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Phew, holy crow. You can have one of those “this is why I go out to shows” nights any time of the year, but to have three nights like that in a row, you probably need an assist from a festival. Noise Pop packed the weekend with great music and made it hard not to have a special night.

I’m going to attempt to wrap up some of the weekend’s shows over the next few posts, then get to highlighting some of the most memorable songs.

Spencey Dude & The Doodles / Weekend

I hit a crammed Bender’s during Happy Hour just in time to catch Weekend’s last song — I saw them open for Japandroids last year, and I like the direction these young guys are heading. Heavily distorted guitars washing out vocals, and somewhere in there there’s a pop song. Looking forward to more from them. Their next show is March 9 at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz opening for HV megafaves Sleepy Sun, so … ya betta reckanize, I guess.

But for me the main attraction was Spencey Dude & The Doodles. Most fun band in San Francisco? You can’t even say their name without smiling. I’m addicted to their old-fashioned, raucous, and occasionally raunchy tunes about flirting, being not ready to go steady, and doin’ it in the hotel pool. They have a 7″ out on Rob’s House Records — next gig March 26 at the Hemlock.

I was bummed to have to leave before Hunx & His Punx. Next time, Hunx: you and me.

John Vanderslice / Nurses / Honeycomb / Conspiracy of Venus

Veteran festivalgoers burnt out on waiting through set changes and unimpressive bands found sweet relief at the Swedish American Hall (gorgeous — please have my wake there … and have Spencey Dude & The Doodles play). Four acts, all talented and memorable, and amazingly short breaks between bands (probably had something to do with the 11:15 curfew).

Credit for the lineup goes to headliner John Vanderslice, who put the bill together to celebrate Sønderkåsten and managed to keep the show going despite a fierce anti-Vanderslice protest stage outside by (reportedly) farmers wearing garbage bags (“Stop the Slice!”).

We rock fans are impressed by bands with eleven members, so counting the members of Conspiracy of Venus, an all-female choir, was beyond my skill set. Let’s put it at between 12 and 100. They kicked it off with two songs from Tom Waits’s Rain Dogs and then went into former Vegetable “Let The Mystery Be” by Iris DeMent. It was starting to sound like a Hello Vegetables mixtape in there! They also did some Joni Mitchell and Rufus Wainwright songs, among others, and it was obvious they were having a blast performing. You can catch them at the Make-Out Room on March 21, performing with male all-Leonard-Cohen choir Conspiracy of Beards.

Undercard prize for glorious discovery goes to Honeycomb. Here’s a reason I’m not in a band: if I were starting a band, I’d start out by looking for a guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer — when what I should be doing is looking for a cello, a ukulele, three backup singers, a double-bass player, a vibraphonist, a big-ass drum, and some face paint. It’s glorious to watch the freak flag fly when it’s flown by talented musicians. More on Honeycomb later this week, but tide yerself over with some pics from The Owl.

Up next were Nurses, an electronic pop outfit from Portland. Years ago, I would be excited to see lots of synthesizers and samplers on stage, but now I’ve grown to become apprehensive at the sight. It’s easy to make noise with them things, harder to make music. Or at least good noise. Fortunately, Nurses knew what they were doin’, and busted out a 21st-century version of an 80s synth-pop show, providing the only dance moves for the all-seated show.

Finally, the stage was taken by Mayor of San Francisco and Nordic Combined superfan John Vanderslice. There are many remarkable things about John Vanderslice, not the least of which is that he can sing you a song about cannibalism and organ harvesting on the moon and make you feel like it’s not only normal but in fact very similar to your own situation. But what I think of most often is his versatility and musical acumen. His songs are simple enough that they sound perfect just accompanied by acoustic guitar, and when he performs them that way it’s difficult to imagine another arrangement. But he’s always exploring his music through new arrangements and by doing what more people should do: having a raffle.

Wait, not that — although there was a free raffle, and some lucky bunny won homemade lemon preserves from Honeycomb — I meant that he surrounds himself with top-flight musicians and sees where they can take the songs together.

Vanderslice performed half the set solo with acoustic guitar and half accompanied by double-bass, drums, vibes, and wind instruments (baritone sax or the mf bass clarinet), and the rest of it (that extra 10% in the 110% given) in the center aisle, surrounded and accompanied by Conspiracy of Venus (“Keep The Dream Alive” and “Nikki Oh Nikki” for those of you keeping score at home).

And hey, here’s what it looked like:

Earlier in the evening I overheard someone say, “I saw a comment on Gorilla vs. Bear where somebody said, ‘Wow, San Francisco is killing it right now,’ and I was like “Yeah, it is!”

Yeah.

[more coverage, with photos, at The Bay Bridged]

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