This Week’s Best Concerts: July 24 to 28

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This week’s list of shows features some serious guitar-toting heavy hitters. New Order plays Williamsburg, Bob Dylan, Beck, Wilco and Ryan Bingham spend a day at the beach, and Trampled by Turtles headlines a bill chock-full of strings. But there’s some serious new talent on the list, too and on these long summer nights, plenty of time to see them all.

NEW WAVE FLASHBACK
New Order with Holy Ghost!
Wednesday, July 24
5:30pm
Tickets $62
Williamsburg Park (N. 12 Street and Kent Avenue)

British new wave band New Order spent much of the past 23 years breaking up and making up, but the group is on-again this summer with a North American tour that stops at Williamsburg Park this Wednesday. Comprised of the remaining members of iconic post-punk band Joy Division, following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis, New Order recorded some of the catchiest synth-based dance classics of the 1980s and its latest album, this year’s Lost Sirens, retains some of that frenetic, dance-floor pace while leaning more heavily on guitar riffs and chord progressions.

Brooklyn band to watch TEEN plays the Knitting Factory this Thursday.

Brooklyn band to watch TEEN plays the Knitting Factory this Thursday.

NEW BAND ALERT

TEEN, Luke Temple and White Bike
Thursday, July 25
7:30pm
Tickets $10
Knitting Factory (361 Metropolitan Ave)

All-female four piece TEEN isn’t spanking new, exactly; their first full-length album, In Limbo, arrived last year, flush with hypnotic melodies, layered instrumentals, and occasional standout vocal spells by lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Teeny Lieberson. Their new EP Carolina is as grounded and decisive as its predecessor is hazy and languid. Heads keep turning in this group’s direction: they recently played MoMA Nights, a weekly showcase of emerging talent. Plus, the video for Electric is rad.

BEST FREE SHOW
Trampled by Turtles, The Devil Makes Three and River City Extension at Celebrate Brooklyn! Prospect Park Bandshell
Friday, July 26
Doors open at 6pm/Show starts at 7pm
FREE ($3 suggested Donation)
Prospect Park Bandshell (9th Street & Prospect Park West)

Old-time. Bluegrass. Roots. Folk. Americana. Whichever country sub-genre means something to you, this night of free music accommodates. There’ll be lots of acoustic string instruments–think swinging fiddle, plucky banjo and some thumping upright bass–rollicking vocal harmonies, swift finger picking and maybe some good-old-fashioned boot stomping. And, oh yeah, it’s free, so no excuses. I say bring the kids and clap along.

BEST PACK UP THE CAR AND GO SHOW
Bob Dylan’s Americanarama Festival of Music with Wilco, Beck and Ryan Bingham
Saturday, July 27
5:30pm
Tickets $40-$106
Nikon at Jones Beach Theater (1000 Ocean Parkway, Wantagh, NY)

Okay, so this show’s all the way out in Jones Beach. It’s a haul. But you know it’s a ridiculous line-up when Ryan Bingham looks like a no name compared to the rest of the bill (and he’s not. Have you seen Crazy Heart?) Maybe you missed out on tickets to Beck’s sold-out show at Prospect Park later this summer. Maybe you haven’t seen Bob Dylan in the last 30 years. Maybe you’re just surprised it’s not sold out. Whatever your reason, it’s good enough to fill your car, your friend’s car or a Zipcar full of friends and high tail it out of your neighborhood for the night.

BEST 1970s-INSPIRED SHOW
Fletcher C. Johnson, Hector’s Pets, Rozwell Kid and Boytoy
Saturday, July 27
8pm
Tickets $8 at door
Shea Stadium (20 Meadow Street)
If Jones Beach isn’t on your  agenda this weekend, this show at Shea Stadium packs a pop-rock punch, and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper. Fletcher C. Johnson’s bright guitar and slow drawl evokes a distinct 1970s, windows down in the Chevy Chevelle, wind blowing through uncombed, sun-bleached hair image that reminds me of Dazed and Confused, in a good way.

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