Tonight I took advantage of one of New York’s brilliant free summer activities – a huge concert in Prospect Park.

To start, Ryan and I joined some others for a picnic on the grass outside the main music area. It was close enough to snack, drink and chat while listening to the concert – at that point Dan Deacon – behind us. Then we headed inside to the Bandshell and easily walked right to the front for a boogie as Jamie Lidell performed.

I knew very little about Jamie Lidell – who’s a British-born electro soul singer – before the show. I’d listened to some of his music ahead of the concert and particularly liked Multiply (it reminded me of one my favourites, James Morrison).

But most of the music he played at the show was very different from Multiply – there was lots of sampling (which I’m always amazed by) and it had a much more electronic feel. His voice was unbelievable and the whole experience reminded me a little of the James Blake concert I went to a few months ago – he had a beautiful voice but I wasn’t too fussed about the music he was using it on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6LXniR5gDU

But when he played Multiply – by which point we were outside the park again – Ryan and I had a good dance.

The concert was part of Celebrate Brooklyn, which holds shows throughout the summer at the Prospect Park Bandshell. I couldn’t believe it was free. The concert was brilliant quality and it was attended by thousands of people. And you can do it either way: Go inside the fence and dance, or sit in the park outside and lounge about with your picnic as the music washes over you. What a great summer activity.

(And then we went to this awful bar which has only allowed women in for the past twenty years where they served TWO PINTS per person in Styrofoam cups. Classy.)