Getting to cover summer music festivals can sometimes be a mixed blessing. Unless you have an especially large crew (as we did two weeks ago at Lollapalooza), you end up spending a lot of time shooting interviews and writing or shooting standup segments, and not a lot of time actually seeing live music. Such was the case this past weekend New York's All Points West festival. (check out some of the bands we talked with right here). I did, however, manage to catch sets by two of my favorite bands, neither of which is playing many U.S. dates this summer.

Kings of Leon are the sort of dependable rock band that almost effortlessly delivers a good show -- and while a colleague of mine thought they could have used a little more effort in Saturday's set, I thought they delivered solid renditions of fuzzed-out, whiskey-soaked songs that just do not get old: "Taper Jean Girl," "The Bucket" and "On Call" and definitely got the late-afternoon crowd going. Every time I see the Kings live I'm reminded of just how many great hooks and melodies these guys they've crammed into three albums -- which makes it all the more amazing they're bigger in this country (they're massive in England). On Saturday, we were also treated to "Sex on Fire" -- the first single (and one of the more hard-charging songs) from Only By the Night, the band's fourth LP, set for release September 23.

If straight ahead rawk is your cup of tea -- or your shot of something stronger -- then you might have felt like someone spiked your drink when Animal Collective took the stage earlier in the day. The New York quartet (which is touring as a trio these days, with band member Deakin on leave) manages to create some of the most noisy-yet-beautiful, dissonant-yet-hummable, and totally captivating music around. The told me earlier in the day they are not big on outdoor, daytime sets -- but they managed to bring it in a performance that included the primal "Peacebone," the jubilant "Fireworks" and Panda Bear's hypnotic solo track "Comfy in Nautica." If anything, it felt even more experimental than their headlining set last month at Chicago's Pitchfork fest (a set that was cut short by a curfew law), or maybe it was just the context. There is something inspiring about Radiohead fans, who came early to get near the front, getting an up-close look and listen to a band that drastically pushes musical boundaries.

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We'll have more on both Animal Collective and Kings of Leon in the coming days on mtvnews.com.