Under the cover of the brisk Massachusetts weather and above the well-traveled ground of Northampton, something new is forming. Footsteps, applause, sound techs, people; but ultimately, music. Eight hours of it.

This was the busy scene at Riverfest, the first annual Northampton Music Festival on Sept. 24 at the Three County Fairgrounds. A sea of music fans gathered together to see performers such as Ben Harper, Sonic Youth, Sleater Kinney and many more.

One of the most interesting things about Riverfest was its successful combination of the old and the new, the seasoned and the seasonings. Groups such as Angry Salad and Live on the Planet were served up to a receptive audience, getting a major performance under their belt while more well-known acts were at home in this relatively intimate venue.

There was Ben Harper, whose sometimes seductive, sometimes serrated guitar and vocals gently wafted through the autumn air. There was everyone's favorite "Beautiful Creature," Juliana Hatfield, who helped kick off the festival with a perfect mixture of intelligent alterna-pop and riot grrrl aesthetic.

There was Sleater-Kinney, the brash punk trio who took the mid-90s indie scene by storm with an amalgam of politics and good old fashioned guitar-based rants. And there was Sonic Youth, such a consistently powerful and experimentally brilliant presence in underground music that you cannot help standing slack-jawed and saying "Wow, man. That's Thurston-fucking-Moore."

Sonic Youth provided what were perhaps the most captivating moments of the festival. Their stage presence is almost subversive; looking at these (physically) aging rockers in worn-through t-shirts, you wouldn't really expect what a taste of their post-punk avant garde noise rock you were in for. Between their crunching guitar licks and near-maddening feedback, they elicited more gaping and awe-struck expressions from the audience than any other act.

Whether it was hundreds of heads bobbing in unison to "Sunday-esque" beats or hundreds of feet pounding to the raucous riffs of "Wildflower Soul," Sonic Youth delivered what the audience wanted.

When all was strummed and done, Riverfest was quite a success and definitely a memorable experience. In what seems to be an era of thoughtless boy bands and fluffy teenage bunny rabbits swathed in McDonald's sponsorships and hair gel, it was quite refreshing to see some of the alternatives to corporate puppets come out to play. And play, and play, and play.