Correction:
An earlier version of this article misstated that members of Animal Collective once saw the Grateful Dead perform at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Dave Portner of Animal Collective saw Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead perform there. This version has been corrected.
(Kyle Gustafson/ PHOTO BY KYLE GUSTAFSON / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST ) - Avey Tare, Geologist and Deakin of Animal Collective perform at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. The band named their eighth studio album after the venue.
It’s Saturday afternoon in the parking lot at Merriweather Post Pavilion and you can almost hear the Frisbees slice through the humidity. In three hours, the experimental pop group Animal Collective will finally perform at the venue it named its stunning, critically adored 2009 album after. Right now, it’s hazy and it’s hot and everyone’s face paint is already starting to smudge.
If tie-dye symbolized some expanded, psychedelic boomer consciousness, face paint represents 21st-century digital-age confusion. It’s both a day-glo war paint against normalcy and a nostalgia trip to the innocence of childhood — rebellion and regression, two threads inextricably intertwined in Animal Collective’s music.
When asked about the dollops of red and green and purple covering his body, a shirtless Eric Sponaugle of Olney says, “I just knew I wanted to do this with my life.”
Most tailgaters are less colorful, nursing cans of light beer, tossing bocce balls or listening to Tom Petty. One car’s license plate reads “STRWBJM,” a tribute to Animal Collective’s 2007 album “Strawberry Jam.” Other plates are from faraway states — dinged-up Mazdas and Hyundais driven by fans who drove hours to see the group finally play the stage mythologized by an album that was named 2009’s best by Spin, Pitchfork and the Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop critics’ poll.
Merriweather is where the members of Animal Collective, who grew up outside of Baltimore, saw some of their first outdoor concerts.
“I think they’re as excited to play at this venue as we are to see them at this venue,” says Daniel Habecker, here with a tribe from central Pennsylvania. His friend, Genesis Bordner, is twirling a hula hoop as “Brother Sport” — the closing tune on “Merriweather” — pumps from the trunk of their sedan. Nobody expects to hear this song tonight: The band’s defiance of expectations is what’s earned it so much loyalty.
“They really don’t care what the fans like,” Dylan Gallic says of the group. “They just want to do what excites them, and the fans understand that.”
Fans also know to give them space when they bound up into the stands hours before their set to greet family and friends. Dave Portner, better known as Avey Tare, runs up to row L where family members cover him in kisses. Josh Dibb, who performs as Deakin, delivers a hug to Lexie Mountain, the way-out folk singer from Baltimore. Four nearby teens remain fixed in their seats, trying to control their excitement like bobbleheads during an earthquake.
Up near the lawn, the body-painted Sponaugle is ready for the festivities to begin. Clutching a bamboo pole topped with a blue reflector and a feathery boa, he offers a prayer.
“Everyone, put your hand on the staff,” he says to a small congregation of buds and strangers. “Oh, great and powerful sun, grant me but a fraction of your guiding light so that I may see clearly.”
The great and powerful sun melts behind the treeline like a scoop of molten sherbet. Mauve clouds dot the cantaloupe sky as Black Dice — an opening act that cut its teeth alongside Animal Collective in post-9/11 Brooklyn — delivers unholy noise over a funky pulse. At the summit of Merriweather’s sloping lawn, a guy in a blindfold, earmuffs and white gym socks jogs in place.
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