ISLANDS IN THE SUN

Is there something mean-spirited in pointing out the environmental dubiousness of eating cattle-based barbecue? Other than that, this New York magazine–sponsored “Highbrow BBQ” looks promising: free beer, food, a cameo from Top Chef’s Chris “CJ” Jacobson, and a set from Montreal’s anthem-pop collective Islands. The band’s newest, Arm’s Way, takes the now-familiar Canadian route: strings, yelping, synthesizers, and lyrics about dying. It’s all a bit goth for a daytime show out in the sun (should things go south, the rain date’s tomorrow), but there’s plenty of uplift lurking behind frontman Nicholas Thorburn’s falsetto fluttering—look to the glittery guitar sound.

Sat., Aug. 23, 1 p.m., 2008