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Little Stevens Underground Garage Festival

The gospel of garage-rock has been preached by countless obsessives over the years, but until Little Steven picked up the torch, most of that preaching has been directed solely at the converted. Through his syndicated radio show, E Street's favorite Soprano has found a way to broaden the definition of -- and audience for -- "garage" without watering down the admittedly amorphous genre's essence.

The gospel of garage-rock has been preached by countless obsessives over the years, but until Little Steven picked up the torch, most of that preaching has been directed solely at the converted. Through his syndicated radio show, E Street’s favorite Soprano has found a way to broaden the definition of — and audience for — “garage” without watering down the admittedly amorphous genre’s essence.

The ambitious International Underground Garage Festival, held Saturday on New York’s Randall’s Island, indicates that Steven’s efforts have paid off. Aud, numbering upwards of 10,000, showed ample appreciation for acts as diverse as Nancy Sinatra — who flitted from lounge-lizardry to puffy pop with the slightest toss of her head — and still-brawny punk pioneers the Dictators.

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While a few of the performers had clearly passed their sell-by date — Pete Best’s attempts at R&B made Pat Boone sound positively raunchy, while Big Star’s once-ethereal power-pop lumbered along agonizingly — the day was marked by several triumphs.

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The most notable of those was the alternately scintillating and sentimental set turned in by the regrouped New York Dolls, making their first hometown appearance in three decades. Just weeks removed from the sudden death of co-founder/bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane, surviving members David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain whipped the revamped lineup through favorites like “Jet Boy” and “Trash” with all the off-kilter glam-soul abandon of their halcyon days.

Johansen and Sylvain eschewed the drag-show mufti they sported in the ’70s but still mustered plenty of flash — and plenty of teasing girl-group harmonies. Most poignantly, the pair dedicated a medley of “Lonely Planet Boy” and “Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” to their deceased bandmates — four in all — the performance of which brought guitarist Sylvain to tears.

Aside from a handful of appointed headliners, all the bands on the bill were relegated to 10- minute mini-sets. While true to the spirit of a pre-Woodstock rock revue, that choice made it all but impossible for most of the acts to gain a foothold. New York’s Fleshtones, for instance, managed just two songs — one a cover of the Hoodoo Gurus’ “I Want You Back,” sung by that band’s front man, Dave Faulkner. Boston’s enduring Lyres found it equally hard to hit their stride despite the best efforts of peripatetic singer-organist Jeff Connoly.

Detroit’s Paybacks provided a notable exception to the less-was-less rule. The blues-drenched combo is powered by the high-octane rasp of Wendy Case, whose feral pipes belied her coquettish look. Their ability to go zero-to-60 in the blink of an eye, combined with a surprisingly nuanced sense of songcraft, marks the band as the most likely to have its name up in lights should there be a Underground Garage Fest in 2024.

The entire perf was filmed for a DVD. Chris Columbus has reportedly inked to helm a feature about its production.

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Little Steven’s Underground Garage Festival

Randall's Island;24,000 capacity; $25

  • Production: Presented by Sirius Satellite Radio and Dunkin Donuts. Reviewed Aug. 14, 2004.
  • Cast: Bands: Iggy and the Stooges, the New York Dolls, the Strokes, the Pretty Things, Nancy Sinatra, Bo Diddley, the Dictators, Big Star, the Romantics, the Pete Best Band, the Mooney Suzuki, the D4, the Paybacks, the Forty-Fives, the Raveonettes, the Pete Best Band, the Chesterfield Kings, the Creation, the Chocolate Watchband, the Fuzztones, the Electric Prunes, the Lyres, the Woggles, the Charms, the Boss Martians, the Stems, the Shazam, the Cynics, the Flaming Sideburns, Richard and the Young Lions, the Cocktail Slippers, the Fleshtones, the Blackouts, Jarvis Humby, the Singles, the Contrast, the Fondas, the High Dials, the Caesars, the Swingin' Neckbreakers, the Gore Gore Girls, Muck and the Mires, the Star Spangles, the Chains, Davie Allan and the Arrows, the Sexy Magazines.

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