“Yea, I was there”: Animal Collective at the Library in 2009

For 2026, we’re launching a new web series called “Yea, I Was There,” taking short dives into legendary concerts that have passed through Oxford, Mississippi over the last 60 years. We’ll spotlight iconic shows—from B.B. King and Bob Dylan to Fugazi, R.E.M., and countless Proud Larry’s gigs—along with streaming links and videos when available.

We’re also looking for your stories and memorabilia, so if you were there (or still have the poster or T-shirt), email us and help keep Oxford’s music history alive.

 

“…the town that we were in – Oxford, Mississippi – felt like the perfect place to make the thing at the time.” – Panda Bear

 

(Daily Mississippian 4/22/2009)

Animal Collective spent a good chunk of time in Oxford, MS in early 2008 working at Sweet Tea Recording Studio making their album, Merriweather Post Pavilion. A majority of the album was recorded in Oxford during the winter of 2008, then mixed in Athens, Georgia. The band would return to Oxford the next summer and perform a sold-out show at The Library on June 6, 2009.

More on the band’s time recording at Sweet Tea:

Privacy was a key reason Animal Collective chose Sweet Tea, with producer Ben Allen noting, “During the whole month we worked on the album, the only people there were me, my assistant, and the band. No phones or computers… It’s a small town, we were in the South, no one knew who they were. It was nonstop [work].” The studio’s atmosphere and layout also mattered: Dave Portner called it “the vibiest studio I’ve ever been in… like you’re making music in a living room that just happens to have a Neve 8038 desk in it,” and its large control room suited their sample-heavy approach, as Weitz explained, “we wanted to do most of the tracking in the same room as the engineer.” While the band aimed for a live feel on Merriweather Post Pavilion, the process differed sharply from Strawberry Jam—as Noah Lennox put it, “we went about them in totally opposite ways,” shifting from a live foundation to tracking nearly every sound individually for maximum control in the mix.

It wasn’t bizarre to see members of Animal Collective around town–getting coffee at Bottle Tree, buying a book at Square Books–as was the usual when folks would be recording at Sweet Tea, which was located just a few blocks from the Square across from James Food Center.

Here are photos of the band in Sweet Tea during the recording sessions (photos provided by Len Clark/Dabbs Anderson):

Here’s a great deep-dive, oral history of the making of the album.

Here’s an in depth look at the recording process at Sweet Tea for all you studio nerds.

Pitchfork would go on to name MPP the best album of 2009 and the #14 best album of the 2000s.

 

The 2009 tour behind the explosion of Merriweather Post Pavillion–the album was huge–brought the band back to Oxford for a unique, smaller show at The Library. For those not familiar with Oxford, The Library is a sports bar located downtown and rarely has touring bands these days. NYC artist, Black Dice, opened the show. Proud Larry’s was the promoter for the show.

(Daily Mississippi 4/22/2009)

The band performed at Stubbs in Austin the night before the Oxford show, and had a travel day before the next show in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Thanks to Memphis photographer Joey Miller we have a few photos from the show. The below photos were pulled from legendary Oxford music blog, Cat’s Purring.

 

Here’s a shaky video (posted by @frequentflyer66) recorded during the Oxford show closer, “Brother Sport”:

Here’s an interesting review/comment from the youtube post above:

“I went to this show with two friends. A really cute girl who was obviously on ecstasy grabbed my hand just before the show started– she had apparently decided I was her boy for the night. I would have been down if my throat wasn’t throbbing. I explained this to her as best I could over the (extremely) loud music. I later saw her making out with a different dude and she looked at me with big, doleful eyes, as if to say, ‘this could have been you, buddy!'” – @thisguyaresick5652

 

OXFORD SETLIST: Chocolate Girl, Comfy in Nautica, My Girls, Summertime Clothes, Who Could Win a Rabbit, Daily Routine, Fireworks, Lion in a Coma, Brother Sport
 

 

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of MPP, the bands released a live album from the 2009 tour titled Ballet Slippers. Unfortunately, none of the Oxford show appears on the live album, however the album is a great listen and captures the vibe of the tour perfectly.