Day three. Sunday. In my unqualified opinion, always the most enjoyable day of the festival, regardless of the lineup. Everyone’s tired and therefore a little more mellow; no one has anything to prove. Some poor saps even have to go to work the next day. And the sun is finally out, beating down on the mud and dust of Union Park.

Granted, the Porta-Potties are looking a bit ragged, and there’s garbage strewn everywhere. I talk to more than one person who’s brought their own toilet paper. People griping about the rain yesterday are now griping about the heat. The early afternoon is given over to some unlikely acts: the Japanese experimental noise trio Boris rocks the crowd with double-necked guitars and double kick drums only to cut their set short, apologizing in broken English before leaving the stage. The crowd chants “BORIS! BORIS!” for several minutes before giving up, while the Apples in Stereo tune on the stage across the field.

Les Savy Fav plays their usual tight, fierce set, with frontman and aspiring hairstylist Tim Harrington at his scantily-dressed, unselfconscious best, flailing about and descending into the crowd with reckless abandon.

The Dodos are next, playing an extremely percussive set with every member striking something at some point, be it a marimba, toms, snare, gong, tambourine, or body part. Both they and M. Ward seem to suffer, however, from the acoustic sprawl of the festival set-up: while M. Ward’s music is perfect for a sunny Sunday afternoon, his nuanced sound doesn’t translate extremely well to the outdoor setting. I also can’t help but wonder how many people here are hoping Zooey Deschanel will make a surprise appearance.

Sunday in the park with M. Ward

As the afternoon wears on I drift toward the Balance stage in the far corner of the park, where Ghostface Killah and Raekwon are playing their rescheduled set. Meanwhile, Spiritualized begins its set on the Aluminum stage, but it’s still light out and their loud space-rock would be better suited to an indoor light show.

Which doesn’t mean I can’t still appreciate my favorite J. Spaceman creations. Around 7:30, I’m standing just to the side of the stage where Bon Iver is getting ready to perform, listening to “Come Together,” a song I will always associate with my junior year of college, come thundering across the field, threatening to drawn out the first song by Bon Iver, whose line-up today includes my old childhood friend and former bandmate on drums. It’s the kind of surreal moment I don’t really know what to do with.

Bon Iver’s set continues despite serious sonic competition from Spiritualized and then Dinosaur Jr. Justin Vernon and company fight the good fight, and gain some ground when they begin a slow-burning cover of “I Believe In You” by Talk Talk. The Mark Hollis fans in the crowd—and trust me, there are a few—hoot, and one energetic man runs up the trunk of a crooked tree to get a better view. The dominant bass and Vernon’s Hammond organ have a sort of cleansing effect, sweeping aside the incessant chatter of the audience members around me and the decibels generated by J. Mascis, several hundred yards away.

Spoon’s set is the evening’s last, roughly concurrent with Cut Copy’s back on the Balance stage. Britt Daniel and the band kick things off with “Small Stakes” and then “My Mathematical Mind.” The band doesn’t waste a second between songs, going straight into “Stay Don’t Go.” The crowd goes apeshit as the group is joined by horn players and Daniel’s voice is occasionally embellished with campy tremolo and Jim Eno punishes his drums. So maybe Sunday isn’t so mellow after all, during the last hour of this long, long weekend.

I turn my camera on, at a distance: Spoon winds the weekend down just right

And still, there’s a mass pilgrimage across the field to the Balance stage when Cut Copy starts playing. Thousands of people peel away from the masses watching Spoon to cheer on the other band. It’s an encouraging sight and an uplifting end to the weekend: two hugely popular indie bands at the tops of their games, each drawing thousands of exhausted but satisfied music fans to the center of the country in the middle of the summer.