ACL Festival 2011 - Day 2

Sleeping In

I don't remember ever having a hard time sleeping after a day of ACL. Knowing that feeling of exhaustion after 5 straight years, it leads me to wonder, Who the hell goes to the After-parties?

So, I got late Saturday morning, not leaving home until 1PM, and finally arriving on the ACL grounds around 2:20PM or so.

City and Colour

Having seen Dallas Green at St. David's during SxSW, I was anxious to see him again. City and Colour didn't disappoint, delivering a great performance to an attentive crowd.

Abigail Washburn

I then headed over to the Vista Equity Pavilion to catch Abigain Washburn. Mrs. Fleck, the reigning Queen of the Banjo, delivered an outstanding set of music. While she played, a gentle rain was falling outside of the pavilion.

Gillian Welch

I stayed put at the pavilion, in order to catch Gillian Welch. Since I only have one degree of separation with her, through Pat Pattison, it seemed like it was time to see her play.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

After catching a bite to eat, I hung out for some more Cajun cooking. The Preservation Hall Jazz band delivered a raucous set of New Orleans' music.

TV on the Radio

Leaving the Preservation Hall band a little early, I worked my way over to the Google+. Although not being familiar with TV on the Radio, I was pretty quickly drawn in. This is a band I will have to check out more from, and I will be looking for them to be on tour.

Stevie Wonder

I almost feel like this is false advertising. I didn't actually see Stevie Wonder perform, it was more like I happened to be on the grounds, while he was on stage.

Leaving the TV on the Radio set a little early, I attempted to slide up front, attacking from the Porta-Potties on the right side, like I did last year with Ron and Alissa for the Eagles. It seemed that everyone else was on to that trick, and even getting there early, did not help.

In fact, this show was most crowded I have ever seen this stage during an ACL. Realizing that my first plan would not pay dividends, I started working my way back out, with the intention of cutting out 3/4ths of the way through Stevie's set, so I wouldn't have to wait too long for the shuttles.

Even this did not work as planned. I ended up much further from stage than anticipated. Fairly far from the stage at this point, the crowd was still thick, and it was difficult enough just to see the large video screens on either side of the stage. When Stevie finally did come out, for some reason they had the PA very low, and it was almost impossible to hear. I'm scratching my head on this one, because it was capable of delivering more volume.

I attempted to listen to the first three songs, which were actually difficult to hear or discern, until i had had enough. I left early, got right on the shuttle, and drove home.

ACL Festival 2011 - Day 1

Taking the Shuttle to Zilker

As I have for the previous five years, I parked in my usual spot and took the shuttles over to Zilker Park. Prior to leaving home, I had actually packed some rain gear, because it was very overcast. Usually unwelcome during ACL, rain would be a great relief from the drought we are experiencing.

Asleep at the Wheel

As always, there's only one way to start the ACL Festival, and this is with Austin's favorite adopted band, Asleep at the Wheel. Some would argue that one of the most influential events in Austin music history, was the Wheel's move to Austin from Oakland, in 1974, at Willie Nelson's urging.

All I know is that there is nothing like starting the morning with some Texas Swing, and covers of Bob Wills songs.

Wild Beasts while it was actually raining

At the end of the Wheel's set, I walked down the hill to the Honda stage, where Wild Beasts was playing. As I walked, it actually started raining. It was short lived, but forecasts call for more rain this weekend. It is still badly needed.

I don't have much to say about Wild Beasts. They were a British Pop act that I did not find too compelling.

Disciples of Christ

Heading over to the Pavillion formerly known as the WAMU (now Vista Equity), I caught a set by a kick-ass, gospel group, Disciples of Christ. Four very impressive female singers powered this music into the stratosphere. Impressive singing talent was on display, for those fortunate few at this sparsely attended set.

The Secret Sisters

Continuing my orbit around the grounds, I was treated to the sound of two more female voices, singing in excellent harmony. A pair of sisters from the legendary locale of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, were seducing the crowd with their siren song.

Their music seemed to be the perfect complement to a hot, lazy late summer afternoon. My biggest regret was not catching their entire set.

Brandi Carlile

Hearing this band from afar, I immediately headed back to the AMD stage. As I got closer, I realized that this would be a real treat. One set was enough to make me a fan of Seatlle based, performer, Brandi Carlile.

She plays a rousing mix of Rockabilly, and Country influenced music, and played an impressed cover of Johnny Cash's, Fulsom Prison Blues. Not only is she a great front person, but her band was fantastic too.

Meanwhile, over at the BMI Stage

Finally making it over to the BMI Stage, even though it's right near the Front Gate, I saw this interesting setup. A rotating wheel of glass, with alternating wedges being silvered, was mounted in this device. People would line on both sides, as it spun, and watch the really cool effect created.

Unfortunately, the video doesn't do it justice, since you get a strobe effect from the digital camera.

Bobby Long

I had seen this British Singer/Songwriter earlier in the year, at SxSW. He delivered a very engaging performance. It is unfortunate that he couldn't command a larger stage, to be perfectly honest.

Francicsa Vanezuela

Francicsa was a very attractive Chilean singer-songwriter. She plays piano and sings, with music that is targeted towards an alternative, Latin Pop market. The band and the sound were good, and she herself is an excellent player.

Electric Touch

After getting some food, I checked out a British-American band, Electric Touch. They had a good sound, and presentation, but I didn't find the music very interesting.

Kurt Vile and the Violators

Like the previous, and the next acts I'm writing about, I didn't find this group very interesting.

Cold War Kids

I found this band to be similar to the previous. Good sound, pop sounding songs, but not very engaging or interesting.

The Austin Skyline

I attempted to catch a few shots of the Austin Skyline from Zilker. The night time shots rarely come out well, so here's two from the daylight hours.

Bright Eyes

These guys apparently have a big following. They were fairly derivative, reminding me of some 80's MTV pop band.
It was listenable, but not interesting, either.

Gary Clark Jr.

Even though Gary is from Austin, I had never heard him play. He's pretty damn good. It is not often that a Blues player can hold an audience of anyone other than Blues fans. Gary has no problems doing this.

Made a mental note to catch him in town, soon.

Sara Bareilles

As I was eating dinner, I could hear this Grammy nominated singer-songwriter on the Austin Ventures stage. She is fantastic, and will return on a bigger stage in the future. In addition to be an exceptional vocalist, she is also a very good piano player.

Coldplay

I knew that I wasn't a Kayne fan, so I headed over towards the AMD stage to watch Coldplay. Well, I can cross them off of my list. I guess I'm not much of a Coldplay fan, either.

Exhausted, tired, and having sore feet, I headed out about three quarters of the way through Coldplay's set, and got on the shuttle. I really need to pace myself, and probably won't get back until around 2PM on Saturday.

ACL Badge Pickup

It's that time of the year again. Since I was already downtown, I swung on by Zilker and picked up my wristband. Of course, this was the earliest that I've ever done this. The Zilker gate wasn't even fully up, yet.

ACL Festival 2010 - Day 3

Late Start

On this third and final day of ACL, I chose to watch my Ravens dismantle the Donkeys, first. So I arrived late at around 4PM.

Yeasayers

I don't remember too much about this band. They sounded alright.

Flaming Lips

I found these guys annoying like Gogol, and didn't bother to try and get close to the stage. In the picture below, you will notice the lead singer, Wayne Coyne, crowd surfing inside of a transparent bubble or ball.

Nora Jones

Nora was everything I expected, and I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to get a picture. I had just met up with my friend Ron, and was finding the extra 10K people to be very annoying.

I think the scheduler was a little brain dead. Having Nora right before the Eagles, insured that no one was able to move in that half of Zilker.

The Eagles

Well these guys are legends. Although I don't own a single Eagles album, FM Radio from 1978 on pretty much made certain that I knew every song in their catalog.

I had a great time, stayed for the whole set, and am embarrassed to admit that I found myself singing along with some of their songs. ( I did cry when Old Yeller died too, so there! ;)

One thing I did find interesting is that Joe Walsh chose to play several James Gang songs, and his most famous solo song, Life's been good to me so far. Don Henley also performed some solo material, but Glenn Frey did not. I found this setlist and it seems relatively accurate.

In conclusion, let me say that it was a lot better than Bob Dylan a few years back, but it felt like a State Fair or Six Flags show.

ACL Festival 2010 - Day 2

First Aid Kit

I arrived early again Saturday morning. I guess this is something that comes with old age ;) The first band I heard was a Swedish duo, First Aid Kit. They were fantastic vocalists, playing acoustic music. It was interesting, but a little slow and subdued for my taste. Nonetheless, they were both excellent performers.

Towards the end of their set, they had to deal with bleed-over from the AMD stage and the next act:

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Grace Potter is beautiful tall blonde with a great voice, who also plays Hammond Organ. With all that going for her, I wish she had better music. Perhaps I'm in the minority though, but I don't dig hearing covers of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit. The rest of her set sounded like some 80's vintage Heart songs that didn't make the final cut for the album, and got left on the studio floor.

Pete Yorn

What can I say? Pete is fantastic, as is his band. He is an Austin favorite, and very clearly enjoys playing ACL.

the Gaslight Anthem, Manchester Orchestra and Kinky

I was unable to get acceptable pictures of these bands. I also ran into people I knew at both the Gaslight Anthem and Manchester Orchestra sets. The fact that I was engaged in conversation rather than listening, probably says something about my assessment of these bands.

I did find Kinky very interesting, however. There is a bit of buzz about them in Austin and other locales. I may have to check out one of their shows soon. They play an eclectic mix of Latin, Funk, Electronic and Dance music. They killed under the Pavilion formerly known as the WAMU.

Gogol Bordello

I met up with my friends, Ron and Alissa, and we trekked over to hear this band based upon a recommendation. I can sum them up this way: Take Frank Zappa and his band, lower the overall level of musicianship several fold, and make the humor a lot more annoying, and you have Gogol. Once per lifetime is enough for this crew.

Muse

After several aborted attempts, I was finally able to see Muse live. They very definitely killed during their set, and the crowd was rocking. Although they are often mentioned with Porcupine Tree, I don't see the connection there. They are most certainly not Prog.

The best description I can think of is that they are Depeche Mode with more guitar, and more upbeat lyrics. Rhythmically, they're kind of vanilla, with everything having a dance music kind of feel (which may explain the prevalence of female fans).

The leader of the band is Matthew Bellamy, and he is Muse. He is Freddy Mercury (with a similar incredible vocal range) and Tommy Morello (from Rage Against Machine) all rolled up into one. The other 3 members of the band (bass, drums and keys) could be easily replaced, without any impact.

Other notable things about their performance were the kick-ass light show. They do use a lot of sequencers in their show, but it's somewhat forgivable.

ACL Festival 2010 - Day 1

Kickoff

Unlike last year, I made it a point to get to Zilker a bit early. I managed to catch a few shots of the nearly empty grounds as I arrived. You knew it wasn't going to stay like this.

Givers

I worked my way over towards the AMD stage, but since I was about an hour early for the Wheel, I decided to catch the Givers. They are a rather young pop act from Louisiana. It was well performed, but I didn't find them particularly engaging.

Asleep at the Wheel

If there's one constant at the ACL Festival it's Asleep at the Wheel opening on the first day. To date there have been 9 ACL Festivals, and the Wheel has played every one of them.

They filled the air with favorites like Route 66, Miles and Miles of Texas and Hot Rod Lincoln. They also played a generous helping of songs from their last 2 CDs, including one of my favorites, the Bob Wills tribute recording, Willie and the Wheel.

I was disappointed to discover that the Wheel will be celebrating a 40th Anniversary Show at the Long Center, with Willie on Nov 5th. Unfortunately, it conflicts with Fun Fun Fun Fest. Will have to see if I can swizzle my schedule accordingly.

One thing I like about these early shows is that the crowd is still sparse, and it's easy to move around. As a result, I was able to walk all of the way up front to the rail in front of the stage, and get some shots of Ray and the band.

Donavon Frankenreiter

I was unfamiliar with this artist, but penciled it in after listening to the samples on the ACL site. This was a very tight band, and particularly liked what I heard the keyboard player doing. Donavon himself was a very good songwriter, and the music fit the mood for the great weather that we were experiencing.

Those Darlins

I caught 2 or 3 songs of this predominantly female band. They reminded me of the Ramones with a country twang.

Blues Traveler

Even though John Popper seems to have an endless supply of Blues Harps, I've never felt this band was particularly Bluesy. They played their basic Greatest Hits set. The highlight was local 15 year old fiddler, Ruby Jane, joining the band on stage to trade 4's and 8's with Popper.

Also of note, by mid-afternoon the closest I could manage to get to the stage was behind the sound booth. I had heard that this year, 10K additional tickets were sold. It was becoming apparent that is was a bit more crowded than normal. (As the weekend progressed, it got worse ;(

Kings Go Forth

This was a kick-ass 70's soul/funk band. I wish that I had gotten a reasonable picture of them.

Angus & Julie Stone

I was very pleasantly surprised by this act, and would rank them as one of the best of the festival. They are a brother and sister act from Sydney, Australia. Both are excellent vocalists, and Julia is multi-instrumentalist to boot.

I'll just say that at the completion of their set, I had music crush on Julia. Would love to hear more from this act, and I would recommend them to anyone.

Qbeta

A raucous Sicilian based band, that followed the King under the Clear Pavilion. Instead of Latin feel, it had a similar Sicilian influence. The crowd ate them up. I must say that I enjoyed them too.

Spoon

Local favorites Spoon, had one of the early evening headlining slots on the big AMD stage. I'm not sure I can say I saw Spoon, although I heard them. Basically, it was too much of a hassle to get close to the stage. I recognized many of the songs from the ACL taping I attended in July. I also noticed that my friend, Wayne Meyers was playing in their horn section again, on the big video monitors.

Sonic Youth

The extra 10K people were readily apparent, as it was exceedingly difficult to get close to several of the stages. I have several of Sonic Youth's CD in my collection (purchased after hearing Steve Reich talk about them), but I must confess that I don't really get them. Nothing about their performance at ACL changed anything for me.

Phish

I stayed for the first 40 minutes of Phish's set. Honestly, I'm not a Jam Band fan, and didn't become one during this show. They did do one reasonable cover of the Talking Heads' song, Cities.

Not being particularly engaged by Phish, I headed for the shuttles and listened to the Strokes as I waited in line.

It's that time of the year again

I cruised down to Zilker Park yesterday evening and picked up my wristband. Can't wait until Friday.