Northside Festival Day 3, 6/26/10

Saturday was the biggest day of Brooklyn’s Northside Festival, with two headlining shows in the new outdoor Greenpoint venue Newtown Barge Park.

The intrepid showgoers who dragged themselves out of bed and up to the top of Brooklyn were treated to the jangly ’60s pop of Cults, which is musically sunny but lyrically gloomy.

UK trio Male Bonding played raucous punk with sung-shouted vocals, not conveying the surfy sound of some of their recordings.

Earnest New Jersey rockers Titus Andronicus opened with the Boss-inspired epic “A More Perfect Union” and tore through their set with high energy and smiles on their faces, inspiring a mosh pit and impassioned sing-alongs.

High Places www.myspace.com/hellohighplaces opened the evening show at the same venue with their mellow, tropical pop.

Fucked Up‘s hardcore punk songs were overshadowed by the antics of singer Damian Abraham, who stripped down to his underwear, smashed beer cans on his forehead, poured juice over his head, and spent almost the entire set running around in the audience. He managed to keep singing while hugging as many random people as possible, occasionally picking one to carry around.

Although no band could have topped that spectacle, Liars‘ brooding rock received an enthusiastic response.

Over at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Twin Sister played dreamy, laid-back pop with breathy vocals from glitter-clad frontwoman Andrea Estella.

New Jersey duo Memory Tapes put on an impressive performance of their simultaneously chill and intense electronic pop. Their combination of soaring synthesizers with live drums and guitar, strong melodies and memorable lyrics puts them ahead of similar bands.