Brooklyn’s famed, crumbling and absolutely mammoth McCarren Pool was built in 1936, and held nearly seven thousand swimmers at a time for 48 summers. Closed since 1984, the pool has been reopened this summer as a public events venue. And on Saturday night, Aug. 12, as the sun dropped behind the urban concrete ruins of McCarren Park and the night turned thousands into a sea of blur and pumping fists, Kim Gordon began to whisper into the microphone: “You’re it / No, You’re it….” —and then, “…Spirit desire / Spirit desire / Spirit desire / We will fall….”

It’s a brief moment between Gordon’s chant and the absolutely glorious guitar hook that follows, but it’s one pregnant with anticipation. “Teenage Riot” careens into its immortal disheveled grace, and the night is on. There is no noise. There are no sound pieces—at least as far as one would define Sonic noise. There is only one broken pop gem after another. From the muscular and sexy on the recent Rather Ripped, like “Reena,” “Incinerate,” “Rats” and “Jams Run Free” to the whirling ethereality of “Eric’s Trip.” From “100%” to “Shaking Hell.”

It’s summer in New York City, and it doesn’t get any better than this

Scott Cheshire is a writer who lives and works in New York.