Pitchfork Festival: Day One

Updated: Mon, 7/20/2009 &mdash 5:06pm by Jules Ameel

Friday:

With a lineup of mainstay alternative acts, most of them having been playing for over a decade, Friday night’s audience was sparse on the scenesters and heavy on the indie rock diehards. The crowd was older than the rest of the weekends will probably be, leaving the blog-worshippers the next two days to come out of the woodwork and truly strut their flannel.

The Jesus Lizard: Despite their inescapably aged looks, The Jesus Lizard’s energy was more than evident. The 21-years-and-going post-punk noise rockers arrived in form and tore through a set with the furor of a group half their age. Frontman Dave Yow’s stage presence has not waned over the years, and if their show tonight was any evidence, the group’s reunion last year was no fluke.

Yo La Tengo: This band beloved by introverts is not built to perform live; the same bassline was repeated throughout the length of a fifteen-minute jam … yawn.

Built to Spill: A group of indiscrete middle-agers are not supposed to make the sounds Built to Spill made tonight. Decked out in nothing more than white t-shirts, baseball caps and beards, the indie rock legends put their guitar theatrics to work as they plowed through a set that featured seventeen years worth of work. The guitar freak-outs occasionally lingered on too long, but the crowd lapped up the band’s polished-yet-experimental guitar rock with ever impassioned riff.

Spotted:

Guys double-fisting 312 beers

Joints, pipes and bowls, constantly

Bald spots everywhere

A rainbow of fixed gears chained to the outer gate

Local (Minneapolis) band posters, including one by Danimal

A giant, white Nintendo DS bus

$7 sparks