When the news broke earlier this week that Animal Collective had finally announced a new tour after the announcement recently of their new album, Centipede Hz, I was definitely psyched and immediately went back to the shows I saw here up in Northern Cali before they played Coachella 2011. They were road-testing the new songs that they had written for the new album and we saw opening night — which was a bit rough in the sound-quality department — but they did fine and delivered a good performance at Coachella that had people talking.

Eventually their set took a more concise and polished form when the band played Pitchfork Music Festival a few months later, and there were a few moments of pure joy in that set that really translated well with that crowd in the hot Chicago night. The one-two punch of newcomer (but rager) “Knock You Down” segues nicely into the fan favorite “Brother Sport” and the crowd goes wild…