Legendary Brits, The Zombies headlined Saturday night on the first night of Central Park’s annual summer concert series, SummerStage at Rumsey Playfield. The band were supported by UK’s Django Django and New York’s Adam Green.
At start, singer Colin Blunstone’s vocals were less husky/breathy, which is how I remembered The Zombies, but just as brilliant with that velvety texture of pitch perfect notes. His falsettos were so shockingly vibrant, I’d get the chills especially during their final song George Gershwin’s Summertime.
As the night progressed though, that signature breathy vocal of Bluntstone became more prominent, and it was beautiful. The crowd was treated to a hefty set of new songs and old which included favorites like: She’s Not There, Time of the Season, Tell Her No, and What Becomes of the Brokenhearted. It was awesome seeing a band I listened to as a youth who had wished she had experienced the 60s.
Django Django were up right before The Zombies and they seemed to do a decent job. I did like their music, but at times it felt like all their songs sounded the same. That’s my biggest complaint about bands I’m not feeling lately, that all of their songs just sound the same. I think it’s the technique, which becomes too much of a signature sound, that makes me want something a little more different from song to song, so I don’t get bored to quickly. ADD damn you!
Adam Green was great! He seems to have taken dance lessons from Jarvis Cocker. I must say it’s quite charming. Binki Shapiro helped out with the harmonies every once in a while, and that was really nice.
SummerStage has plenty of events this summer for various tastes and you can check out their schedule here.
Here’s the photo gallery of Django Django and The Zombies. Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to shoot Adam Green.
The TEAR-N TAN Files 