Capitol Hill Block Party 2008: Get In Where You Fit In

Aaaaaah, yeah boooooooyyyyys and girlz, the lineup for this year’s installment of the Capitol Hill Block Party has officially been announced (my thanks to the Lady for the scoop). And it’s a doozy. Always a clever mix of local and national acts, this year is no different. The ever-popular Vampire Weekend will headline Friday’s show and the Hold Steady is the current front-runner for Saturday—soon to be usurped by a suprise (!) guest. Who that will be? Your guess is as good as mine, Nostradamus.

Here’s the current lineup, with over 30 more bands and DJs soon to be announced:

Friday July 25
Vampire Weekend
Les Savy Fav
Girl Talk
USE
The Dodos
Jay Reatard
Akimbo
Pwrfl Power
Past Lives
Black Eyes And Neck Ties
Champagne Champagne

Saturday July 26
Surprise guest!!
The Hold Steady
Chromeo
Kimya Dawson
Darker My Love
The Butchers And The Builders
The Hands
Vallela Vallela
The Physics
Man Plus
Little Party And Bad Business

Some personal highlights: Les Savy Fav is a really awesome band to be playing this festival, Girl Talk makes a second straight appearance, ex-Blood Brothers bands Past Lives and Champagne Champagne just keep getting better, Man Plus just released an excellent sophomore album, and Chromeo will certainly get the booty shakers out. Forget about your hang ups with the crowd and their fashion sense, the CHBP is always a tremendous place to hear new and interesting bands.

Presale starts THIS MORNING AT 10 AM (password is BLOCKPARTY). One day prices are a reasonable $18 (though they seem to increase every year) and two-day passes are $34. See below for your ticket buying preference, but note that the links won’t work until 10am, so hold your horses. And check out the Stranger for more info, yo.

Click to buy advance tickets for Friday.
Click to buy advance tickets for Saturday.
Click to buy a two-day pass.

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Hipsters around the block unite!

It almost felt like everyone made a stop at Urban Outfitters before showing up at the Capitol Hill Block Party on Saturday, July 28th. Lemme tell ya, premo people watching for the year happened here. And I have to say, all was pretty much a good time except the big clusterfuck of a crowd in the beer garden by the stage while Spoon was on. Never in my 15+ years of concert going have I been in such a messy crowd of people shoving, grabbing and being downright mean just to get out of the crowd. It was very uncomfortable. Ok, ’nuff said about that. John Vanderslice was a highlight playing his indie-pop tunes. He came out at the perfect time, late afternoon with sun shining and the crowd pretty much non-existent. Britt Daniel was spotted many times (by my friends as well as myself) meandering thru the beer garden and into Caffe Vita. Next up on stage was Aesop Rock. Not my cup of tea so headed into the Comet for some PBR tall boys then out for some food at the Six Arms afterwards. Made it back for Spoon where we ran into the aforementioned crowd of unpleasantness.