4KNOTS MUSIC FESTIVAL
South Street Seaport District
Saturday, July 9, free, 1:00 – 8:00
villagevoice.com/4knots
Last year’s fifteenth annual Village Voice music festival, which began as the Siren in Coney Island and shifted to 4Knots in Manhattan in 2011, implemented a major change, charging admission for the first time in its history. It was not a major success, with a small crowd paying $25 to $50 to see such bands as Super Furry Animals, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Twin Peaks, Mikal Cronin, and Screaming Females on one stage on Pier 84 in Hudson River Park. So this year the festival is free again and back at the South Street Seaport, where twelve groups will perform on two stages, with a third stage for DJ sets in between bands. The coheadliners are Guided by Voices and the Strumbellas, along with Protomartyr, Car Seat Headrest, Kirk Knight, Girlpool, Bayonne, Diane Coffee, Promised Land Sound, and Mild High Club, with the show beginning at 1:00 and continuing through 8:00. VIPs get to watch all the action aboard the historic four-masted barque Peking on Pie 16. Be on the lookout for official set times, which are usually announced very late in the week, and get ready to make those mad dashes between stages, or just settle in early for a good spot at one and just hang in the sunshine all day and into the night.