The second night of the Animal Collective's two New York shows was at a venue one-fifth the size of the previous night's, but being packed in there so tight, you could tell that the Bowery Ballroom was filled far beyond capacity. The room was electric with anticipation, on the heels of the new record, and  material from the insanely fetishized Merriweather Post Pavilion made up the bulk of the set, while the evening held many surprises.

The mood remained unsettled until the third song, the newly penned, unrealeased "Blue Sky," which is a great, beat-heavy jam, that more than covered the tracks for some of the beats missing from the live rendering of mine and everybody's favorite Post Pavilion track "My Girls."  A hard rocking version of "Slippi" from Here Comes the Indian and a deeply soulful, beat-crazy "Leaf House" went over really well with the crowd.  "Guys Eyes" and "Summertime Clothes" were highlights from the Post Pavilion lot, and the lone Strawberry Jam was one the highlights of the evening: another new variation of "Fireworks," that brought Panda Bear to pounding fiercly on his drumkit like it was 2001 or something, throughout Avey Tare's emotionally fuelled verses and a brand new instrumental section in between it all. Great to see Noah get worked up on the drumkit, and to see Dave sporting the electric guitar for the bulk of the set.

When it was time for "Brother Sport" the crowd and the band were both pumped, but completely at ease, and everybody was ready to dance and sing along. The boys then came back for a superb encore, beggining with a completely unrecognizable yet highly sublime, sample/beat based version of "Winter's Love," which bled into a nice surprise of a closer, "Comfy in Nautica," from Panda Bear's Person Pitch.

Setlist:
Also Frightened
My Girls
Blue Sky
Summertime Clothes
Slippi
Leaf House
Guys Eyes
Fireworks
Lion in a Coma
Brothersport

Encore:
Winters Love
Comfy in Nautica