Sharon Van Etten

It was the last day of the school year; third grade, I believe.  I sat at my desk chewing the eraser off of my No. 2 pencil in anticipation of the two months of freedom, which lay ahead.  I obsessively cleaned my over-sized tortoise shell glasses with the bottom of my t-shirt.  The clock ticked… slowly.  Finally,  the bell rang, and FLASH, I was off.  I sprinted down the hallway exuberantly.  The strobe LED lights from my LA Gears reflected off the waxed linoleum floor, until they hit the black tar pavement of my elementary school’s playground.

Before I could go home for a summer of splashing around in the town pool and watching marathons of The Adventures of Pete and Pete, all day, on Nickelodeon; I would hang around the playground for the school carnival.  It was an annual tradition on the final day of the year.  I would eat cotton candy.  I would ride the scrambler until I threw up.  I would play tilted carnival games, with dreams of shoving a giant stuffed neon animal into my mom’s station wagon in my head.

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Aputumpu Festival Poster

Freewilliamsburg is pleased to team with My Social List and Aputumpu to bring you the Aputumpu Festival.  The festival takes place from March 22-25 at Shea Stadium, Public Assembly, Cameo Gallery and (le) poisson rouge. (more…)

Jay-Z

The coverage of Todd P’s Real Estate show at K&K Super Buffet was pretty extensive, so we just wanted to take make one brief comment: The Most Blogged About Shows this Week team wants to apologize to the hosts of the random Bushwick loft party we crashed on our way home. Please let us know where we can leave the $2.79 we owe for the stove-top stuffing we stole on our way out.

If you have a million dollars, we hope you are seeing Jay-Z this Monday at Carnegie Hall. If not—and you’re interested in checking out a totally different hip-hop show—you should see Action Bronson, Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire and others at the soon-to-be-shut-down Southpaw on Thursday.

There are three great shows at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Nicolas Jaar tonight; the sold-out Tycho, Oneohtrix Point Never (bonus to those who can pronounce this band’s name) and Beacon on Saturday; and Dum Dum Girls, Widowspeak and Punks on Mars on Tuesday.

Finally, the show that we are most excited about is an all-star lineup of hardcore at (le) Poisson Rouge with Ceremony, The Rival Mob, Hoax, Kim Phuc, Gods & Queens and the amazing Pissed Jeans.  The show unfortunately sold out—if you have tickets, let us know so we can join you.

On to the top 10 shows for the next 7 days…

10. Class Actress @ 285 Kent Ave w/ Pictureplane, Beige
Friday, February 3rd at 8:00pm – all ages, $12
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Real Estate

The reading on the Most Blogged About Shows This Week thermometer is clearly pointing to indie. From a Chinese buffet in Queens to the Allen Room at the Time Warner Center, kids in tight jeans will be enjoying some good music. Before we get into it though, we’d like to thank all of our readers who came out to My Social List’s first show at Shea Stadium last week. Ava Luna, Total Slacker, Caged Animals and Osekre & the Lucky Bastards all played thrilling sets to a totally packed audience

Speaking of Chinese buffets, Todd P has assembled a great show at K&K Supper Buffet on Saturday night. Real Estate, The Babies, Black Dice, Dogleather and DJ sets from Oneohtrix Point Never and Ducktails for $5? We’ll definitely be there.

He may have had a bit of a rough year, but Thurston Moore is performing as part of the American Songbook at the Allen Room on Thursday. If the Time Warner Center is too fancy (or expensive), you can check him out in Hoboken at Maxwell’s the next night.  With the status of Sonic Youth not completely clear, this may be turn out to be a great opportunity for his next big thing.

Finally, Glasslands continues to prove to be the best-booked venue in New York, with three shows on our top 10.  Check out The Hundred in the Hands tonight, Salva on Saturday and Megafortress on Tuesday. If you’re really ambitious, on Saturday you can sneak next door to 285 Kent to check out Blouse, Cosmetic, New Lines and Mosaic.

On to the top 10 shows for the next 7 days…

10. Blouse @ 285 Kent Ave w/ Cosmetics, The New Lines, Mosaic
Tuesday, January 31st at 8:00pm – all ages, $10
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This week we’ve got another special edition of TMBASTW!  On Friday, My Social List, the guys behind this column, are holding our first show at Shea Stadium in Bushwick. The show is headlined by Freewilliamsburg favorite Ava Luna and supported by Total Slacker, Caged Animals & Osekre and the Lucky Bastards.   In addition to the great bands, we are sponsoring an open PBR bar from 8:30-9:30.  The whole thing will only set you back $8.

Ava Luna, Total Slacker, Caged Animals & Osekre and the Lucky Bastards

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Bjork

This installment of The Week’s Most Blogged About Shows won’t focus on the bands playing the next 7 days (though some of them are pretty awesome), but instead on the ridiculous amount of shows going on sale. The floodgates have finally opened, and from buzz bands to old favorites to Central Park Summerstage, there are a ton of shows being announced — and a short time to get tickets before they inevitably sell out.  So pull out those credit cards, defer your student loans payments another month, and set your alarms for what we hope will be you at the computer, begging Ticketmaster to put that last pair in your cart.

Arguably the most exciting tickets released this week already went on presale Tuesday.  The 10-night Bjork Biophilia tour (4 nights at Roseland Ballroom, 6 nights at the The New York Hall of Science) is the first time Bjork is plaing in a few years.  Don’t worry if you missed out; the shows will be back on sale Friday at 10 a.m.

There are a TON of indie shows going on sale, as well – both for still-small-and-mostly-unknown bands as well as already-sold-out-and-not-really-indie bands.  Beirut, Ramesh (formerly of Voxtrot), Sharon Van Etten, Dum Dum Girls, Delta Spirit, Beach Fossils, White Rabbits, Snow Patrol, The Joy Formidable, Foster the People/Tokyo Police Club, The Duke Spirit, The Vaccines and Yacht all go on sale this week along with many more.

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Dive

The holidays are over, and so is the live-music dead zone that is the week between Christmas and New Year’s. It’s always nice to start these most-blogged-about-shows posts with something free, so it’s my pleasure to present to you “Live From Tribeca,” tomorrow night at the Tribeca Grand, with sets by Dive and DJs The Horrors and Ilirjana.

There are some other good opportunities to check out buzz bands in the next seven days, as well.  King Krule is playing Mercury Lounge next Wednesday.  The same night, Buraka Som Sistema and Brenmar are playing Bowery Ballroom.  Also, don’t miss Keepway’s record-release show at Glasslands Gallery on Tuesday with Lakutis, Big Baby Ghandi, Dracula’s Dick (great name!) and a Das Racist DJ set.

Finally, for those looking for something more tried and true, there’s the Indelible Festival at Highline Ballroom – a tribute to Gil Scott-Heron, Gordon Parks & Jimmy Scott.   The show is TONIGHT and has an all-star lineup with Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), Jimmy Scott, Questlove, Robert Glasper, Bilal, Cecil Taylor, Gary Bartz and Derrick Hodge.

On to the top 9* shows for the next 7 days…

10. Steve Earle @ City Winery w/ Allison Moorer
Monday, January 9th at 8:00pm – 21+, $45 – $65 -> tickets

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Lee Fields

Next Saturday is New Years Eve and My Social List is happy to partner with Freewilliamsburg to bring you a full list of shows around the city. From Manhattan to Buswhick and house to punk if you can’t find something fun to do on this list, you are probably dead.

10PM:  Lee Fields & The Expressions and Sugar Pie DeSanto @ The Bell House -> $45, tickets

8PM:  Araabmuzik, Balam Acab, Light Asylum, Laurel Halo, Run DMT @ 285 Kent -> $20, tickets

9PM:  Nosaj Thing, EL TOPO, Archie Pelago, DJ Ilirjana @ Glasslangs Gallery -> $35, tickets

• One hour vodka open bar
• Champagne Toast at Midnight

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Fucked Up

Planning out your next 7 days of music will be tough: From Madison Square Garden to 285 Kent in Williamsburg, it might be tricky–and expensive–to see all of the most buzzed shows. Before we get to that, however, a brief point regarding a show we saw last week:  !!!/Friends at 285 Kent on Sunday night may have been our favorite show of the year.   Watching Nic Offer of !!! casually enter the venue (which lacks a back stage) and spend 20 minutes stretching as his band got ready provided a great prelude to an incredibly high-energy set. We are hoping he had a cramp-free Monday.

Tonight you may already have tickets for My Morning Jacket/Band of Horses at MSG. And we hope you made it on tomorrow’s RSVP list for Diplo at the Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, as it is now closed; if you missed out, hip up Ducktails, Amen Dunes and Big Troubles at the 285 Kent holiday party instead.

This weekend, see the debut of the Brooklyn Night Bazaar in Williamsburg, including three shows from the likes of the Hold Steady, Fucked Up, James Murphy and many more contributing acts.  We’d like to highlight the $10 ticket price for the Fucked Up show and the fact that it is STILL ON SALE.   That is only the first of the BrooklynVegan Presents shows this weekend; on Saturday, you can see Twin Sister, Widowspeak and Ava Luna at Bowery Ballroom for $8 (also not sold out).

On to the top 10 shows for the next 7 days…

10. Smoke and Mirrors @ Eyebeam Art and Technology Center w/ Diplo, Smoke and Mirrors
Thursday, December 15th at 9:00pm – 21+, FREE! – RSVP Closed

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Lana del Rey

This week’s Most Blogged About Shows begins with an observation: The most anticipated show over the next seven days is buzz girl du jour, Lana Del Ray, at the Bowery Ballroom on Monday. Right now, there are only 83 tickets available on StubHub, although the venue has a capacity of 550. Factoring in the guest list, Craigslist and all of the other secondary markets, we wonder how many “real” people actually purchased tickets to this event.

Okay, now back to the regularly scheduled programming. Thanksgiving is over and we’re done purging all of the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes from last week. That means it’s time to go to some shows!

Starting with tonight: You might want to check out The Roots performing their new album “undun” at the Highline Ballroom. Tomorrow you can see the Dum Dum Girls, Dive and Xray Eyeballs at Brooklyn Bowl for only $10. The weekend brings a ton of options, including Gauntlet Hair, The Big Sleep (My Social List favorites!) and Dive performing at the Mercury Lounge on Friday and Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kweli) playing twice on Saturday. Finally, if you haven’t heard about it yet, The Black Keys are playing a “secret show” on Monday to coincide with the release of their new album. We’ll update more about the show when we find out the exact details.

On to the top 10 shows for the next 7 days…

10. Goth Prom 1986 @ Diana Event Oval @ Barnard College w/ Balam Acab, Purling Hiss, Leather, RL Grime
Saturday, December 3rd at 7:00pm – all ages, FREE!

9. Black Star @ Best Buy Theater
Saturday, December 3rd at 8:00pm – all ages, $39.5 -> tickets

8. The Black Keys @ Secret Manhattan Venue
Monday, December 5th at 8:00pm – all ages, TBD (more…)