With only about a year of programming under its belt, outdoor space The Lawn On D might be this summer’s hottest music destination in Boston. This past weekend, the Southie-slash-Seaport multi-purpose venue hosted a jam-packed Narragansett party with Bearstronaut, and two upcoming Bowery Boston shows — Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros on June 17 and Passion Pit on July 23 — are already sold out.
Saturday nights at Lawn On D are taking a more chill approach, with a series of various personalities in the Boston music scene DJing parties that pay tribute to their favorite artists and musical moments in time.
It’s called Lester Bangs Presents, and it kicked off this past weekend with Eli “Paperboy” Reed spinning southern soul, and future events include the Boston Herald’s Jed Gottlieb spinning local favorites, DJ ABD throwing down all things related to Prince, and this writer tapping into his former life as DJ of the Pill for a night of Cool Britannia.
“One of the things we wanted to do to create a consistent vibe down at the Lawn On D on Saturdays was add a DJ series,” says curator Jake Brennan. “We thought it would be cool to get our friends who aren’t necessarily full time DJs, but more or less heavily involved in the local scene and most importantly, have great taste in music. We thought it would be even better if the guest DJs paid tribute to some sort of musical moment in time. We have DJ Carbo (Mark Kates) paying tribute to bands who performed at the Channel, which was located around the corner from the Lawn On D. Aaron Perrino [the Sheila Divine] is spinning French Pop.”
Brennan adds: “Quality music that Lester Bangs would enjoy listening to on a summer night out on the lawn with a cold beer in Southie. Something cool and a little bit different by some familiar faces.”
Check out the full schedule below:
May 23: Eli “Paperboy” Reed spins Southern Soul
May 30: DJ Carbo (Mark Kates/Fenway Recordings) spins sounds from the Fort Point’s legendary The Channel Rock Club.
June 6: Just Another Band Out Of Boston: Jed Gottlieb, senior music writer at the Boston Herald, spins the sound of our town from the ’60s to 2015
June 13: DJ Michael V (The Pill/Britpop Social Club) spins ’90s Britpop.
June 20: DJ ABD (Salim Akrim) spins Prince, Boogie, and r&b.
June 27: DJ MAURA DOT COM (Maura Magazine) spins Freestyle and Electro.
July 4: Major Dundee (Juice Belushi) spins the Golden Era Of Hip Hop
July 11: Ryan Walsh (Hallelujah The Hills) spins Guided By Voices and the ’90s lo-fi rock revolution.
August 1: Aaron Perrino (Sheila Divine) spins 1960s French Pop; Serge Gainsbourg, Francois Hardy, and more.
August 15: DJ King EvRock (Dirty Bangs/Bodega Girls) spins 60s and 70s Garage Rock.
August 22: DJ Frank White spins Motown/Soul
September 5: Mike Gent (The FIGGS) spins a special Labor Day weekend set with a tribute to the Hardest Working Bands in history. The FIGGS open the night with a set of live, legendary, FIGGS songs.
September 12: DJ ABD (Salim Akrim) spins Prince, Boogie, and r&b.
October 3: TBA
Here’s Boston indie-pop band Parks performing at the space earlier this month…