Pitchfork.tv: The Hold Steady / Dinosaur Jr. / !!! / Times New Viking / Apples in Stereo: Live at the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival
Sing-alongs in the sunshine, yeah, that's why the Hold Steady works so well at a festival. Craig Finn dedicates the Stay Positive title track to an audience member's deceased friend and then gets down to business. His shirt gives some idea of the relative humidity on this afternoon.
Speaking of shirts, Dinosaur Jr.'s drummer Murph isn't wearing one, but that's OK. "Freak Scene" is the anthem, and yeah, the damn hands were up.
Nic Offer attributes !!!'s frequently great live sets to his willingness to "fucking give". Watch "Must Be the Moon" and you be the judge.
It's been noted that Times New Viking live are much less noisy, allowing their garage-pop melodies to escape all that fuzz. Check how scrubbed-up and clean they sound on "Teen Drama".
When it comes to garage-y pop, Apples in Stereo have been doing it for years. "Energy" shows that studio rat Robert Schneider makes for pretty compelling rock frontman.
