40 Good Shows To See in NYC in July - Oh My Rockness

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40 Good Shows To See in NYC in July

Summer's best month of shows. Make a plan!

July 2, 2017
Photo: Maria Mochnacz

Written by Patrick McNamara

Read this good feature.

Figure out who you want to see this month.

(spoiler: this month rules)

Make a solid show going plan.

40 Super Good Shows To See In NYC In July

1. Camp Cope at Silent Barn on Wednesday, July 5th.

Camp Cope is a fantastic band from Melbourne, Australia.*

Call them emo. Call them pop. Call them punk. Call them rock. Call them great. Because that's what they are.

This is their first ever NYC show!

With headliner Jeff Rosenstock & gobbinjr.

RIYL: Hop Along * Rainer Maria * Modern Baseball

They also play Friday, July 14th at Cape House with Katie Ellen, Worriers and Thin Lips!

2. Full Moon Fest on Governors Island on Saturday, July 8th.

Lots of solid peeps playing this annual all-day festival on Governors Island.

Check out the FULL lineup.

Go celebrate music and the moon.

The moon rules.

3. Royal Headache play a free show at House of Vans on Wednesday, July 12th.

Lo-fi jingle jangle Aussie punk!

(fronted by Tom Jones*)

This free show is gonna JUMP.

I ❤️ this band.

*note: Tom Jones isn't actually in this band, which is totally his loss

4. Office Space at SummerScreen in McCarren Park on Wednesday, July 12th.

There might be a band also playing this thing, who knows.

("The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.")

All I know is that Office Space is one of comedy's greatest achievements.

I'm off to Chotchkie's.

5. Sleep play Pioneer Works on Friday, July 14th / Saturday, July 15th.

Doom metal of the highest kind!

San Jose's Sleep (born circa 1991 A.D.) has been called "the ultimate stoner rock" band by someone. Can't remember who said that. Too baked.

You have two chances to see this seminal band blast your brain with thunderous bliss.

Please write these dates down so you don't forget.

RIYL: weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed

6. The National play Basilica Hudson on Friday, July 14th / Saturday, July 15th.

If you're feeling the pull of Hudson, NY and you also like The National this would be the weekend to get on up there.

The band that used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders are playing two collaborative in-the-round shows at Basilica Hudson w/ a bunch of special guests.

Tickets are $50.

As for getting on up there, it looks like it's a 2 hr 39 min car ride away in current traffic.

Please let me know if you know anyone who knows anyone with a car.

7. Woods play Bowery Ballroom on Saturday, July 15th.

This Brooklyn band has been a good band since at LEAST 2005 A.D.

If you like (divine) indie (folk) rock, you already like Woods probably. In which case, there's not much else to say other than to agree with each other.

If you don't like (divine) indie (folk) rock, get into Woods anyway.

They'll convert even the most dubious of (divine) indie (folk) rock skeptics.

RIYL: Woodsist / Good Bands

8. MoMA PS 1 Warm-Up throughout the summer.

These annual outdoor dance parties in Queens are always one of the dopest ways to spend a summer Saturday.

Check out the schedule of solid peeps playing.

Stay hydrated. Have fun at PS 1. And don't steal my moves.

9. Japanese Breakfast play a free show at Union Pool on Saturday, July 15th.

Japanese Breakfast (Philadelphia's Michelle Zauner & friends) has been making blissful bedroom-ish pop for a bit, but now they're in prime position to take it up a notch and spread their musical goodness to even more of the discerning masses.

The band is currently on a big time tour with (Sandy) Alex G and have a brand new album coming out July 14th, 2017 A.D. that has tons of sweet swirls and super sticky hooks. You'd have to be all-out bonkers not to love it.

See Japanese Breakfast for free (record release party) before they blow up!

( Yohuna also playing this show)

Part of Union Pool's " Summer Thunder" concert series.

10. Waxahatchee / Cayetana / Snail Mail play Warsaw on Saturday, July 15th.

Three good bands playing one show.

I love when this happens.

11. Yo La Tengo play a free show at Central Park Summerstage on Monday, July 17th.

This is the #1 most popular upcoming show on Oh My Rockness.

The only thing better than free shows is Yo La Tengo.

Hit movies the year YLT formed:

Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, The Terminator, Karate Kid, Gremlins, Nightmare on Elm Street, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

12. Warpaint play a free show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Tuesday, July 18th.

"The only thing better than a free show is Warpaint."

"The only thing better than Warpaint is a free show."

I'm A/B testing those two openings.

If you want to go to this goodness, don't forget to RSVP.

(If the RSVP list is closed, don't blame me, I just blob here. Anyway, I'm off to Chotchkie's.)

13. Sufjan Stevens & partners present Planetarium at Prospect Park on Tuesday, July 18th.

Right now we are all on a giant round rock that's spinning in space.

And we're not falling off.

Hope "Subaru" Stevens and his buds can help make sense of it.

This show under the stars shall rule.

14. Nas plays a free show at Brooklyn Steel on Wednesday, July 19th.

Feel free to go see one of the greatest rappers of all time…...for free.*

This one needs no sellin.

*you gotta RSVP before you show up -- so don't sleep on that -- sleep is the cousin of death -- it's also a doom metal band (see #3)

15. PJ Harvey plays Central Park Summerstage on Wednesday, July 19th.

The #2 Most Popular Upcoming NYC Show on the blob.

Watch yo back, Yo La Tengo.

PJ's coming 4 U.

* win free tickets to this show!

16. Ride play Brooklyn Steel on Thursday, July 20th.

These British swirl rock vets just released their first album since 1996 A.D.

Guess what?

It's good!

Go to this show and see them play songs from it.

(bet they manage to slip Vapour Trail into the set too because it's one of the greatest shoegaze jams of the last 27 years and stuff)

RIYL: staring at your shoes!

17. Burger Records Beach Bash 2 at Coney Art Walls on Saturday, July 22nd.

Sunflower Bean leads this all-day rager in Coney Island.

Come out to play-ayy.

Pro tip: Burger Records always goes great Nathan's hot dogs.

18. The Van Pelt at Saint Vitus on Sunday, July 23rd.

This album is 20 years old.

So good.

RIYL: indie rock, man

19. Ben Gibbard at Town Hall on Thursday, July 27th.

The Forbidden Love EP is my favorite Death Cab For Cutie album. Please feel free to disagree with my choice in the comments section this blob has never had.

"Cause we never turn out......the way we thought we would."

True that, Ben Gibbard.

True. That.

20. Panorama Fest at Randall's Island on Friday / Saturday / Sunday / July 28-30.

One of the biggest festivals in NYC this summer FOR SURE.

Nine Inch Nails * A Tribe Called Quest * Tame Impala * Future Islands * Frank Ocean * Belle & Sebastian * Justice * MGMT * Spoon * Cloud Nothings * Pinegrove * Mitski * Bleached * Foxygen * Girl Talk.

These are just some of the peeps playing this good thing on Randall's Island*. I just got tired of typing.

Check out the full Panorama Fest lineup (including those good Panorama Presents shows happening too).

*Randy seems like a super chill dude to always be letting folks use his island to put on dope shows

** we're giving away a pair of three-day passes to this -- $690 value, yo!

21. Priests at Brooklyn Night Bazaar on Saturday, July 29th.

Priests is a punk band from Washington D.C. They play protest anthems.

Since forming circa 2011 A.D. the staunchly independent band put out music under their own label ( Sister Polygon) and have played a TON of DIY shows w/ a bunch of dope bands like Screaming Females, Snail Mail, ESG, Pill, Shopping, Downtown Boys and The Julie Ruin to name a VERY few.

They do their own thing and their own thing rules.

22. Joe Pera at Union Hall on Thursday, July 27th / Friday, July 28th / Sunday, July 30th.

Joe Pera is a funny dude.

Rounding Out The Top 40:

My Morning Jacket at Forest Hills Stadium

Okkervil River at Joe's Pub

Andrew Bird at Prospect Park Celebrate Brooklyn!

Sylvan Esso at Prospect Park Celebrate Brooklyn!

Thurston Moore Group at Music Hall of Williamsburg

(Sandy) Alex G at Music Hall of Williamsburg / Bowery Ballroom

Conor Oberst at Prospect Park Celebrate Brooklyn!

Ben Gibbard at Town Hall

Jagwar Ma at Bowery Ballroom

ESG at Good Room

Sinkane at MetroTech Commons (free)

Out in the Streets Festival at The Well

Beth Ditto (ex-Gossip) at Bowery Ballroom / Rough Trade

TR/ST at House of Yes

DJ Animal Collective at Brooklyn Bowl

HEEMS at The Met Breuer (free)

Eric B & Rakim at Apollo Theater

Echo & the Bunnymen at Ford Amphitheater Coney Island

Preoccupations at Rough Trade

The Cactus Blossoms at Mercury Lounge

Wolf Alice at Rough Trade

Delicate Steve at Brooklyn Bowl

The Rubinoos at WFMU Monty Hall & Union Pool

FOR MORE SHOWS HAPPENING THIS MONTH, CLICK HERE >>

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