Gates:

I got there incredibly early for two reasons –

1. My tickets were at Will Call and I didn’t feel like waiting in an incredibly long line to get them when the fest started.

2. I was bored.

Kind of the crowd you’d expect. Vintage clothing or ‘ironic’ t-shirts (some kid has some day-glo concoction from a Land of the Ozarks water park on), dyed or angular hair and backpacks and messengers of all varieties.

Some dude could even pass as Dov Charney’s doppleganger. (Wait, WAS that Dov Charney?)

Yo La Tengo: The breezy, overcast evening (for us, at least) got off to an equally dreary evening when YLT took the stage. Their first few numbers edged on sleepy, including the classic “Autumn Sweater” but that ended with the beginning of what woukd be several of the band’s more exciting cuts including “Mr. Tough”. One of their new cuts off of their upcoming September disc was dedicated to Ron Santo. It was the right set for that point of the evening.

The Jesus Lizard: David Yow is not a young man, but don’t tell him that. He looks like Alan Rickman with a drinking problem. The forty-maybe-fifty-something began his band’s first hometown show by jumping straight into the crowd. It was an incredible sight to see, and hopefuly the first of many “Holy Shit!” moments of the weekend. . These dudes haven’t lost anything in their long layoff. Razor-sharp rockers like “Mouth Breather” and the dirgy “Then Comes Dudley” sound just as good as they do on record. Okay, I lied. Maybe better.

Both bands took part in “Write The Night” where ticket buyers were provided the opportunity to vote on the setlist they wanted to hear.

We’ll see you for Day Two!

Photos:

Tags: jesus lizard, pitchfork, yo la tengo

This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 2:40 pm and is filed under Concert, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.