Following a six-year hiatus, Grammy-nominated Fleet Foxes returned to the stage just days before the release of their highly anticipated third album, Crack-Up, with a special performance at the Knockdown Center, a magnificent former glass-blowing facility and door factory, in Queens, New York. The mesmerizing concert highlights material from the widely celebrated new record while also looking back to such favorites as “Blue Ridge Mountains” and “Mykonos.” “It’s easier to try things and feel more comfortable,” guitarist and vocalist Skyler Skjelset explained of the time away. Lead singer and guitarist Robin Pecknold added, “I felt like I wanted just a broader range of experience as a person and a musician to draw from in direct and indirect ways, so it seemed like something worth being open-minded about.”

Fleet Foxes

Indie folk band Fleet Foxes formed between two childhood friends, Robin Pecknold and Skyler Skjelset, in Seattle, Washington in 2006. They topped numerous “Best of” lists with their self-titled debut album in 2008, including Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Albums of the 2000’s and Pitchfork’s 50 Best Albums of 2008. Their sophomore album, Helplessness Blues, was nominated for Best Folk Album at the 2012 Grammy Awards and debuted at number four on the Billboard Top 200. After nearly a decade since their debut, Fleet Foxes released their long-awaited and highly anticipated third album, Crack-Up, on Nonesuch Records.

The Venue

The Knockdown Center functions as an art center and performance space dedicated to unusual projects and collaborations. Featuring programming of diverse formats and media, Knockdown Center aims to create a radically cross-disciplinary environment. With an architectural environment and history of projects that demonstrate a sensitive reactivity to site and environment, the space has been in use for more than 100 years: first as the Gleason-Tiebout glass factory, then as Manhattan Door factory. It is named for the Knock-Down door frame that was invented here in 1956 by Samuel Sklar and remains an industry standard to this day. Having undergone a renovation that is equal parts preservationist and state of the art, the Knockdown Center now produces and hosts cultural events and exhibitions that respond to its unique architecture and dimensions. Photography courtesy of Joe Papeo for Artists Den Entertainment.