The idea behind the fiercely independent All Tomorrow's Parties festival--now in its third Pacific (as opposed to UK) version--is that it should sound like a mix tape put together by someone whose musical taste you trust.

In this year's case, this "curator" of the event was Modest Mouse [ tickets ] (last year's was "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening) and the band formed a diverse list of established and new-to-the-scene performers to play Saturday and Sunday (11/6-7) on two stages in Long Beach harbor, one of them within the famous aging ship, the Queen Mary.

Though the usual Southern California sunshine waned at times, up to 6,000 show-goers each day armed themselves with vegan treats and coffee, and heard a wealth of eclectic sounds as they wandered back and forth in mellow, indie-spirited bliss.

SATURDAY

Sufjan Stevens [ tickets ]

With lyrics that continually name-check places like Ypsilanti, Flint and Detroit, not to mention a five-member "Michigan Militia" backing band and his own pointedly mentioned U of M hat, there's no confusion over where the sweet-voiced Sufjan Stevens comes from. But beyond this homage to the Great Lakes state, Stevens and his group--all dressed in pseudo Scout uniforms--put together a set of intricate songs on a stage in what once must have been the boiler room of the Queen Mary. In tunes mostly stemming from his latest album, "Seven Swans," Stevens proved adept at piano, acoustic and electric guitar, and even banjo, while he got support from a trumpet and trombone, co-ed backing vocals and all kinds of synth and percussion noise. The crowd, lining the surrounding staircases and peering over dual balconies, stayed reverently quiet during melodies that echoed everything from Simon and Garfunkel and Elliott Smith to modern jazz standards, and through an especially moving revision of "The Star-Spangled Banner," made at turns melancholy and angry, plaintive and provocative.

The Walkmen [ tickets ]

Another relatively new band compared to other festival stalwarts, the DC-based Walkmen drew a formidable crowd on the big stage with its brand of '80s-inflected rock/pop. Getting its emerging hit, "The Rat," out of the way early--singer Hamilton Leithauser jumping and screeching "can't you hear me, I'm knocking on your door" at full force--the band pulled songs from this year's "Bows + Arrows" and 2002's "Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone," along with lesser-known singles like "Clementine." And though new listeners might hear a good chunk of similarity between the tunes--all guitar-heavy and drum-charged, with clear British post-punk influence--the energy and pure enthusiasm of the band still proved impressive.

Modest Mouse

Maybe it was the excitement of "curating" the show, but Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock talked to the crowd more at the start of their set than many fans had heard before. It was a great beginning to a tight group of songs mostly culled from the recent album "Good News for People Who Love Bad News," but it also may have shortened the performance, as each band had specific time cut-offs. Still, from "Black Cadillac," "The View" and "Bukowski," to older tunes like "Interstate 8" and "Wild Packs of Family Dogs," the band's stamina--and Brock's intense vocals--were formidable, especially in the extended jam of "Cowboy Dan," which flowed directly into "Devil's Workday" (and gave the stray group of Deadheads in the audience something to dance to). The too-soon ending came with the single that all the 20-year-olds were there for, "Float On," in a thankfully successful changed-up version.

Lou Reed [ tickets ]

Any true Velvet Underground groupie knows the name of the festival, "All Tomorrow's Parties," comes from a song penned by Reed, so it was only right for him to be its first-day headliner. Looking fit and ready to take on the now-shivering crowd, the indie-rock legend started with the festival's namesake tune, no doubt making the kids in the audience think he'd written it just for the show. He then formed a set from mostly recent albums--2000's "Ecstasy" and 2003's "The Raven"--including some spoken-word work veering on performance art that may have disappointed the fans expecting "Sweet Jane" or "Rock & Roll." But there were rewards for sticking through the extended bouts of poetry, including a great, slowed down "Satellite of Love," a sung-not-spoken "Walk on the Wild Side" with a huge guitar-storm ending, and two major songs from his pioneering band: "Venus in Furs," one of the earliest songs performed by The Velvet Underground [ tickets ], and the closer, "White Light/White Heat," with a positive vehemence clearly showing the kids in the new bands that this is how it's done.

Read liveDaily's review of Day Two at All Tomorrow's Parties.