Photos by George Kopp
Lincoln Center Out of Doors is an annual summer celebration of free music, dance and spoken word at the beautiful Damrosch Park bandshell in Manhattan. The ever-charming and elegant British music legend Nick Lowe joined forces with Nashville-based, luchador-masked surf rockers Los Straitjackets for a fun show on a gorgeous August night.
Lowe, who has produced classic albums by the Pretenders, Elvis Costello and Graham Parker, opened the show on solo acoustic guitar with some of his quieter singer-songwriter numbers before being joined by Los Straitjackets for “So It Goes.” They continued to back Lowe for a number of his songs including “Ragin’ Eyes,” “Shting Shtang” and “Not Too Long Ago.”
The incredibly tight Los Straightjackets then took control of things, allowing Lowe to take a break, and banged out a number of their surf inspired rockers like “Space Mosquito” and “Pacifica.”
After rejoining them, Lowe rocked out like I haven’t seen him do in a while, with rousing versions of his “Cruel to Be Kind,” “Heart of the City” and encored with his classic “(What’s So Funny ‘bout) Peace, Love and Understanding.”
A night of reverent rock ’n’ roll under the stars in New York City.
—George Kopp
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