Rain is much cleaner than bird crap, but it still ruins concerts.

A healthy crowd powered through the heat on Saturday to enjoy the alternative rock segment of Celebrate Saint Louis' concert series at the Soldiers Memorial. The headliner's set was cut short, but at least they made it past the half-hour mark unlike the Kings of Leon the night before.

I couldn't make it for the two openers, Against Me! and the Henry Clay People, but the diverse crowd appeared to be in great spirits as they awaited a rare free concert by the ultra-cool Silversun Pickups.

The four Angelenos took the stage after some deserved pats on the backs by series organizers. Launching into their high-energy, heavily distorted hits mainly from last year's album, Swoon, the quartet had the crowd riveted throughout.

The grooves laid down by bassist Nikki Monninger and drummer Christopher Guanlao were thick and the and the guitar hooks were infectious, similar to early Smashing Pumpkins.

Lead vocalist and guitarist Brian Aubert and Monninger worked swimmingly together on vocals, though I wish Aubert would have toned down the vocal effects. The only people who could understand Aubert were probably the hearing impaired watching the dancing signer at stage left. (How cool of a job would that be?)

About a half hour into the show, lightning could be seen in the distance due west -- not good. Within ten minutes, a huge thunderclap struck nearby, delighting the crowd. Joy turned to anger, though, as the big jolly guy who introduced the Pickups broke the news that the show was canceled.

The crowd couldn't have been nearly as angry as the Verizon patrons at the now infamous Kings of Leon concert on Friday. However I did hear a few barks of, "first the Kings of Leon and now this!" as the crowd dispersed. It turned out to be the right call, though, as downtown was deluged with rainwater just 15 minutes later.