So I saw the Black Lips Saturday

This past Saturday (July 14th) the Village Voice hosted their 4Knots music festival.  It was a free festival on South Street with way too many people in attendance.  A bunch of bands played outdoors on the piers including Archers of Loaf, the Drums, Nick Waterhouse, I don't even remember who else cuz I didn't go...


Anyhow, they were doing an after party, which unfortunately wasn't free, at the Beekman Beer Garden Beach Club and the Black Lips were playing. The show was advertised to begin at 7, so not having a ticket yet, I showed up for 6 to make sure to get in.  Upon arrival, the club was roped off and fire trucks, cop cars, and the whole nine yards were there not letting anyone near.  A couple girls nearby informed me that there had been a fire in the venue so to not expect the show to happen.  Well it turned out it was just a soda machine that caught fire.  Ever go to one of these things desperate for a nice cold beverage and it just keeps spitting your only dollar bill back out? ..Even after you spend five minutes trying to flatten it out against the edge of the machine? Well it finally happened to the wrong guy..

So anyways, using my smart phone, which is such a piece of shit I'm surprised it worked, I saw that the club was saying on their website that the show would still go on.  So I wait around for an hour and a half, manage to score a ticket off a dude next to me with a Superman hat on, and head to where I see a crowd forming.  This security guard chick is telling people to make three lines.  One line if you already have a ticket, a second if you are on the guest list or have will call, and a third if you need to buy a ticket.  This led to mass confusion and what looked like 10 lines and a lot of people right up in my face.  Let me remind you, it was pretty fucking hot outside too.  Anyways, we formed our lines, and still they weren't letting us in!  Finally it was 9 o clock (show was originally slated for 7 remember) and people were getting pissed, yelling things out at the security, pushing etc.,  One person behind me yelled "Just let us in!" and another yelled "I hope you're giving out free blowjobs after this!", which seemed inappropriate, but I had been wondering the same thing.

Fast forward, we finally get let in around 9:15.  If you've never been to the Beekman Beer Garden Beach Club(which is such a fucking long name you'd remember if you had) let me tell you, this place is phenomenal.  It's right on the water, amazing view of the city, there is sand so you feel like your on a beach, just incredible.  Fast forward again, because this is getting too long.  The Black Lips go on and it's a party.  Beers are flying around, rolls of toilet paper are being thrown, people are dancing, the band is rocking, basically the things you'd expect from a Black Lips show.  Well somewhere along the line, people broke through the barrier and actually I saw the barrier floating by on top of the crowd.  Well the security guards freaked out and began getting violent.  Dudes were being choked and dragged out.  One guy sent a pic into Brooklyn vegan showing the wounds and unfinished, what appears to be bat-a-rang tattoo, given to him by security. 

The band talked a good amount of shit to the security guards, and started a "Fuck This Shit" chant, which spread like herpes in a night club, but not sure it helped, because I feel like they eventually had to cut the set short anyways.  But yeah, I'm gonna wrap this post up now by saying that they closed with "Bad Kids" which is one of my favs, and I went home happy.

Here's a video of "Make It" from the show that I found on youtube:

And here is the statement the Village Voice released about the security guards.