That super-secret, impossible-to-get-into Prince show? It went down for four hours (two shows) on the rooftop loft at the Hotel Gansevoort on Friday night. The NY Times reports that audience members paid around $1,000 to get inside the intimate room, with proceeds going to charity (Love 4 One Another Charities and Urban Farming). The Purple One did give a nod to the tough times however, the paper notes that "moments into the early set he......

Prince will be in town for an intimate show this Friday. New York's "fans, fams, freaks and purpleheads" have been warned via an online message that "it's gonna be your turn to party, sooner than you think. Get your fancy pants pressed now, folks: Prince is coming to town ... it will be a very small capacity show. Like, 250-300 people intimate." Of course, the location isn't being divulged just yet, but it has been......

If you woke up this morning wondering, "How can I celebrate the kick-off to the 89th NFL season?" then you're in luck, because the NFL has created a fan's guide on just how to do so, and they're providing the entertainment. Before the NFL season begins in earnest with the Giants playing the Redskins, a concert celebration is planned at 3 p.m. today in Columbus Circle where fans can watch Keith Urban (Mr. Nicole Kidman),......

Well, that's that. McCarren Pool – the giant Robert Moses-era landmark that's been revived as a music, theater, dance and film venue after decades of neglect – hosted its last free 'pool party' yesterday. The Bloomberg administration has allocated $50 million to renovate the pool for swimming, restore the historic bathhouse building, and build a year-round recreation center that is to include a skate park and an ice rink. After three years of presenting free......

Saturday's weather was immaculate for day two of the All Points West music festival in Liberty State Park, New Jersey; unusually cool and crisp, with a fresh breeze off the harbor and spectacular cloud formations as far as the eye could see. Saturday was also the first day of the festival to sell out, and the park was significantly more crowded than Friday. But no matter; a blissed-out vibe seemed to prevail, despite (or because......

This weekend All Points West brings the summer festival circuit to our area (albeit to New Jersey), and if you plan on making the trek, here are some helpful tips. Before You Go Coat yourself in sun tan lotion. Look over the list of things you can and cannot bring, it may surprise you! Some things you cannot bring include: stuffed animals, flags, blankets and instruments. You can, in an effort to reduce waste,......

Tonight’s hot ticket, as you know, is Plants and Animals at Central Park Summerstage; the phenomenal Montreal trio will also be joined by up-and-comers Yeasayer and The National (never heard of ‘em.) This event is sold out, but funnyman Mike Birbiglia is giving away a pair of tickets to whoever writes “the nicest request on my Facebook wall.” To snag the tix, you'll at least have to top this misspelled plea: "I request that you......

The 20th Anniversary of the Tompkins Square Park riots was celebrated over the weekend with two days of punk rock, pot smoking, rabble rousing and slam dancing. (Potty-mouth video.) According to Neither More Nor Less, they “slammed with a physical intensity that TSP has not seen in many years. Someone threw $1000 in dollar bills to the crowd and this crowd of celebrants burned the dollar bills. The celebrants also burned a flag; being polyester......

A tipster points out that after 90-minutes of playing Webster Hall last night, "Butthole Surfer Gibby Haynes got into a disagreement with the sound man over the volume of the monitor. The next thing we knew he was being escorted off the stage. We all stood around yelling obscenities at the management and throwing plastic cups at security. This lasted for about an hour until we were slowly corralled onto the street." The crowd eventually......

Yesterday was an appropriately blistering day for this year's eighth annual Village Voice Siren Music Festival at Coney Island, which, with the right frame of mind, can be a total blast. Yesterday had everything we've come to expect from the annual indie rock extravaganza: massive crowds of dehydrating hipsters, fresh clams on the mobbed boardwalk, and a bulging, unmanageable lineup of 14 bands on two stages. Those who stuck through until the evening were rewarded......

Last night Billy Joel helped bid farewell to Shea Stadium, with the last concert at the field (the first being The Beatles historic show 43 years ago); Joel also performed there on Wednesday night, and the entire experience has been filmed for a future documentary. Joel addressed the crowd Wednesday night, saying, "They're gonna be tearing this place down, but I wanna thank you ... for letting me do the best job in the world."......

Did you hear a bone-chilling collective shriek coming from the Bryant Park this morning? It was just Miley Cyrus and her legion of tweeny-bopper fans piled into Bryant Park for an early morning concert courtesy of Good Morning America. To put some perspective on it, this was pretty much equivalent to the Bon Jovi concert in Central Park but for the underage set. The 15-year-old wunderkind managed to put some age-appropriate clothes on for the......

Tonight Billy Joel performs at Shea Stadium, as part of his "Last Play at Shea" shows (the other is on Friday). Details recently talked to the Piano Man about the stadium, and he told them: "I think it’s kind of strange that in my lifetime I’ve seen a stadium come and go. I remember when Shea was built—it was state-of-the-art, like a big Roman edifice. Now they’re taking it down because it’s out of date.......

Aside from the music, this evening's Bon Jovi concert on Central Park's Great Lawn will be different from the regular Metropolitan Opera or NY Philharmonic concert-- primarily because of the things one won't be able to bring into the park. While security is generally laissez-faire towards alcohol and food at the classical music events, today's free show is another story. Ticket holders will not be allowed to bring strollers, umbrellas, alcohol, cameras, backpacks, large bags,......

How much would you pay for free Jon Bon Jovi tickets? This much? As the big Bon Jovi concert approaches tickets to the free show are going for as much as $1500/pair, The NY Post reports. The show is going down this Saturday on the Great Lawn in Central Park, and an additional lot of tickets will be released at the Javits Center this Friday (more details at MLB.com). Hardcore fans of Jon Bon......

Hometown post-punk heroes Sonic Youth played a free show for approximately 7,000 fans in Battery Park on July 4th as part of the River to River Festival. The decades-old band started the set with a spellbinding, spacey rendition of “She is Not Alone,” followed by the Kim Gordon-led classic “Bull in the Heather.” By the third song, a blistering “Silver Rocket,” 50-year-old frontman Thurston Moore seemed to have had enough of the photographers separating his......

Yesterday Bon Jovi fanatics rushed to the closest ballparks to pick up their tickets to a free concert on the Great Lawn next weekend. NY1 reports that fans lined up for hours at all four stadiums; the concert is part of the upcoming All-Star Game celebration. One fan declared of JBJ: "Back in the day he was number one and he still is," while others were happy he was doing the show for free and......

Photos by Seth Wenig/AP. Yesterday came the announcement of a free concert that would be held on Central Park's Great Lawn this month featuring Mr. Jon Bon Jersey himself (now a Manhattanite). Today more details about the July 12th show and how to procure your golden tickets are unveiled via Bon Jovi's official website. Essentially, tickets will be made available at every major, and some minor baseball stadiums beginning July 2nd. Starting at 9......

Mark your calendars: Bon Jovi will be giving a free concert in Central Park next month. The concert will be on Saturday, July 12, and is apparently a "prelude to the July 15 All-Star baseball game." Bon Jovi is touring this summer and has two concerts at MSG on July 14 and 15, with The All-American Rejects opening.......

Spiegelworld returns to Pier 17 this summer...but not until August! Their lineup is a hefty one, however, running through November 2nd. The 100+ year old traveling venue became a seasonal fixture in New York three years ago. Holding 350 people, the shows are pretty intimate, and the views from the garden are on par with the beauty of the tent itself. And this year there will even be a perfect night view of the......

Each summer the Met offers a free outdoor performance, and the one-night-only event is going down in Prospect Park later this evening. Two of the opera world's biggest stars, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, will be belting out duets as Ion Marin conducts the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Fun fact: Gheorghiu and Alagna were married backstage at the Met during a run of La Bohème in 1996...by Giuliani! Head over to the park (there's......

Since he began his fruitful collaboration with Walter Becker back at Bard College in 1968, Grammy award-winning musician Donald Fagen has steadily distinguished himself as one of the smartest and most imaginative contemporary songwriters. As Steely Dan, the innovative duo lays claim to an impressive catalog of hit singles that somehow manage to stay fresh despite their everlasting ubiquity on classic rock stations across America. For whatever reason, people still can't help cranking up the......

Original photo by Louis Lanzano/AP. Two years after pleading guilty to falsely calling in a break-in and donning an orange Department of Sanitation vest while sweeping the streets of Chinatown (as part of his community service duty), Boy George has announced he'll play a private show for the NYC Department of Sanitation workers later this summer. From the press release:Boy George will help celebrate New York City’s Department of Sanitation Family Day this summer!......

In a couple of weeks Staten Island will hold its very own music festival called Rock the Harbor, something Brooklyn Vegan posted about this week -- instantly sparking a lot of "discussion" about the borough ("Does everyone have to tan and work out before the show?" etc). With Manhattanites trying to pawn SI off on Jersey, and Jerseyites rejecting it, it was only a matter of time before Staten Island Advance caught wind of the......

In 2006, Lou Reed revived his album Berlin by performing it in its entirety with a small orchestra for five sold-out shows at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. The 1973 album, which riffs on themes of drugs, love and suicide, was a commercial failure when it came out; Lester Bangs described it as “the bastard progeny of a drunken flaccid tumble between Tennessee Williams and Hubert (Last Exit From Brooklyn) Selby, Jr.” But in......

Madonna, who recently stated that NYC gives her the zzz's, was stirring things up in town for an intimate performance last night. Her Madgesty took the Roseland Ballroom stage in front of 2,200 fans, for a show which demanded die-hards wait in line for what turned out to be 60 hours, just for a chance to get into. Fanatics? No. One of them, a Brooklynite, swears, “I’m not fanatical. But I do collect Madonna magazine......

Chris Martin will be (attempting to) steal the spotlight back from his wife Gwyneth Paltrow soon. She's been in the news for fainting from live-food fasts and being honored by Food Bank NYC, and you know he must be shivering there in her shadow. Well not for long; Martin and his band Coldplay have just announced a free show to help hype up their forthcoming album. If you're a fan of the fellas, set that......

All signs, and weathervanes, point towards the upcoming outdoor summer concert season, which is just around the corner. The River to River Festival is kicking things off with a nod to the past, featuring Wire at the Seaport Music Festival stage. Why should you care? Unlike other 70s bands that have been over-saturating the concert circuit, these guys haven't taken a stage in the U.S. in quite some time; their last show was in Spain......

Last night Rat Dog ended their three-night run at the Beacon Theater. The band is led by the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir, and is one of the few left that will bring the hippies out to the Upper West Side (pictured). As for the band, they blogged about their stay, saying, "We’ve gotten to New York City – ‘just like I pictured it’ – and things are getting seriously New Yorked." For those keeping......

Do certain band's fans tip better than others? Sasha Frere-Jones does an uncontrolled study at Bowery Ballroom -- and Chromeo fans, you're busted.“When Chromeo played, their crowd drank house vodka and Budweiser. Didn’t tip. Some of them did what I’ll call the slide-backs. They put a dollar down on the bar, wait until you turn your back, then palm their buck and walk away. Classy. When your night starts out with “What’s your cheapest drink?”......