Tough call last night choosing Grizzly Bear at the Pabst over Wilco at the Rave. Jeff Tweedy can hopefully forgive, considering he told the New York Times, “They make really beautiful, evocative music that has a gauzy fuzziness to it; you can’t accurately pinpoint their place in time.” Honestly, it was the venue that made the decision for us. Plus, Grizzly Bear have won me over after some reluctance on my part when I first heard Yellow House.

Grizzly Bear won us over in a big way at the Pitchfork Music Festival, and have matured and grown into a lovely live band since first seeing them open for TV On The Radio at the Metro a year ago. I have to say that, great as their Pitchfork set was, seeing them in a Theater really suits their sound and performances best in my opinion.

With the upcoming release of the Friend EP next month, the band has been hard at work developing “alternate interpretations of songs,” which was clearly evident from their performance last night. Virtually every song from Yellow House was affectionately tailored for the live setting allowing the songs to absorb the crowd while maintaining an interesting balance of familiarity with a twist of new direction.

Their cover of “He Hit Me (If Felt Like A Kiss)” sounded simply amazing, look for the studio version of that to appear on the aforementioned EP. The band sprinkled their biggest hit “Knife” into the set list early, it was beautiful and moving (like this), and certainly well-known by those in attendance. One thing that stands out each time I see this band is how breathtaking their harmonies are. It’s evident on their albums, but explodes in concert, making it easy for me to get lost within the music as I try to pick out each person’s vocal duties.

I missed Jeff Tweedy perform “Someone Else’s Song” acoustic and without microphone last night across town during one of Wilco’s encores. Would that have been nice to see? Without a doubt, however seeing Grizzly Bear’s first show in Wisconsin was definitely the place to be last night.

If you haven’t seen the “Take Away Show” of Beurit’s “Cliquot” featuring Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste taking the lead vocal duties, please direct your browsers here.

Sadly, we arrived at the venue late, all but missing the entire set of MoB favorite Beach House, whose new album, Devotion, drops in February of next year.

MoB: 9 Questions w/Grizzly Bear
Myspace: Grizzly Bear
Video: Grizzly Bear – Knife
Myspace: Beach House
MP3: Beach House – Master Of None