The first band, Carrboro-based Comas were quite good. Soft vocals against strong, cascading riffs. Also helped that the keyboardist was a babe. Virgil Shaw, a quirky country-twang singer, managed to entertain me for a few minutes before his lisp and his lackluster set failed to keep my attention. It didn't help that I was eager to see Grandaddy, either. After a fairly long setup and mic check, Modesto's finest finally manned the stage.

Among an elaborate stage setup comprising of a large video projection screen, a fog machine, and an army of lights, Grandaddy launched into their inspired set with a rendition of "You Are My Sunshine." They mixed some of the better cuts off of "The Sophtware Slump" with some old favorites. These songs, performed to a backdrop of lights and homemade videos  introducing each song, made for a full-on audio and visual experience. Quietly, Jason Lytle provided a little banter between songs such as "Hewlett's Daughter," "The Crystal Lake," "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot" and "Chartsengrafs" before appropriately ending the beautiful set with my personal favorite "So You'll Aim Towards the Sky."

After only a slight amount of goading from the crowd, the bearded ones returned for a short, two song encore, playing "Miner at the Dial-A-View" and what Jason said was "one of  the saddest songs ever written,: a country song called "I Need You." And then, amidst the lights and feedback, they were gone, to spread their beautiful music across the rest of the United States.

Minor Complaints - Long wait for set up and mic check, could've had a    better opening band than Virgil Shaw.