SS: Now in its seventh year, Brooklyn’s Northside Festival has cemented itself a permanent place on the summer calendar, but of course, the challenge for the event each year is to differentiate its half-week of music from the typical New York City weekend loaded with activities. And while I’m not sure that the fest was completely successful in that task this year, it nonetheless boasted enough attractions to compel two writers—myself and Josie Rubio—to go out four nights in a row.

The music portion of the Northside Festival (there are also film and innovation components) kicked off Thursday night (June 11) with an outdoor show at McCarren Park. The headliner for the evening was the recently reunited Luna (pictured above), and the show was the first in their hometown since playing at the Bowery Ballroom before breaking up in 2005. Up first, though, was the decidedly lackluster Chris Forsyth and the Solar Motel Band. The group’s moniker seemed an apt one, as their directionless chooglin’ would be best suited to playing Allman Brothers covers at some roadside New Jersey bar. As such, it was a welcome relief when Luna took over the stage.

Though it was obvious that Luna didn’t draw a crowd as large (or as young) as shows at the park in previous years, it had little effect on band and audience. There was a palpable excitement for the band’s return as well as the feeling of being among friends as frontman Dean Wareham spotted people in the crowd he knew and told stories related to the buildings in the Manhattan skyline visible from the stage. After opening with “Slide,” the band played a set confined to cuts from Rendezvous, Pup Tent, Bewitched, and more than any other, Penthouse. Luna’s sleepy pop doesn’t lend itself to guitar pyrotechnics or other rock grandiosity, but as the sweltering heat finally broke as the sun went down, tracks like “Tiger Lily” and “Lost in Space” were the perfect accompaniment. Finishing with “Time to Quit” from their debut and a cover of Beat Happening’s “Indian Summer,” which the group recorded for an EP around the same time, Luna’s set got the fest off on the right foot.

In some ways, Ex Hex’s set at the Music Hall of Williamsburg the next night was everything Luna’s was not. Aside from the venue being pleasantly air conditioned, the Mary Timony–led trio specializes in a kind of throwback rock loaded with hooks and bombast. They played most of their debut album, Rips, while throwing in covers by The Real Kids and Nick Glider in for good measure. For her part, Timony proved to be equally adept at channelling her inner guitar hero as being obtuse, as with Helium. Songs like “Waste Your Time” and “New Kid” flourished live, with kinetic sparks flying between the musicians, and the finale of “You Fell Apart” epitomized the adage of going out with a bang.

JR: The sun-drenched UO Live Stage, set up at the corner of Bedford Avenue and N. 5th Street, initially seemed like a strange site for Merchandise’s Northside Festival set. Though the band (pictured above) hails from Florida, its dreamy post-punk pop and frontman Carson Cox’s melancholia-tinged vocals—which often draw comparisons to chief brooder Morrissey—seem better suited for a shadowy dive. The heat, however, didn’t wilt Cox’s smooth croon, nor did it slow the frenetic pace of guitarist Dave Vassalotti, who seemed as if he was actually wringing the melodies out of his guitar. The outdoor setting somehow enhanced the psychedelic element of the band, as well as the ethereal elements of both older tracks like Children of Desire’s “Time” and the bigger sounds of songs from 2014’s After the End.

Between songs, Cox’s deadpan banter and non sequiturs made it seem like he was making an inside joke or, as my companion commented, that he might have had someplace better to be. At one point he announced, “It’s my birthday—that’s why I’m dressed like this.” Presumably he meant the lei of artificial leaves he was wearing throughout the set. Cox shouted, “Death to the new psychedelic regime!” before the last song of the set, which, like the one I had seen in the fall, seemed like it could have been longer.

SS: Next up was a show at the Williamsburg waterfront stage renamed Inlet for the fest, where we caught just one and a half songs from Nashville four-piece Bully before taking a dinner break. We returned in time to catch most of Built to Spill’s set of post–Crazy Horse indie rock. Best Coast followed and Bethany Consentino (pictured below) and Bobb Bruno seemed hell bent on conjuring a rougher sound than found on the band’s records. The approach may have worked in a more intimate setting, but in an outdoor setting that was exacerbated by particularly shitty (to use the technical term) sound, it fell decidedly short. I mean, it’s hard enough as it is to tell one Best Coast ditty about California from the next, but here it might as well have been one long West Coast ode. After about a half dozen songs, it became evident that there was no point in sticking around as it would continue in much the same vein until Consentino finally said “goodnight.”

As it was, we made it to Warsaw just before the main act, Blonde Redhead. With the lights kept dim, the New York three-piece delivered a set whose low key delivery was belied by a tempestuous mood just below the surface. Tracks from the band’s most recent release, last year’s Barragán, were complemented by a bevy from the band’s back catalog. More often than not, guitarist Amedeo Pace was at the mic, which was somewhat disappointing given that those with his wife, Kazu Makino, singing are some of the strongest in the band’s repertoire. Nevertheless, “Falling Man” was a highlight of the evening, Pace’s vocals accentuated by brother Simone’s syncopated rhythm. Aside from Makino explaining how all three members of the band had been on several antibiotics after a recent tour, the band said very little. It was just as well, though, as it may have broken the spellbinding quality of their performance.

JR: As the Northside Festival wrapped up on Sunday (June 14), Zola Jesus was midway into her performance of “Go (Blank Sea)” by the time we returned to Warsaw. We were told the show was at capacity for press passes and nearly faced our second disappointment of the night (the first being the outcome of that night’s NBA Finals game), but luckily a few people with badges left and we were allowed in to the decidedly less-than-filled hall.

Zola Jesus (aka Nika Roza Danilova) consistently delivers powerful performances, and this evening was no different as she performed a set drawing heavily from Taiga, her most recent record. While she had been backed by a six-piece horn section at last fall’s show at Webster Hall, this performance featured a backdrop of abstract projected images and a smaller group featuring only one brass player, a keyboardist, and drummer standing up behind his kit. The feeling was more intimate and informal, yet the sound was still larger-than-life.

Clad in a black and white top and black pants with an exposed midriff and a silver armband, Zola Jesus commanded the crowd with her operatic voice. During a lull between songs, several showgoers professed their love for her, drawing a humble, slight bow. The murmurs were soon shushed as she launched into the a capella opener to “Nail.” Later, she hopped off the stage and made her way through the audience and at another she climbed atop a speaker. In addition to recent songs, like “Long Way Down,” Zola Jesus performed “Sea Talk” from 2010’s Stridulum II and closed the set with the ever-popular “Night,” still perhaps the highlight of her catalog, before returning for an encore of two songs from 2011’s Conatus—“Skin” and “Vessel.” As the happy crowd dispersed outside the venue, I heard my companion emit a gasping sound, but by the time he told me of his David Byrne sighting, all I saw was a retreating figure in the rain.