NOTE: All photos are copyright of Dean Keim 2025
Singer Sophia Regina Allison came out during the set by her band Soccer Mommy and asked “Aren’t these free shows great? I wish I could do them all the time, but I have two cats to feed.” Nashville native Soccer Mommy played the last free show of the Central Park Summerstage lineup of concerts as an early autumn chill overtook the evening air, and the night was a perfect variety of modern alt rock greatness. Each band seemed to have their own distinct fans, who were clearly there for really just one of the three bands playing that night, and while some could be seen bolting after those sets, most did stay and take in what the others had to show. I learned long ago to make a special effort to be there for the openers because you never know when you’ll get to see Sonic Youth and Social Distortion open for Neil Young or the Sugarcubes and Camper Van Beethoven opening for REM. This night’s lineup had a lot of those feelings of diversity and magic that really did give off those enchanted vibes that you’d hope for with a great free show in one of the coolest parks in the world.
Opening the show was a cool indie outfit from LA called Dummy, and they really made an exploratory impression as they sailed through some very trippy pop probes with a truly impressive animated show projected on the screen behind them as they played. This band clearly likes to play with pop and find unexplored regions that help you discover new and evocative feelings. They switch between many genres and sounds, going from raw grunge growls, to ethereal space jams, to tripped out synth barrages sometimes within the same song. Half of the band used to be in Baltimore dream-pop group called Wildhoney, who also had an aggressively intense appeal, but this band takes no prisoners in their pursuit of finding that “new sound.” Frontwoman and lead space cadet Emma Maatman has a gorgeous singing voice that at times reminded me of the harmonic brilliance of the Cocteau Twins, while the band of Alex Ewell, Nathan O’Dell, and Joe Trainor really gave out a real trippy presence that reminded me of early Sonic Youth or Slowdive. Most of the set seemed to be from last year’s Free Energy album like the super catchy “Nullspace” or the tripped-out sax-drenched jam “Blue Dada,” and the whole epic ending journey of “Dip In The Lake” and “Sudden Flutes” had me totally captivated.
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The New Orleans band Hurray for the Riff Raff played next with a super-spicy country-baked sound, and it managed to make this citified crowd howl with some calls of “Yee Haw!” The show was a homecoming for lead singer Alynda Segarra, who was raised in the Bronx before spending time hopping trains across the country. The hitchhiking drifter appeal definitely colors the band’s vagabond music. I did catch them playing one of their older ditties called “RHODODENDRON” from 2022’s Life On Earth disc, but most of the set seemed to be from last year’s The Past Is Still Alive album like the rousing opener of “Alibi” and the beguiling single “Buffalo.” Their finale of the brilliant song “Ogallala” had a very powerful singalong of “To watch the world burn” that really sent a chill up the spine with all that seems to be going down in our country these days.
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Soccer Mommy played with a simple projection of their name displayed in a number of Quentin Tarantino movie intro styles, and that was just fine with most of their fans, as the real emphasis of the show was the outpouring of emotion from the deeply introspective lyrics and the deep moods set by the music. This was a band that was obviously not afraid to revisit old songs, as they opened with an older classic “circle the drain” from their 2020 album Color Theory, which happens to be a favorite of mine, and they also played others from that one including the bewitching cynicism of “bloodstream,” and scotching head game “royal screw up” which had me singing along at the top of my lungs. They did also play several off last year’s Evergreen LP, like the sweeping song “Abigail” or the intense “Driver” with that great “where are we going” chorus and powerful guitar hook. One of the best moments of the night was when Allison came out and said “Let’s play an old song,” and then they broke into “Scorpio Rising,” from her first album, 2018’s Clean, with those very appropriate lyrics of “Kissed you in the park, we’ll meet up after dark,” that had lots of couples smooching away in the crowd. There were others like “Cool” from that disc, but the closer of “Your Dog” had the crowd howling with pleasure.
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