What Saturdays this Summer at Solé Sounded Like
Montauk has never been confused with Music City. There are some pretty good jukeboxes in town and the Surf Lodge and a couple other places put on a pretty good show, but after that you are left with turning up your radio next to the bonfire on the beach. But Brooklyn’s murmrr teamed with Solé East to bring a stellar slate of live music to the edge of Ft. Pond this summer.
The intimate sets from largely up-and-coming acts you’d more expect to see playing Williamsburg or the LES just vibed with the serene scene poolside at Solé July and August. It all started out as a way to bring more music options to Montauk with Solé offering the space and Murmrr the musical muscle.
The cans already said exactly what was happening at Solé on their sides.
We were into it, and asked our friends at Saturday Session what they thought of bringing some lightly sparkling wine every Saturday Session concert in the series. The cans already said exactly what was happening at Solé on their sides. They were in. And they said, “Hey, who’s playing this thing?”
Well, Whitney and Beach Fossils were booked for later in the summer, but Saturday Session said they had the perfect band to kick off the series. They dialed their friends in St. Lucia. They were in.
St. Lucia on a Saturday at Solé.
The St. Lucia show on July 13 demonstrated just how many people Solé could comfortably hold for a friendly Saturday sing-a-long. The answer was a whole lot. The band loosened up, played acoustic and the series hit a high note out of the gate.
Whitney followed with a stripped-down set where they opened up and tried some new material. Next summer, after the band blows up this year, as it inevitably will, the friends of a few hundred people will be asking incredulously, “You saw Whitney where?”
Surf report at Beach Fossils: shoulder high.
Beach Fossils might have brought a matchy-matchy band name to Montauk that was kind of like wearing the band’s T-Shirt to the concert, and, in keeping with the seaside theme, even saw some crowd surfing.
Things slowed down for the August 17 show with Steve Gunn, whose mellow sounds brought a quieter, but lighter crowd. But anyone lucky enough to be among the 150 or so there was overwhelmed by his technical gifts.
Popular NYC DJ Jonathan Toubin got the dance party going August 24, with a soul and clap-filled dance-off. We might have made a guest appearance to judge.
That’s the new music addition to Montauk summers in a nutshell with thanks to all the acts who came out, Saturday Session wine, Crook & Marker, EHM, and Ground Control Touring.
