Central Park Summer Stage: Television, Apples In Stereo, and Dragons Of Zynth

It was a free concert, and I'd heard some good stuff about all the bands. I wasn't exactly alive in the '70s, so seeing Television there was pretty awesome.

The first band that came on was Dragons Of Zynth. Everyone was sitting down on the lawn during their set, because you can't exactly mosh to their music. It was slow, boring, and obviously a failed attempt at texture and mood. The guitar just held notes for all the ten minute songs. How much sustain do those things have?

Next came Apples In Stereo. They were really good, and fun to dance to. The guitar sound was great, and even though it was raining like hell, everyone was having fun. It was bouncy, energetic pop. It woke everyone up after the snooze-fest that was Dragons Of Zynth.

Television was also great. When Tom Verlaine tried to talk into the mic there was a big "pppffff" sound. He said "City Of New York, and they give us a crap system." When everything was fixed up, the guitars started, and I was very impressed. Most punk rock centers around 3 chord riffs and 2 minute songs. Television, like The Clash, do much more than that, and that's what really interested me. And the fact that a bunch of 50 year olds with gray hair and button down shirts can emanate punk just as easily as they did 30 years ago shows that punk isn't a bunch of angsty teens. Both guitars and the bass were easy to hear, and the whole concert was pretty good.