Thursday Night at the Prospect Park Bandshell: The Hold Steady

This appeared on Richard Grayson's MySpace blog on Friday, August 10, 2007:

Thursday Night at the Prospect Park Bandshell: The Hold Steady

It had been a while since I'd been to a show at the Prospect Park Bandshell. Celebrate Brooklyn! has been putting on these concerts for 29 summers now, and whenever I've spent the summer in the city, I've tried to go. I think the first time I went was in that summer of 1979, the last year I lived in Brooklyn with my family, the summer my first book came out, when Prospect Park and the bandshell were really funky and unsafe, and it seemed weird to go there at night. I can't remember who I saw, though I'm pretty sure it was a jazz band.

Last night the rain held off and I got to experience The Hold Steady. They were incredible. Craig Finn has more energy and idiosyncratic moves than just about any musician I've seen lately. The crowd was huge and very happy. It was a terrific experience.

I also liked the opening act, The Teenage Prayers, who were a bit quirky and fun.