Pitchfork

Photos by Hugh Twyman and Rachel Hartwig

More Mangum madness over the weekend: this time the elusive Neutral Milk Hotel man turned up at the Friday Rochester stop, the Saturday Pittsburgh stop, and the Sunday Columbus, Ohio stop on the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour. They sure weren't kidding about that surprise thing, huh? And, what's more, on the latter two occasions-- as noted in Forkcast last night-- Mangum played an actual Neutral Milk Hotel song (omg!), B-side "Engine", in addition to joining his E6 pals for some ruckus-making.

The photos here show Jeff at Brillobox in Pittsburgh on Saturday. Meanwhile, chaos reportedly erupted at the Rochester event after Mangum joined his tourmates for a riotous rendition of Olivia Tremor Control jam "The Bark and Below It" that culminated with everybody wigging out and tossing their instruments to-and-fro. As one Pitchfork reader gushed, "Best show I will ever see in my entire lifetime."

UPDATE: Some additional shots from the Pittsburgh show, courtesy of reader Rachel Hartwig, are now below.

Mangum still has a few more chances to pop up as the Holiday Surprise Tour continues this week.

Jeff Mangum and Friends









Photos by Hugh Twyman






Photos by Rachel Hartwig

The Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour:

10-20 Pontiac, MI - The Pike Room
10-21 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
10-22 Bloomington, IN - Cinemat
10-23 Lexington, KY - University of Kentucky