Global Citizen Festival 9/29/12 Central Park NYC

Global Citizen Festival
Poverty Project Concert 

Band of Horses & Black Keys

9/29/12

Great Lawn Central Park, NYC

One of the coolest NYC events of the year (and maybe longer) happened this past Saturday when the Global Poverty Project staged a benefit concert on the Great Lawn in Central Park.  If you haven't heard about the project please take sometime before checking this out to see what they are all about, not much of a better cause out there to support then this one. 

Before this show was even announced my friends and I had gone ballistic with the idea of seeing Jack White on the 29th at Radio City Music Hall, so when the GCP was announced we were hoping for an early start time so we could catch everyone.  It was not to be, so do to scheduling constraints we decided to hit the park for 2 of our favorites here at RtBE, Band of Horses and The Black Keys.   

We walked through the maze of security to get to the Great Lawn literally just as Ben Bridwell and company started up with their new single "Knock Knock".  The lawn was spacious at the time (it would fill up more as the night progressed, 60,000 was the official number) and the band seemed super excited to be playing even if they suspected the people might not have been there for them particularly.  I was and was somewhat disappointed the band only got to showcase 4 songs.  

"The Great Salt Lake" was next and splashed mega waves of sound all over the great lawn.  Bridwell then told the crowd, "We have to play our best songs even if they are sensitive" before dropping into "No One's Gonna Love You".  The band then concluded this mintiest of sets with an epic version of "The Funeral".

John Legend then took the stage and did a cover of "Imagine" before guest speakers and awards were brought out.  Olivia Wilde came out and said she was only there for one reason, to see the Black Keys.  Judging by the crowd, t-shirts and a few conversations with fellow fans I think most in attendance were there to see The Foo Fighters though.

After a few speeches and awards the Black Keys took the stage and played for over an hour, focusing mostly on their last two albums but spicing in some old tunes along the way.  The band was a four piece for most of the show as guitarist Dan Auerbach told Central Park, "Let's Get it Moving!" before launching into "Howlin' For You".  The fuzz drenched bass and crunchy guitar dominated the sound which was pretty perfect given the size and scope of the event, the camera shots from behind the band during "Next Girl" showed just what a dynamic view the performers had on this night.

"Run Right Back" was upbeat where "Same Old Thing" took on sludge rock and succeeded.  "Little Black Submarines" got the biggest reaction from the crowd as the band played the El Camino hit.  The group turned up the juice for "Money Maker" and "Strange Times"possibly sensing their set was coming to an end.  "Long Gone" showcased Auerbach's fiery riffs while "Lonely Boy" was a hip-shaking pedal fest.   The band then slimmed down to a duo for the closing "I Got Mine" which turned out to be the set highlight with a huge solo as the darkening sky lit up with lights, hand claps and electric guitar.  A powerful set from a powerful band, IMO much better then their MSG show from earlier in the year.               

Due to time constraints we walked out post Black Keys but left on a high after the phenomenal performance and knowing Jack White was in our future...little did we know that future would be only around 50 minutes....anyway, it is hard to complain at all after digesting that great musical day.  Below are clips from Band of Horses and the full set from The Black Keys

Band of Horses
"Knock Knock"


"The Funeral"


Click read more for the Full Black Keys Set From the Show!!!

Amazingly someone named random 90's guy put up the whole Pro Shot Black Keys Set!!!!  Enjoy:
The Black Keys Full Set
Pro Shot First 10 minutes of their set:

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