Sunday, June 22, 2014

Culture: Punk Island 2014, Staten Island, New York City

(Drivebycuriosity) - Punk is still alive. Yesterday lots of punks gathered on Staten Island, a  borough of New York City. They celebrated the start of the summer with the annual "Punk Island", a free of charge rock festival (facebook). According to the website MakeMusiceNewYork more than 90 bands from every corner of the punk scene performed there for 10 hours on seven stages (makemusicny). It was Rockn`Roll pure!

Around 6 pm my wife and I arrived by ferry from Manhattan, which also was free of charge. We enjoyed the beautiful late summer afternoon in company of the bands and their audiences. The stages were strung on a concrete place at the waterfront. The majority were on a pier where we could be in awe of the Manhattan skyline and enjoy the fresh breeze.




                                                                     Group Dynamic

We watched just a small fraction of the gigantic show, of course. I enjoyed the band Absinthe Rose, whose female lead singer combined her tattooed beauty with a strong rock performance. Penguin and Gorgon, 2 girls bands, impressed with their fierce presentation. I also admired Uzuhi, a Japanese band. Their burly lead singer delivered an enthusiastic show - opera meets punk - which reminded me a bit of Danzig, a metal band. He finished the concert with a group photo with a baby, apparently a co-production of his and the keyboarder of the band.





A congenial part of Punk Island - like every rough rock event - are the very dynamic group dances where the people jump into each other creating a powerful group dynamic. The audience was part of the show. There were lots of tattoos, colorfully designed hair and much more to see.


                                                               

                                                              Group Photo With Baby











I hope the tradition will continue and plan to go back to Punk Island 2015.

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