I literally walked into the Knights of Columbus’ newly renovated ballroom just as Chelsea Light Moving was starting their set on the first night of the recently completed Savannah Stopover. The first song was “Frank O’Hara Hit” — a restrained and intense song for which Moore wrote a little background at Matador Records:

On July 24, 1966 the NYC poet Frank Oâ€Hara was struck by a dune buggy while hanging out on Fire Island, and died the next day. Oâ€Hara knew poetry in all itâ€s formalist glory and like John Cageâ€s ear to music liberated it for writers for an unending time. In his essay Personism: A Manifesto (published in Leroi Jones†Yugen magazine in 1961) he writes, “I donâ€t … like rhythm, assonance, all that stuff. You just go on your nerve. If someoneâ€s chasing you down the street with a knife you just run, you donâ€t turn around and shout, ‘Give it up! I was a track star for Mineola Prepâ€â€¦As for measure and other technical apparatus, thatâ€s just common sense: if youâ€re going to buy a pair of pants you want them to be tight enough so everyone will want to go to bed with you. Thereâ€s nothing metaphysical about it.”

Well, Moore may not know how to use “it’s” and “its”, but he sure knows something about music, about poetry, and about working a room. As a good friend of O’Hara biographer Brad Gooch, I immediately knew I was right where I needed to be on a Thursday night in Savannah.

I was a little dubious of the youth of the audience — more like Sonic Fetuses — but who am I to say what the hipster kids should be listening to?

Anyway, I was way into it.

For some reason, the K of C stage isn’t nearly as tall as it should be — another foot would really help — but Moore towers over everyone no matter where he is. After he played an encore, he unplugged and walked right off the stage and out the front door. The rest of his tight, excellent band — Keith Wood on guitar, Samara Lubelski on bass and violin, and John Moloney on drums — seemed to know that was coming.

In one of the nicer moments, Moore was given a beer by my friend Tammy, who has a son named Thurston.

Enjoy the pics.

The 2012 festival solidified the focus on up-and-coming indie bands headed to SXSW.

But the 2013 festival, which began last night and continues through the weekend, looks to be changing the game even more. What an incredible opening night.

I started out with a few hundred others at the glorious new North Garden at the Ships of the Sea Museum on MLK. Under the covered pavilion, The Last Bison ripped through their set with a kind of verve and joy that isn’t always associated with the indie scene. The incredibly talented Ben Sollee followed, after a brief intermission during which William Tyler plugged his guitar into the Third Man Records truck in the parking lot. If you haven’t heard William Tyler play guitar, you might want to add that to your list of life’s goals.

Then I headed to The Sparetime for more of Tyler, this time playing electric and acoustic, layering loops in ways that were simply crazy good.

The crowd was still building at 10 p.m. when Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires took the upstairs stage at B&D Burgers, but the band was electric and tight. Given the maturity and depth of their southern rock sound, I was expecting some older folks; the band might sound wise and savvy, but they sure look young.

And let me hear add one pet peeve: poor lighting! It bugs me as a photographer, for sure, but it bugs me as a patron too. Tough to get any shots at all of Tyler at The Sparetime or The Glory Fires at B&D.

So then I biked up to the magnificent — really — renovated hall at the Knights of Columbus on Liberty Street. It’s a massive room up above Mellow Mushroom that most Savannahians probably don’t even know exists.

There was a big crowd at the KofC for Thurston Moore’s new band Chelsea Light Moving. I’ll admit to being sort of a doubter about the Sonic Youth guitarist’s new project, but I loved the set. And I loved that it started with a song about New York poet Frank O’Hara.

And then I caught about half the excellent set by Delicate Steve at Club One, then a song each of Bronze Radio Return at B&D Burgers and Naomi Punk at The Jinx.

Then The Jinx started filling up for what turned out to be an energetic, really fun set by Mac DeMarco.

Followers of the indie scene will no doubt understand just how amazing it is to see that lineup in one night.

For Day 2, the Stopover offers a free all-ages show in Forsyth Park with of Montreal and opener Royal Canoe.

But there are plenty of other promisting acts on the complete schedule. The music gets rolling at 4 and there are six different acts playing at both 5 and 6 p.m. After the show in the park, I’m hoping to catch some combination that might include The Suzan, Jacco Gardner, HAERTS, Country Mice, Ambassadors, and Snowmine.

It’s going to take me a while to edit all my pics, but here’s a quick gallery of a few unedited ones (I also got a couple of not-completely-awful videos of DeMarco). First up is The Last Bison, then William Tyler, then Thurston Moore with Chelsea Light Moving, then Mac DeMarco:

So I’ll just add that booking Moore and company is a major coup for the Savannah Stopover, which is about to celebrate only its third festival.

Check out these three live videos posted just last week by Matador Records and reposted by Pitchfork:

Chelsea Light Moving plays on Thursday, March 7 at 10:30 p.m. in the Knights of Columbus Hall on Liberty Street, with Merchandise opening. Click here for the full Savannah Stopover schedule. Click here for the Stopover page devoted to Chelsea Light Moving.

In the days leading up to the Stopover, I’m posting quite a number of short previews like this. So far I’ve previewed Stop Light Observations, Mac DeMarco, Little Tybee, Eric Britt, Heyrocco, Roadkill Ghost Choir, this mountain, Triathalon, Field Report and of Montreal.

Click here for all my Savannah Stopover previews.

It’s another big announcement for an indie music festival that is only in its third year.

Chelsea Light Moving will be the opening night headliner on Thursday, March 7th, according to this morning’s press release. Even better, Chelsea Light Moving will play a late all ages show at the Knights of Columbus Hall at 3 West Liberty Street. (That hall is a grand space, currently undergoing some renovation, that extends above Mellow Mushroom.)

Festival passes can be purchased here.

Chelsea Light Moving’s new album will be released on March 5th. Click here to listen to a few tracks from that album.

As many of you probably already know, Savannah Stopover has booked of Montreal for a free show in Forsyth Park on Friday, March 8th.

Today Savannah Stopover also released the names of 12 more bands added to the lineup:

Fossil Collective- UK
The Dunwells- UK
VietNam-NYC
*PUJOL-Nashville
*The Suzan- NYC
Single Mothers- London, Ontario
Roadkill Ghost Choir- Deland, Fla
Naomi Punk- Seattle
Heyrocco- Charleston, SC
*Little Tybee- Atlanta
Hunters- Brooklyn
The Coathangers – Atlanta

*returning Stopover acts

I haven’t checked out most of those bands yet, but I’m glad to see Pujol returning after a great set last year at The Jinx. Local fans will be excited to see the amazingly talented Little Tybee on the list. I didn’t see The Suzan last year, but they were a festival favorite last year.

I’m also extremely excited to see Heyrocco on their way to Savannah Stopover — the young trio from Charleston has great talent, puts on a great show, and is currently working on an EP to follow up on their album Comfort.

I’ll have some more to say about many of the acts in future posts.