08/17/08 Aesop Rock w/El-P, Rob Sonic/Chin Chin @ McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn, NY

I made it to a fair amount of Pool Parties while they were still going, but I undoubtedly would have made it to many more if they did not take place in the relatively early Sunday hours when I was often still on Saturday night.

But even after a lengthy Saturday, I had to drag myself to Williamsburg once again for a free show by one of my favorite lyricists in backpack rap, Aesop Rock.

Overcast skies early kept the crowds away and allowed me to hit up the inflatable slip 'n' slide for the first and only time.

The opening band Chin Chin played a Lite FM disco R&B that someone likened to the band on The Loveboat. Afterwards a DJ spun the kind of block rocking beats that inspire B-Boys to show their stuff, which those in attendance did, busting out an array of gravity-defying handsprings and spins.

Finally, Aesop Rock hit the stage with a couple friends in tow. His verbiose grandeur is actually better suited to the studio, but hip hop rarely translates well live anyways. The block party feel and old school beats were a fitting end to a long weekend of musical adventure.

07/27/08 MGMT @ McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn, NY

The summer of 2008 was undeniably the summer of MGMT. Their soaring psychedelic pop spewed forth from the earbuds of every hipster's iPod. "Time To Pretend" captured the devil-may-care cynicism of a generation.

Booked before that anthem and "Kids" made MGMT the It band, the McCarren show served as a homecoming of sorts, and just about everyone in the hipster capital of NYC wrapped around the block for a glimpse at indie superstardom.

Not wanting to stand around for hours, we hatched a plan. After briefly surveying the circumference of the venue, we spotted a weakness in the VIP section. After scaling the fence, dropping onto a trailer and then behind some Port-o-Potties, we walked casually out of the VIP section and into the vast expanse of the decommissioned public pool. It ranks as one of my all-time most daring concert entries.

The show itself was as good a time as any Pool Party. It really was difficult to have a bad time in such a sunny carefree atmosphere.

The highlights of course were the faithful renditions of their radio hits. At one point they all took to mini-keyboards for a sole extended jam that their neo-hippie aesthetic all but required. This was a band on the cusp of living up to its hype.

07/15/07 Ponderosa Stomp @ McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn, NY

The morning after One Night of Fire, we dragged our weary bones down to Williamsburg for some amazing Mexican food and a McCarren Pool Party.

The music was a hodgepodge of blues, soul, rockabilly, swamp pop, funk and garage groups under the banner of the New Orleans-based Ponderosa Stomp festival forcing us to summon our little remaining energy for some sunshine dancing.

07/01/07 Man Man/Dengue Fever @ McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn, NY

After the Afro Punk Festival, we stuck around in Brooklyn to visit our newlywed friends' pad in Crown heights and play with their adorable new kittens.

The next day we hit up McCarren Park for some hookah in the shade.

Unfortunately, we could not convince our friends to join us for the concert, which featured the stellar pairing of Man Man's manic tribal punk and Dengue Fever's poppy Cambodian psychedelia.

09/09/06 Gov't Mule/Wolfmother/Two Gallants @ McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn, NY

Gov't Mule
1: Bad Little Doggie, Brand New Angel, Streamline Woman, About To Rage, Larger Than Life, Brighter Days, Rocking Horse, Don't Step On The Grass, Sam, Thorazine Shuffle
2: Lola Leave Your Light On, Mother Earth, Mr. High And Mighty, Game Face > Mountain Jam > Game Face, Effigy > Drums > Unring The Bell, Blind Man In The Dark
Encore: So Weak, So Strong

The headliner of this show was Warren Haynes' power trio, Government Mule. I don't particularly care for Haynes' hamband ubiquity outside of the Allman Brothers, but I was itching to check out Brooklyn's hottest, newest outdoor venue - the re-purposed decrepit public park eyesore McCarren Pool.

I was also digging the pitch perfect '70s stadium rock imitation of Australia's Wolfmother.

Luckily I was able to do some promo for Rocks Off in exchange for free tickets.

Openers Two Gallants were a competent folk rock duo who gained their fifteen minutes several months later when one of them was tasered on stage in response to a noise complaint.

Gov't Mule was OK, but I was hungry so I left to get a sandwich, which I ate during the end of Mule's set.