Photos: Chinatown Summer Nights, with Andy Clockwise, SWIMM, Alex Lilly, Corsica Arts Club, Isaac Rother, Street Joy, the Bad Years

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Andy Clockwise, with an audience member onstage as guest guitarist, at Chinatown Summer Nights, July 25 2015. Photo by Michelle Shiers
Andy Clockwise, with an audience member onstage as guest guitarist, at Chinatown Summer Nights, July 25 2015. Photo by Michelle Shiers

It began in the heat of the early evening, with soaring indie-pop from The Bad Years and sharp garage-rock from Street Joy. By the time the second Chinatown Summer Nights of the season ended Saturday, the heat was still on, with Andy Clockwise conducting the crowd, crooning about dancing and climbing the stage rig in an audacious display of theatricality. In between, SWIMM demonstrated why they’re showing up on so many best-new-bands lists; Alex Lilly and her all-star lineup meted out some sophisticated art-pop; Corsica Arts Club impressed with 35 minutes of catchy new-new-wave; and Isaac Rother & the Phantoms dazzled with a set of retro “horror-pop,” their caped frontman growling and back-up singers shimmying. And that was just the Live Music Stage. Turnout was big, and the free, all-ages series resumes Aug. 22. Watch this space for a lineup announcement this week.

Photos by Michelle Shiers, with more scenes from the night below:

Fun at Chinatown Summer Nights, July 25 2015. Photo by Michelle Shiers