us—my friends and I—spontaneously. She wanted a cigarette, but she stayed for the company, having lost her friends in the crowd and decided to instead make new ones. As we spoke, David Byrne, dressed in white, like his dancers, played “Life During Wartime,” and the thousands erupted with joy at the song. He wiggled all over stage, fully aware of the environment, and still ensuring that whenever someone looked, there would be something to look at. Byrne is old, but not so old that he’s
forgotten how to put on a great show.

We drank wine and beer and listened and danced, and as I looked around I saw the masses dancing too, each person breaking out a move that was specific to them. Mothers picked up their children and danced with them around in circles, living again in the splendor of their youth, and training the even younger to enjoy life just as much. Young boys and girls danced wildly, almost never to the beat, instead preferring to unleash all of the music deep within them. Others, mostly men, stood in place, but you could see it in their eyes, that they were dancing on the inside.

On stage, a show evolved and peaked, and Byrne was always leading the celebration, playing an outstanding selection of songs from his long partnership with Brian Eno. He was king of Prospect Park. And then it ended. The most important thing to remember about a free concert is it’s short. It could have lasted for three days and some, but it will always be too short, because there’s no amount of time that’s quite enough for listening to live music for free. But although short, it will have always been well worth it—after all, you didn’t pay anything—so enjoy it while it lasts because you lived through that experience.

Words by: Andoni Elias Nava