Live Concert Photography: SummerStage’s 2nd Annual Only In Queens Festival, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park 6/26/16 feat. Mack Wilds and Ginuwine
As I mentioned in a previous live concert review post, over the past couple of months things have been rather difficult and confusing. I’ve been balancing the professional obligations of both a full-time job and this site, along with some complex and heartbreaking personal/relationship issues. In fact, what was meant to be an awesome weekend that included catching Dolly Parton at Forest Hills Stadium and covering SummerStage‘s 2nd Annual Only in Queens Festival in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park primarily to catch Kid ‘N’ Play, who I loved as a kid, unfortunately turned out to be rather shitty as I wound up fighting with someone very dear to me for the entire weekend — and it marred part of a wonderful evening of catching an American treasure and legend. Adding to the overall shittiness of the weekend, as a result of the continuing fight and public transportation being incredibly slow on a Sunday afternoon, I wound up missing almost all of Kid ‘N’ Play’s set.
However, I did catch the Staten Island-born actor, singer/songwriter and producer Mack Wilds, who is probably best known for his roles as Michael Lee on HBO‘s The Wire, as Dixon Wilson on CW‘s 90210 and for his extensive cameo in Adele’s “Hello;” but interestingly, as a pop artist, his full-length debut New York: A Love Story was nominated for a Best Urban Contemporary Album Grammy back in 2014.
(Photo Caption: Fans before Mack Wilds’ set at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park last month.) 
(Photo Caption: Mack Wilds performing at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park last month.)
(Photo Caption: Ginuwine’s backing band and dancers entertaining the crowd at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park last month.)
Headlining the afternoon and evening was the multi-platinum selling R&B artist Ginuwine. Although born and based out of Washington, DC, Ginuwine can trace the origins of his career to when he was part of Swing Mob, a Rochester, NY-based label and collective founded by Jodeci‘s Donald “DeVante Swing” DeGrate, which featured Missy Elliott, Stephen “Static Major” Garrett and Timbaland, all of whom became the Washington, DC-based artist’s major collaborators throughout the 1990s — including his mega-hit single “Pony” off his 1996 debut Ginuwine . . . The Bachelor. And since then Ginuwine has managed to land a number high charting hits — 2001’s “Differences” peaked at number 1 on the Billboard‘s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart; 2005’s Back II Da Basics which debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200. He’s also collaborated with the likes of Belly, Puff Daddy, MELROG, Young Knight, The Underdogs, B Cox, The Runners, Johnta Austin, Oak , Polow Da Don, Bun B and a briefly formed 90s/00s R&B supergroup TGT with Tank and Tyrese. So as you can imagine, a great deal of folks were out in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to specifically catch the multi-platinum, mega hit artist and unfortunately, a great deal of them were extremely disappointed as Ginuwine almost blew his entire set, claiming that he got stuck in massive traffic on his way up, and was forced to play an extremely truncated set. 
(Photo Caption: Multi-platinum selling R&B artist Ginuwine performing at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park last month.)
For these photos and more check out the Flickr set here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskAttHxD