For 25 years, SummerStage has hosted a diverse group of top national acts at its outdoor stage in Central Park. From Ladysmith Black Mambazo to David Byrne to Feist to Dinosaur Jr to QTip, these free shows have attracted upwards of three million New Yorkers braving the oppressive heat of a New York City summer.
We were thrilled to check out our first SummerStage performance from the legendary musician and spoken word artist Gil Scott-Heron. With a mile-wide grin and a bemused laugh, Scott-Heron entertained the sweaty crowd with stories from his long history in the jazz, blues and spoken word scenes in New York. Though still promoting his recent release I'm New Here, his set drew mostly from his collaborations with long-time friend Brian Jackson. Classics like "The Bottle" and "Winter in America" saw the crowd dancing and singing along in the unrelenting sun.
Often hailed as the godfather of hip hop, Scott-Heron's large collection of work has been heavily sampled from current artists like Kanye West, Common, Mos Def and QTip. As announced days before the show, a secret special guest, "one of the biggest names in hip hop," Common took the stage for a handful of songs. Paying respect to the artist, Common described how Kanye West and he discovered Scott-Heron's music and carefully crafted beats around his samples. Common performed "My Way Home" and "The People," starting each slowly and then speeding up the beat, exhibiting the influence of spoken word on hip hop stylings.
We certainly hope to catch more SummerStage shows this summer, especially with acts like Jimmy Cliff, St. Vincent, tUnE-yArDs, the XX and Public Enemy giving free performances in July and August. For a full list of performances, check out SummerStage's website here.
Check out videos of the performance below!
Common with Gil-Scott Heron: "My Way Home"
Play videoGil Scott Heron: "Winter in America"
Play video
