Secret Garden Party UK, Fireworks 2010
There is no way to overstate the impact of New York and the Hamptons on the development of music and the arts, so you have to wonder—where is our appropriately significant music and arts festival? It’s been a long time since those three days on Max Yasgur’s farm in 1969, and in this new era of multiday, multifaceted festivals, we’ve gotten lapped by LA, Seattle and even Manchester, Tennessee. While we may be fashionably late (but you know how we love to make an entrance), the Hamptons is finally putting New York on the map with not one, but two summer festivals, the first one being Escape to New York on the Shinnecock Reservation in Southampton (August 5-7).
Twenty bands will perform over the course of the three-day festival, with indie pop favorites such as Best Coast, The Submarines, Of Montreal and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros sharing the stage with new wave pioneers The Psychedelic Furs and icons such as Patti Smith, the opening night’s headliner. “We try to book acts that are sympathetic to the environment,” says Fellowes. “You’re in a field with your friends, preferably with a drink in your hand, and there are certain bands that suit that environment and there are certain bands that don’t. I think we’ve got a great collection of bands that really, really suit this.”
Playing early on the festival’s opening night will be a new band that people who love to talk about new bands will love talking about, The Postelles. While the buzz has been building for years, this power pop quartet of New York City natives has just released its self-titled debut album, which was largely produced by The Strokes’ guitarist, Albert Hammond Jr. “I met them ages ago…I would go see them sometimes at Sidewalk Café when they were like 16. I thought they had these really interesting songs and we would always just keep in touch. And then one day it just all came together,” says Hammond. “It’s a lot of fun; they write really cool songs.”
