Two of the best instrumental groups assembled for an assault on the states, Godspeed from Canada, and Mogwai from Scotland. The kids were out for this one, the mysterious Sue/Danielle being was there, and Doug was supposed to show his face, too, but that’s another story. Kara did show up, but not until after Godspeed was done.

Ganger, who just put an album out on Merge, was quite a surprise. They were one of those bands that I wanted to quickly finish, but they were so good, I wanted them to stay on for longer. Most of their set was instrumental, the slowly building and eventually boiling over type. You know, like Slint, but a lot different. There were occasionally some unintelligible vocals from the female bassist, but that was it of the singing for the night.

Godspeedyoublackemperor! were experts in creating a scene. They provided a visual backdrop for their purely instrumental and beautiful set. As the large ensemble played on and turned their musical bends, black and white scenes of what appeared to be small town Americana drifted to and fro while an occasional line design appeared. I stood enthralled watching trees and power lines make their marks on the backdrop. An incredible band to say the least.

After godspeed left the stage, Kara decided to show her face. We were supposed to hang out at the Superchunk show, but she got there late and didn’t feel like looking for me. She seems like a cool kid, exemplary taste in music.

Mogwai arrived late and got on the stage well after midnight, nicely apologizing. They eased into their set, but became largely gibberish because I was half-asleep. Someone shouted for “Angels vs. Aliens”, which they did not play while I was there. I left about twenty minutes into their incredible set. They kept it tight and managed to wake me up for the ride home. Well that, and the 15$ ticket I got from the PPA for parking in a two-hour zone.