4Knots Music Festival Dazzles and Delivers

By Leanne Castro on July 31, 2014

At Village Voice’s 4Knots Music Festival in New York City on Saturday July 12th, the only thing shining brighter than the sun was the talent of the festival’s acts.  Headlined by legends Dinosaur Jr. and indie darlings Mac DeMarco, the festival promised its attendees seven straight hours of great music with a view, all for the low, low price of zero dollars!

If the musical stylings of the ten bands in attendance were not enough to convince locals to come sweat out the stifling city heat, the atmosphere certainly was.  Located on a pier on the deceptively sparkly waters of the Hudson River (which are, in reality, inhumanely filthy), the main stage was a small construction that floated next to the Brooklyn Bridge.  The bands performed with a backdrop of Brooklyn as the sun disappeared beneath the Manhattan skyline directly behind the audience.  The gentle breeze from the water fluttered forgivingly all day and for once, New York was able to be outside during the summer months without counting down to when they would next be able to find air conditioning.  And if it ever were to get too hot, the numerous food and beer trucks parked along the perimeter would have been more than happy to provide ice cream, lemonade, and the works.

Photo courtesy of Nick Amoscato

All of the bands put on lovely sets but things didn’t really start kicking into high gear until Those Darlins took to the stage.  Their gritty blues-rock and girl-power aesthetic of a lead singer with unshaved armpits got the crowd loosened up and ready to head-bang.  For as hardcore and badass as their many heavy songs were, however, they were in finest form during the two or three songs during their set when they slowed things down and let their punk rock hearts bleed a little.  Their noisy, high energy set got the crowd sufficiently riled up for Mac DeMarco.

It quickly became apparent that DeMarco was who the majority of the young, largely male crowd had come for.  They idolized him with such reverence that most of them had gone so far as to dress like him.  Any one of the jorts, plain baseball cap, and loose button up printed shirt-clad fanboys in the audience could have passed for DeMarco’s doppelganger.  Their love for the gap-toothec goofball didn’t stop there.  They jokingly shouted “Mac Miller!”  and “I love Macklemore!” and tossed plastic water bottles full of whiskey on to the stage.  He was something of a stoner hero to those boys.  The silky smooth tenderness of his set proved that all of this adulation was not in vain.  He puts on a show that sounds exactly like his recorded music, which is a talent that fewer and fewer bands can claim to possess.  “The Stars Keep on Calling My Name” launched the audience into happy bounces and head bobs just as quickly as “Let My Baby Stay” cast a somber spell, with everyone swaying slowly, eyes closed.  DeMarco is not a rock star.  He is a gifted, no doubt, but the sense that he could easily be someone you know endears his fans to him on a very personal level.  He may be a man of few words offstage, but onstage he says everything he needs to through his music.

Dinosaur Jr. are old enough to be the dads of just about every person who was at 4Knots.  The only thing wilder than the whipping of J Mascis’s silver mane as he shredded on his battered axe was the nonstop moshing it incited in his fans.  These were people from different worlds.  Most of the crowd hadn’t even been born by the time Dinosaur Jr. had disbanded, yet they were united by a love of solid, fast, angst-driven yet controlled guitar rock.  At its core, isn’t that what music is all about?  4Knots did for a few magical hours what music has been doing forever: it brought people together across generations and every other invisible dividing line and let them enjoy something together, as one, despite all differences.

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