I know New york is sooooooo much better than DC, and full of so many more people. But we can't even muster one of these type of things in DC? Fort Reno is great and all, but sometimes I want to see bands I actually know.
From Pitchfork, NY summer outdoor concerts
-- Central Park SummerStage runs from June 7 to September 2, bringing free and non-free shows to Rumsey Playfield. Its summer schedule includes Lykke Li, Cults, Ratatat, Florence and the Machine, Twin Shadow, Rakim, EPMD, Wanda Jackson, Wiz Khalifa, Reggie Watts, Friendly Fires, Hugh Masekela, Roy Ayers, and more. SummerStage is also presenting a series of free shows at parks around New York all summer, many of them featuring rap legends. These concerts include Wavves, Talib Kweli, Slick Rick, Reggie Watts, EPMD, We Are Scientists, Milagres, the Sugarhill Gang, Ryan Leslie, the Budos Band, Special Ed, Kool Moe Dee, Burnt Sugar, Nice and Smooth, and Ozomatli.
-- Similarly, the Celebrate Brooklyn! series brings free and non-free shows to Kings County's more bucolic Prospect Park Bandshell. Most of the 2011 schedule hasn't been announced, but it includes Animal Collective, Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, Cut Copy, Andrew Bird, the Decemberists, Best Coast, and more.
-- The River to River Festival brings free events to Lower Manhattan June 19-July 16. Its lineup includes Patti Smith, My Brightest Diamond, the Radio Dept., Dirty Beaches, Lower Dens, Weekend, Asobi Seksu, the Wake, Weekend, Laurie Anderson and Bill Laswell, Rufus Wainwright, My Teenage Stride, and the annual Bang on a Can Marathon, a 12-hour experimental music endurance test. This year, the Marathon, which goes down June 19 at the World Financial Center will include music from Bryce Dessner of the National, Philip Glass, Glenn Branca, the Sun Ra Arkestra, and the Asphalt Orchestra playing music from Yoko Ono and David Byrne with St. Vincent's Annie Clark.
-- As Brooklyn Vegan points out, the Williamsburg Waterfront has paid shows from Sonic Youth with Wild Flag, Death Cab for Cutie with Frightened Rabbit, and Kid Cudi, as well as free shows like They Might Be Giants and a comedy show with Eugene Mirman and Kristen Schaal.
-- The River Rocks concert series brings free shows from tUnE-yArDs, Deer Tick, and Metronomy to Manhattan's Hudson River Park.
-- Lincoln Center's Out of Doors Festival includes free shows from Mavis Staples, Billy Bragg, Laurie Anderson, Bettye Lavette, Dylan Leblanc, Dengue Fever, and Spoek Mathambo, as well as She's Got the Power!, a big girl-group salute from Ponderosa Stomp, which features the Crystals' Lala Brooks, Lesley Gore, the Chantels' Arlene Smith, and many others.
-- The Village Voice has long presented the Coney Island-based Siren Festival, but that's come to an end. Instead, the newspaper will present the free 4Knots Music Festival at the South Street Seaport on July 16. They haven't announced the lineup yet.
