Sunday: POLVO AND LES SAVY FAV

Last night the festival went out with a frenzied, freaky bang up at the pleasantly remote Newtown Barge Park in Greenpoint. The location is a giant concrete softball field and handball court, framed on all sides by a panoramic view spanning from the Williamsburg Bridge all the way up beyond the U.N. Though there were a couple of cops stationed outside the gates, security was all but nonexistent, and the whole affair was handled in a relaxed, civilized manner that we've never had the pleasure of experiencing at a high-profile rock show. Jelly NYC should flee the East River Park police state and have their Pool Parties up here!

The sun-dappled, early evening concert kicked off with the crunchy, psychedelic instrumental rock of Grails, who at their best recalled Pink Floyd at their grooviest, with a couple dashes of Indian raga and jazz fusion thrown in. Their arrangements reach toward the sublime and occasionally just about get there; sitting on the benches along the first base line, you could close your eyes and imagine yourself in some lush suburban backyard, splashing in a kiddie pool with Cheryl Tiegs. Or maybe that was just us? Grails were followed by another one-name band: the Chapel Hill '90s math rock favorite Polvo, who reunited a couple of years ago, resurfacing with an enviable bankroll of indie cachet.

Polvo's labyrinthine set was packed with signature sharp turns and false endings, and absolutely engrossing from top to bottom. Why Grails got an encore and Polvo didn't is bafflingâyou take what you can get, and Polvo left the crowd wanting more. And we got plenty of it with headliners Les Savy Fav, whose frontman, Tim Harrington, didn't disappoint with his typical Flavor Flav meets Chris Farley antics. He first appeared out of the audience wearing some sort of bizarro furry monster costume, sort of resembling an abominable snow creature stained with oil. After running around through the crowd as far as his long mic cord allowed, he finally jumped on stage and stripped down to denim short shorts, drenched in sweat and radiating infectious, ribald energy.

The corpulent Harrington is not exactly the kind of guy you want to see with his shirt off, but as one attendee remarked, "You gotta give him credit for owning it." To which another fan replied, "Yeah, isn't he owning it a little too much? I'd rather see him give some of that away." All in all, it was a hilarious, wholly exhilarating show, and by the end we'd all but forgotten about having to work the next dayâuntil Harrington suggested we keep rocking all night and play hooky on Monday. We'd follow that lunatic anywhere.

We Were There: Northside Festival 2010