The free McCarren Pool concert series called Pool Parties got off to a rocking start with a triple bill headlined by Brooklyn stalwarts Les Savy Fav. LSF tore through a blazing set that featured Tim Harrington’s frenetic vocals and Seth Jabour’s searing guitar. Harrington made good use of the vast McCarren Pool space, venturing into the crowd a half-dozen times and inviting people onto the stage. At one point, he sprinted to the dodge ball court set up in a corner of the former pool and invited the players to throw balls at him. At another point, he balanced atop the railing set up around the empty pool. Harrington opened the show wearing red body paint to simulate a sunburn and closed it by pouring water over himself and covering himself in confetti.

Dragons of Zynth opened the show. They were followed on the stage by Holy Fuck.

While McCarren Pool is an excellent venue on a beautiful summer day, GL kept looking at the vastness of the pool as the sun blazed down and imagined it filled with water. Alas, the only H2O around was the stuff being sold in bottles and the water used to wet down a water slide. There are also some cool photos especially of the dodge ball set-up shot by e-liz at burntsienna.nu.

Overall there was a very cool and friendly vibe at the show. Hats off to JellyNYC for producing a community-friendly series and for being so, well, nice to deal with and having everything decently organized. Something gives us the feeling that the cool nabe vibe of the Pool Parties won’t carry over to the Clear Channel-produced corporate concerts that kick off soon.