I love to see a big band in an intimate space, and that’s exactly what The Black Lips provided on Thursday July 8th during their second sold out show of the week at TV Eye in Ridgewood, Queens. At this point I’ve lost track of just how many Black Lips shows I’ve attended, but in more recent years, if they were rolling through town it was pretty much guaranteed they’d be playing somewhere massive. So getting to see them crush it on TV Eye’s intimate back room was a real treat. Their set cherry picked some of the best stuff from their 20+ years of making music, instead of just sticking to the material on their most recent record. They kicked off the show by throwing rolls of toilet paper into the crowd and it didn’t take long for people to start stage diving, beer cans were flying at the band and someone lost their smartphone mid-mosh. By the time the night was over the first few front rows were a sloppy mess of beer and sweat—things that seemed impossible only a few months ago.

 

Brutis VIII opened things up for the night, I only caught one song, but he had the vibes of a possessed street preacher—the perfect amount of weird energy for a Black Lips show. Brower was up next and played a killer set with Josephine Network holding it down on lead guitar. Overall it was a fantastic night of tunes. New York is healing and it feels alright.

Scroll down for pics of the show (photos by Jeanette D. Moses)

 

BROWER ft. JOSEPHINE NETWORK

 

 

 

BLACK LIPS