As part of his summer tour, blogger favorite Jay Reatard played a free show at Stuyvesant Oval last night. Toting a flying V guitar, Reatard and his band played a high octane set lasting only forty some minutes, then abruptly exited the stage, drenched in sweat. For those not familiar with Reatard, he is a garage punk artist from Memphis who has garnered critical acclaim over his short but prolific career for his propulsive brand of distortion heavy punk. At the age of 29, Reatard has played on over twenty albums, a statistic rendered slightly less impressive by the fact that his average song is two and a half minutes long and contains four chords and twelve words. Still Reatard’s music is more than a derivative exercise; the music’s power, pace, and subtle melodic choices set it apart from the crowd.

When the wild haired, feral Reatard stepped onstage with his drummer and bassist, he meant business thrashing through songs, as the BPM was pushed into the stratosphere. On songs like “Useless Children” and “Trapped Here,” Reatard displayed the maniacal intensity, and caveman demeanor that initiated his meteoric rise, much to the delight of a group of violently dancing fans in front of the stage. On “I’m Watching You” Reatard switched things up a little, channeling a psychedelic sixties vibe, in a way only a shredding punk band could. Before kicking off “Hammer I Miss You” Reatard chugged a can of beer before spitting it onto the predominantly male crowd. Less than forty five minutes into the set, Reatard announced “I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is this is the last song. The bad news is this is the last song. Pick a side!” Then he sang “Always Wanting More” in a falsetto that almost seemed lip synched, pulled an enormous metal box to center stage and stood on top of it to deliver a distortion filled guitar solo. As soon as the song ended, the band stormed off stage. It seemed like much of the crowd expected an encore, but Reatard was not game to oblige. The show was over with members of the audience left puzzled about what they had just seen.

This is my favourite venue, so far, in the 50/50 project.

I was in the area already before this show, so I bummed around Stuytown for a little bit before the set was supposed to start. It's a great community -- very diverse. I had a short discussion with a friend about it: about how you can't apply a demographic to Stuytown. Even neighborhoods of the city have specific demographics, but Stuytown is an entity all its own. The only issue that it seems to have is that the oval where the music is played is perpetually muddy. I know that it had rained pretty hard the night before, but it seems like it should have dried out by then. Sadly, that wasn't the case. My flip-flopped feet paid the price, but it was well worth it.

What I love so much about Music On The Oval in Stuytown is the picnic feel of the shows we've seen there so far. Before this one, as I was waiting for everything to begin, I watched a group of dudes play Bocce ball on the lawn on a strip of mud. I watched 4-year-old boys play soccer with each other and the people on the benches join in their game. I watched mothers shake their heads fondly as their little girls ran around and muddied-up their dresses. It was just another testament to how much music can bring people -- all kinds of people -- together for one specific thing.

Before the show, Nick and I met up -- we each had a friend with us, and his asked me, "so what does Jay Reatard's music sound like?" I gave an entirely wrong answer based on what I'd heard on the myspace page for the band: psychedelic folk rock. Seriously: I was so wrong. Maybe I'd misheard the tracks on the myspace and wasn't paying attention enough, but we certainly didn't get any psychedelic folk rock out of Jay Reatard.

What it turned out to be was much more punk than anything I was prepared for. That said, it was awesome. I loved it. The guys on stage were totally rocking out and whipping around their long, curly hair. My favourite of the night was "I'm Watching You," which sounds kind of creepy -- but it's mostly just a song about being unimpressed with someone who thinks that they're cool. Reatard's voice was totally suited for the garage punk kind of music he had going on, and paired with the rain-free day it was pretty much exactly what I wanted to hear -- just not what I was expecting to.

The only odd part of the show was this: it lasted just about 40 minutes. While most of these shows go on for about 2 hours, this one was totally minimal. I was in the crowd for the first 20 minutes or so and then went to find my friend -- who was sitting on a bench on the outskirts -- and just as I was about to get up to head back in, the announcer came on and people started dispersing. I called Nick in disbelief, but it was true: Jay Reatard was done. At least the music was good while it lasted!