Many mysteries surround Sergeant Pepper's band. But this much seems well established: they are the sort of band that plays in parks.

Macca: "They're a bit of a brass band in a way, but also a rock band because they've got the San Francisco thing."

The San Francisco thing: The Grateful Dead at the Human Be-In, Golden Gate Park, January 14, 1967:



Animal Collective:

Merriweather Post Pavilion is an outdoor music venue in a place called Symphony Woods in Columbia, Maryland. It was designed by Frank Gehry in the 1960's, and they've been having concerts there from 1967 up through today. We used to go to shows there while growing up and have fond memories of times spent on the lawn. For most of the time we've been playing together, both in Animal Collective and the years before, we've tried to make music that would be deserving of an amazing outdoor listening experience. As both a name and a place, Merriweather Post Pavilion represents this for us.

Last August I watched Phish from the lawn at Merriweather Post Pavilion; during Tweezer I found the perfect seat in the roots of a tree. At the same moment, Animal Collective was playing in Prospect Park in Brooklyn: