New York's second-annual entry in the three-day festival circuit got off to a soggy start yesterday, with The National and Vampire Weekend playing straight through a downpour. (Props to National lead Mark Berninger, who climbed down into the crowd to get wet with us.) The skies cleared in time to give the Yeah Yeah Yeahs a pastel sunset, followed by Jay-Z's multimedia extravaganza that lifted everyone six inches above the mud. And, on the way out, I caught the pounding techno set by Toronto's MSTRKRFT that just about blew the roof off the Queen of the Valley tent. (Pics of all this to come soon.) 

Because of all the rain yesterday, festival organizers are offering free re-entry to anyone with a Friday ticket stub. A thoughtful gesture, but one they probably wouldn't be making if there weren't a surfeit of tickets remaining for today and tomorrow. Which, unfortunately, doesn't speak well for the future of APW in New York. Just when they were starting to get it right, too... (My advice: go today, as the rain's supposed to be back again tomorrow.)