Caleb's Concert Guide: July 9-14

Camilo, Big Freedia, L'Rain and more. Your free concert guide to NYC this week

It’s another busy summer week packed with some incredible free concerts. Lots of stuff presented by Summerstage, which has a second stage in Brooklyn’s Herbert von King Park for the weekend, while also presenting shows in Central Park. But there are a few other series this July that have nice offerings too I’ve included. A few of shows I’m particularly excited about include a showcase of R&B artists whose stars are very quickly rising, Brooklyn’s own L’Rain, a bounty of Latin artists of varying styles presented by the Latin Alternative Music Conference, and Bounce queen Big Freedia. But that’s just a small sample, full list below.

P.S. Everything here is free, but there are a couple paid shows that might be worth your money if you find good priced last-minute resale tickets on seats like Vivid Seats: '00s R&B superstar Keyshia Cole (Sat at Barclays; Sun at Prudential), Weird Al Yankovic (Sat at MSG) and '90s country legend Vince Gill (Fri at The Beacon).

Wednesday, July 9

Morat / Planta Industrial / Yami Safdie / DJ EI G, 7 pm
Summerstage (Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, Manhattan)

If you want to keep the Latin music vibes going after Los Hacheros, head up to Central Park where Summerstage is co-producing a night of more contemporary Latin music that showcases a range of styles from newer artists. LAMC has a great track record bringing rising stars to NYC so if you don’t know the names now, look out. The headliner is Morat, a Colombian pop-rock group that feels a little bit like your favorite boy band. The Bronx-born duo Planta Industrial is very high energy, post-industrial dance punk. And then you have opener Yami Safdie, a pop singer from Argentina.

Thursday, July 10

Big Freedia / Resistance Revival Chorus / Courtney “Balenciaga” Washington’s MasterZ at Work / DJ Butchish, 6:30 pm
Herbert Von King Park (670 Lafayette Ave, Bed-Stuy)

Summerstage in Bed-Stuy! Big Freedia is known as being the Queen of Bounce, a high energy strain of hip-hop from New Orleans. She’s great at it. You might have heard her voice on the opening of Beyonce’s “Break my Soul.” Well, now she’s in a new phase: her Church era. I’m nervous and excited to see what she brings to this Gospel Revival show, which also features legendary ballroom mother Courtney “Balenciaga” Washington and the MasterZ at Work Dance Family. (Did I lose you at ballroom mother? Watch this film and you’ll get it.) The dancing is incredible, as you get a taste of below.

Os Clavelitos Live at the Archway, 6 pm
DUMBO Archway (Adams Street, Dumbo)

Another early show, should be about an hour, which gives you time to rush over to Big Freedia or Maggie Rose (details further down) after. This is an American samba band, performing under the Manhattan bridge at the Dumbo archway.

River & Blues: Maggie Rose, 8 pm
Nelson A. Rockefeller Park (Chambers Street & River Terrace, Tribeca)

River & Blues is a great little summer series in a park right on the Hudson River, where you can catch a beautiful sunset as the concert goes on. Maggie Rose is a country artist, with a bit of rock/blues thrown in there, which makes sense, considering the name of the series.

Friday, July 11

Laila! / Sasha Keable / Talia Goddess / Half Moon, 6 pm
Herbert Von King Park (670 Lafayette Ave, Bed-Stuy)

Back to Summerstage in Brooklyn, this line up features a showcase of three rising R&B stars, curated by the folks behind the COLORS video concert series. You can read about each artist in the event page linked above, but I want to highlight British singer Sasha Keable here. From what I’ve read, she’s been in the industry for over a decade, with many ups and downs, unable to really break through. But her newest singles are doing numbers, and last year in an interview, Beyonce said Keable was one of her inspirations. So! For all the people putting in years of hard work who never break through, this does seem like a good sign for her to be one of the lucky ones (if “breaking through” is your goal, that is).

The Knights with Julien Labro, 7 pm
Bryant Park (40 West 40th Street, Midtown)

The Knights are a NYC-based chamber orchestra whose programming is often quite inventive, going beyond Mozart and Beethoven, collaborating with instrumentalists and composers across the spectrum of classical music and beyond. For this Bryant Park show, they’re joined by bandoneon player (bandoneon = kind of like an accordion) Julien Labro.

Saturday, July 12

Camilo / Ela Taubert / Cheo / DJ Albina, 7 pm
Summerstage (Rumsey Playfield in Central Park)

Another Latin Alternative Music Conference / Summerstage collaboration! Colombian star Camilo headlines. His songs are usually in a lane of pop that’s filled with feel good, up-beat romance. A little cheesy but never overdone, always well intentioned, and generally fun. To quote my friend Hannah, “Camilo is perfect for the beach. Music to put on with sand between your toes with a cold drink in hand as you’re watching the sunset.” “It’s a super fun show,” Andres chimes in. “In a rom-com dreamy boyfriend kind of way.”

Sunday, July 13

L’Rain, 2 pm
Union Pool (484 Union Ave, Williamsburg)

I’m going to embarrass myself trying to describe L’Rain’s music, so just watch the video below. They’re great live. And, music that isn’t easily identifiable as something else is the music that drives our culture forwards. Oh, show up early for this one! Union Pool’s Summer Thunder series is quite popular, as they bring is some big, local, names to their small outdoor space.

Bastille Day: Bob Sinclar / Bigflo & Oli / Patrick Bruel, 6pm
Summerstage (Rumsey Playfield in Central Park)

An all-French lineup to commemorate Bastille Day. While I hope you’re taking actual actions in your own way to help resist the ruling classes destroying any progress we’ve made in this country, everybody deserves a break, so why not go see some music? DJ Bob Sinclar headlines, which seems odd because the opening act Patrick Bruel had a huge career in the ‘80s and ‘90s (just look at the crowd in the video below!). In between you have the hip hop duo Bigflo & Oli. A really solid mix of styles, should make for a fun Sunday night.

Monday, July 14

Broadway by the Boardwalk: Max von Essen with Billy Stritch, 6:30 pm
Clinton Cove at Hudson River Park (12th Ave at W 55th St, Hell’s Kitchen)

I’m out of my element with Broadway, but this series is great because nothing else is happening Mondays, so it fills a vacuum, inviting various musical theater stars to the lawn at Clinton Cove. I saw Jennifer Holiday of the original Dream Girls here earlier this week, and even though I didn’t know the songs, the performance was incredible!