Is it ever not music festival season? Obviously summer has a pretty good claim to the title, but it’s not like you can’t get a whole bunch of people together for music when it’s cold. Or moderately warm. A little harder than usual, but still doable. The proof? This week is the third straight year of the Brain Cave music festival, a Brooklyn-centered festival that shows off the borough’s unknown musical talents over a four day period. Plus it shows off free beer!
Well, OK, the bands aren’t completely unknown: Party starters Gunfight! have been plugging away making a name for themselves among the beer swilling rock crowd for a few years now, and are coming off a successful Kickstarter drive. There’s also the charmingly strange-named The Suzan, a Japanese indie-pop import now living in New York, and jangly bros Monogold, who just finished a residency at the Knitting Factory. But that doesn’t mean you won’t discover surprising new bands, since there are more than 30 on the bill.
Oh right, and about the free beer. While it can be “cool” or “ratchet” or whatever the hell you kids say nowadays, to show up on the later side of a show, in this case, you will be the fool: Radeberger is promoting getting to shows on time by sponsoring a one-hour open bar during the first hour of every show. So now who’s lame for being early? Not you! The whole festival is going down at Europa (98 Meserole Avenue, Greenpoint) starting at 7:30pm on Thursday and will run until Sunday. A four day pass will run you $40, while each individual show is $15 at the door. More importantly, the beer is free for an hour every night whether you’re going every night or just one night.