Among the crowd of teens and 20-somethings at the New American Music Union festival, David Eads stood out.

"It's a little awkward right now," said the 50-year-old Somerset, Ky., native, as he stood by himself, drinking a beer.

He made the six-hour drive with his son -- the trip and concert tickets were a birthday present for the 18-year old.

Mr. Eads was willing to come to the music festival for two reasons: Bob Dylan would be performing and the tickets were cheap.

"I was amazed at the ticket prices -- $50 for me, $25 for him," Mr. Eads said, nodding toward the small, relaxed crowd standing and sitting on the asphalt near the stage. His son was mixed in there somewhere.

The festival, which began last night and runs through tonight, is being held at the SouthSide Works. It's a first for the venue that usually is host to only local singer/songwriters in its center plaza.

The main stage is set in the parking lot behind REI, an outdoor gear store, facing the river. The parking lot-turned-concert venue was free of seats, but had plenty of other amenities. Opposite the stage, food and drink vendors lined the parking lot and picnic tables were set up under the shade of a tent. Volunteers handed out free water and milled around with brooms, dustbins and trash bags.

Black mesh fences surrounded the lot and concert goers passed through security at the tunnel between REI and women's retailer Ann Taylor to gain access.

About 10,000 people bought tickets for the festival, sponsored by American Eagle. The tickets, despite the price and lineup of popular indie-rock bands, didn't sell out until about two weeks ago.

Streets leading into the plaza were closed. A stage was set up at the intersection of 27th and Sidney streets. College bands will perform there for free tomorrow from 11 a.m. until 5:15 p.m.

People milled about, strolling in and out of stores.

"The flow of traffic is definitely greater. There's a bigger bar crowd," said Cynthia Helfer, a manager at Claddagh, an Irish restaurant in the plaza. "It's usually not this crowded at [5 o'clock] on a Friday," she said.

Other businesses farther down East Carson Street set up tents and wares along the sidewalk to take advantage of the big crowd.

The influx of concert goers didn't seem to have much impact on what might be considered chronic traffic problems on East Carson.

Jim Kacala, 48, of Cleveland, drove to the South Side. Was traffic an issue for him?

"No, surprisingly. I thought it would be more crowded," he said, sitting on a bench in the plaza.

Anna Hale, 17, took the bus from Bloomfield and was surprised it didn't take any longer than usual to reach the South Side.

She sat with her friend, Trish Ward, also 17, of Baldwin.

"It's cool they have something less commercial here," said Anna. "It's kinda ironic American Eagle is hosting it," she added.

Away from the stores, food vendors, and shrieking kids running in and out of the plaza fountain sat Chris Hall, 18, of Mt. Lebanon and Sarah Horton, 16, of Moon.

Unlike Ms. Hale and Ms. Ward, they weren't sitting on hot concrete, but on grass. They also weren't facing the stage. They faced one side of REI and the fence that separated them from the crowd inside. Unable to get tickets, they planned to enjoy the music for free from their vantage point near the bike trail.

"This [concert] is only in Pittsburgh and I'm like 'this is my hometown, this is Pittsburgh, this is awesome,'" said Mr. Hall.