rain date is scheduled for August 21 at 8:00pm.

This critically-acclaimed group will perform an outdoor concert under the stars of works from their newest album which reflects on the cosmos and our journey and genesis from stardust to our current state of being. They will also perform pieces from their previous albums that have become staples of their repertoire. This concert is being presented when the Perseid Meteor Shower is near its peak, as the Earth passes through the dust left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. This dramatic meteor shower is the most spectacular of the year, and is active from July 17 through August 24, with the peak activity occurring on August 12. During or after the concert (weather permitting), guests will have the opportunity to try and catch a glimpse of the meteor shower, viewed with the naked eye from your seats on the lawn. And following the concert, we welcome you to a guided look at celestial objects in our universe through the many telescopes on site, including the apochromatic Zerochromat telescope in our historic observation dome.

Blow Up Hollywood is an underground American ambient art-rock collective. Their eclectic sound, built over two decades of recording, incorporates many different styles, diverse as progressive rock, post-rock, experimental, pop, classical, jazz and ambient soundscapes. Blow Up Hollywood has created an expansive and adventurous body of work that manages to be both highly emotionally charged and majestically anonymous.

Founded by Steve Messina and Nik Chinboukas in 2001, the group has evolved into more of a collective than a band, as some of their members have changed over the years. Their debut, self-titled CD, is a concept album about death and the afterlife. The CD was recorded in a beach house in Westhampton, over the course of three weeks in March 2001, and was released the following year. Originally the recording was intended to be just a “musical vacation” amongst friends who had performed and recorded together in various groups and projects throughout the years. But after hearing the results, and enjoying the collaboration, they decided to release it, with Blow Up Hollywood as their moniker.

Their sophomore CD, Fake, was released in 2004, and garnished critical acclaim. In September of that year, John Diliberto, the host of the radio show Echoes, ran a feature on the band and had them perform live on air, bringing them national attention. That same year their live version of the song “beyond the stars” was included on the Echo’s compilation CD, alongside artists Yo-Yo Ma, Kai King, and Will Ackerman.

Stars End, a one track ambient improvisation, was recorded live on November 14, 2004, at WXPN in Philadelphia. The CD is titled after Chuck Van Zyl’s show Star’s End which has aired every Saturday night since 1976.

In 2006 the band released what would become their most popular CD, both nationally and internationally. With the debate over the war in Iraq raging, the band released another concept album, The Diaries of Private Henry Hill. Based on the journal entries of a young, deceased soldier from the Iraq war, Blow Up Hollywood takes us on Private Henry Hill’s surreal journey as he joins the army out of necessity rather than patriotism.

That same year the album was released, Amy Goodman, the host of the news show Democracy Now! championed the band and the video for the song WMD, playing it repeatedly on her show for weeks. Rachael Maddow, the then host of The Rachael Maddow show on Air America Radio, also invited the band to perform live and discuss the CD. And many other songs from the Diaries record were featured on NPR‘s program All Things Considered.

In 2008, the band was invited by Tomas Young (an injured American soldier from the Iraq war ) and Eddie Vedder (the lead vocalist of the American rock band Pearl Jam) to have WMD included on the compilation soundtrack to the documentary film Body of War, alongside Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Tori Amos, Tom Waits, Roger Waters (founding member of Pink Floyd), and Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam.

In 2011 Steve Messina, Nik Chinboukas and Thad Debrock joined forces to write, produce, and record with photographer and conceptual artist Andres Serrano, with Blow Up Hollywood as his backing band. They released the recording under the name Brutus Faust.

Gold is the latest album release (2019) from the ambient rock band and finds them returning to their roots both sonically and thematically.

Tonight's encore performance will feature works from this album and their complete body of work, including the title that has inspired it, "Dust From the Stars".

$35 Adult, $20 Observatory Member , Children Under 16 FREE. Attendance to this in-person performance will be limited and restrictions in place per NYS COVID-19 guidelines required at the time of the event. Due to the outdoor nature of this show, a rain date is scheduled for August 21 at 8:00pm.

Please bring a blanket or chair to enjoy this outdoor presentation.