After getting some free food and drink from a barbeque sponsored by CNGNow.com, I headed out for an evening of non-Buffalo shows.

My first stop after refueling was a street show by Those Nights. You don't have to blow a trombone too loud before I come running, so they their brass hooked me immediately. Their sound had a high-desert rumble to it, which was accentuated by the soaring vocal lines that I heard. The crowd was roped in to singing and clapping, ensuring my love for them. It's more American than Tejano music, but less American than Bon Iver folk; it exists in an extremely Texan space. I loved it.

I heard some jubilant music coming out of the M for Montreal show, so I stopped in; they gave me a ticket for an American beer (Miller Light), spoke to me in French, and presented a zydeco band named Canailles. (Thoroughly international.) And although a zydeco band from the great white north sounds like an odd proposition, the members of Canailles can play a banjo, accordion and washboard with the best of them. The fact that they were yelling out group vocals in French only made it more charming and festive. The band taught the audience to say things in French in between the hollering and stomping; it was an absolute blast of a set. Their set will be on my end of fest bests, for sure.

Their rampant enthusiasm caused me to decide I was only going to see upbeat music the rest of the day.