Here are the facts: Sunday afternoon, legendary Dayton, Ohio rock band Guided By Voices played the Miller Lite Oasis during day five of Summerfest. The band, led by the absurdly prolific Robert Pollard, played a whopping 36 songs in 90 minutes. (Pollard: “Hey, give us another $20,000 and we’ll play you 36 more.”) There were plenty of new songs (GBV has already released two full-length records in 2019), plenty of Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes classics (Pollard: “Remember this from when you were in junior high?”), and the expected killer finale of “Teenage FBI” and “Glad Girls.” Pollard sounded great. The band sounded great. It was awesome.
Here’s a fact that’s probably not a fact at all: Early in the set, with the on-and-off weather threatening to go back to “off,” Pollard made the dubious claim that Guided By Voices had never played in the rain before. Like, not once in the band’s 30-year-plus career. “I hope I don’t jinx it,” Pollard laughed, just as—sure enough!—it started to rain.
Was Pollard kidding? Probably. Did it only kinda-sorta rain for about five minutes? Definitely. Did it all still come together to give us this delightful moment of Guided By Voices playing “Gold Star For Robot Boy” in the rain. Yes. Enjoy.