The annual Capitol Hill Block Party returned this year looking a little more grown up. The blocks around Neumos still undulated with the shoulder-to-shoulder shuffling of thousands of youths, but this year two of the five stages were 21 and older, and the beer garden stretched for nearly one block.

While the festival featured mainly local acts, national and international bands such as Chromeo, Vampire Weekend and Abe Vigoda also performed across five stages. The two-day festival also had all the highlights of many Seattle-area summer festivals: the usual assortment of merchandise vendors, free energy drinks, the mandatory beer garden and, if the wind was just right, the aroma of marijuana.

FRIDAY

With the increase in the number of 21 and older stages this year, this 20-year-old reporter walked into the festival expecting to regret his age.

But main stage performers like Common Market, U.S.E., Menomena, Girl Talk, Les Savy Fav and Vampire Weekend kept festival-goers of all ages entertained with their music, antics and humor.

Gregg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, welcomed about 20 fans on stage to dance (or do something like dancing) while he played his sample-ridden electronic music.

“From what I’ve heard it’s every popular song you’ve heard in the last 20 years put into one big mix,” said Lars Phillips, a UW junior. “It’s the ultimate mash-up.”

What ensued was a wild dash toward the stage and a frenzied battle between security and those hoping to join the dance party on stage.

Blake Barnett, soon to be a freshman at Whitman College, was on stage with Girl Talk, simultaneously dancing and smoking a cigarette.

“It was great because you can feel the energy of the people behind you and the crowd and just keep dancing,” he said. “I love Girl Talk. That guy is a ‘G.’”

Les Savy Fav frontman Tim Harrington appeared during his set variously wearing a red-and-black plaid lumberjack’s coat, a purple robe with a glowing scepter and, by the end, just his gray underwear.

He jumped into the crowd several times and at one point leaned his feet forward toward an eager fan, who massaged the arch of his foot during a break in the set.

Cliff Batson, a junior at Willamette University, and his friends snagged Harrington’s robe when he threw it into the crowd.

“They’re amazing, better than I could’ve hope for,” he said, speaking of the band’s energetic music. “The cape was just a topper.”

Vampire Weekend concluded the night with sophisticated, African-indie rhythms. The New England band has only released one album, most of which it played during the set.

Unlike most festivals, the block party boasted a Dildo Ring Toss. Babeland Toys, located near the block party, put on the promotional game. The game required someone to throw a ring around dildos mounted upon cardboard cutouts of movie stars like Orlando Bloom, Samuel L. Jackson and Angelina Jolie. Winners received vibrators. Losers still walked away with complimentary lube.

“Samuel L. Jackson’s dildo is a little wide, so his is the hardest to win,” said Audrey McManus, education coordinator at Babeland.

SATURDAY

I was running late to the festival and didn’t arrive until a little after seven. It immediately registered to me that my timing meant I missed the Fleet Foxes set. I didn’t feel too guilty, having seen them numerous times in the past few months already, but according to my very reliable sources, they were great. And people at the festival flocked to them, as always.

The pit cleared after the Canadian duo Chromeo, and there was a bit of a wait before The Hold Steady was set up. I got a good laugh hearing “These are the wrong dumpy white guys — we want the right ones!” come from someone in the crowd while event staff set up the stage. But once “the right ones” made it onstage, the performance was exactly as zany as I was assured it would be.

It was my first time seeing the Brooklyn band, and Craig Finn (guitar and lead vocals) and Franz Nicolay (keys) were the best outrageous-rock-star entertainers I could have asked for. And for “Lord, I’m Discouraged,” Tad Kubler broke out a double-neck guitar sporting 18 strings. If I’ve ever felt like I was at an outdoor summer music festival this year, it was while watching The Hold Steady.

In between main stage sets, I made the obligatory walk to the Vera Stage for a few minutes of Schoolyard Heroes. Not to say that I’m a huge fan, but every time they play a festival I attend (many), I have to catch at least a few minutes of their set. It must be something about their raw angst that tugs at my heartstrings a little.

Back at the main stage, Devotchka was …unique. In trying to describe the band’s live sound, I came up with part country/western, part polka and part Spanish. It was also the first time I’d ever seen a tuba, violin, accordion and upright bass onstage together. I didn’t think the band was that fantastic, but the rest of the crowd didn’t seem to care.

I was about to duck out a few songs into the set, but a friend convinced me to stay, which allowed me to get a front-row view at stage left of the guy who fended off security long enough to climb onto the stage and consequently be wrestled off and carted away to the drunk tank by police.