4Knots Music Festival: Archers of Loaf, the Drums and Crocodiles Rock On, Despite Fire at South Street Seaport

If organizers of the 4Knots Music Festival needed proof they'd put together a killer lineup for this year's show, they definitely got it yesterday.

Around 4PM, a three-alarm fire broke out beneath Pier 17 at New York City's South Street Seaport, home of the all-day indie-rock event, and as black smoke filled the sky and firefighters swarmed the area, bringing the concert to a temporarily halt, fans stayed put, risking life and limb to see headliners Hospitality, Crocodiles, the Drums and Archers of Loaf.

Miraculously, no one was injured, and while authorities were initially concerned the blaze had compromised the pier's structural integrity, 4Knots resumed after a relatively short delay.

Jangly Brooklyn faves Hospitality had been onstage when the drama began, and after they returned to play their final song, crews began setting up for Crocodiles. This took longer than planned, as the NYFD was still assessing the situation, but the San Diego-born quintet eventually served up 40 minutes of gooey, scuzzy, bubblegum rock, pairing fuzz-bomb guitars and rinky-dinky '60s organ on such tunes as "My Surfing Lucifer" and "Endless Flowers."

Next up, the Drums offered their unique take on deceptively chipper surf rock, imagining the version of New Order that might have formed had Joy Division hailed from a SoCal beach town instead of Manchester, England. On songs like "Me and the Moon," "Days" and "Book of Stories," singer Jonathan Pierce embodied the exuberant malaise and sad-bastard bounce inherent in his Brooklyn-via-Florida band's music. They closed with "Let's Go Surfing," a tune whose "I don't care about nothing" refrain has come to sound more nihilistic and less gleeful and escapist over time.

Led by quintessential '90s alt-rock frontman Eric Bachmann -- notable on Saturday's bill for his come-as-you-are trucker hat and decidedly non-scrawny build -- Archers of Loaf ended the day with a bracing set of burly guitar anthems, among them "The Lowest Part Is Free!" a standout from their debut EP, Vs the Greatest of All Time.

No one's keeping score, but re: the contest referenced in that title, the recently reunited North Carolina rockers can hang with just about anyone, past or present. Nearly 20 years after the minor hit "Web in Front," they'll give you a reason to stand around all day on a burning pier.



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