The Capitol Hill Block Party starts at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, July 27, and 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 28, and features over 45 bands including Against Me!, the Blood Brothers, Dyme Def, Blue Scholars, Matt & Kim, and Mirah. Now if you're underage you're sadly going to miss out on about one-third of the weekend's activities because the Neumo's stage is open only to the 21+ attendees. That you kids gotta pay the same amount to see fewer acts seems a little weird, but whatever; there's still tons of shit worth your energy and allowance.

Friday is just one big cluster of conflict from when the music starts at 4:00 p.m. to when the night wraps up on the Main Stage. Both Talbot Tagora and the Saturday Knights go on at 4:00 p.m.—TT at the Vera Stage, TSK at the Main Stage—and the choice is yours: the Saturday Knights' positive and groovable hiphop or Talbot Tagora's thrash party? At 5:15 p.m., your choice should be the Main Stage for Matt & Kim, because you know you wanna dance, and they came all the way from Brooklyn to make sure you do. The Blood Brothers play after them, which you might want to stick around for, although if you like your punk rock a little more the East Bay way, Speaker Speaker are playing at the Vera Stage at the same time. Then you can catch a good hour of the Blue Scholars before heading back to the Vera Stage to get your face melted off by the hardcore-disguised-as-pop of Kane Hodder, who feature a handful of new songs in their sets these days.

And now you're exhausted. At this point you go home. Or go swimming in Lake Washington.

Saturday's less messy, but only a little bit. At 2:00 p.m., this year's Capitol Hill Block Star, PWRFL POWER, is performing on the Main Stage, and you have to see him. PWRFL POWER is the solo project of crazy-in-a-good-way Kazutaka "Kaz" Nomura, who tells funny and random stories between performances of his honest, quirky, and hilarious songs. After Kaz, stick around for Mirah, who's playing the Main Stage at 3:00 p.m. These two are not to be missed.

At this point, while the Pharmacy, Fleet Foxes, and Aesop Rock give you good reason to stick around, your eardrums might need a break. If so, I suggest you walk up to 7-Eleven for a Slurpee (cherry mixed with a little Coca-Cola is my jam). Just make sure you're back at the Block Party in time for Against Me! at 8:15 p.m. on the Main Stage, because they're going to be awesome. Their new record, New Wave, calls for lots of singing along and lots of dancing—it'll be like old days. Except, you know, outside on the street instead of down in the basement.