Austin360 blogs > ACL Festival > Archives > 2006 > September > 16 > Entry
Willie Nelson
It’s the old forest-for-the-trees conundrum: Having seen Willie Nelson hundreds of times over the years, it’s hard for me to put myself in the shoes of the first-time visitor to Austin, standing in the heart of the city under the open skies and watching Willie Nelson kick off “Whiskey River” in front of that billowing two-story Texas flag.
If there is a more purely iconic moment in the pantheon of Lone Star experiences, I am unaware of it, and for some folks (including that hypothetical young visitor), it will remain the signature moment of this year’s ACL festival.
It’s possible to argue that without Nelson (making his first appearance at the festival), Zilker Park would be devoted to soccer and sunbathing this weekend. His appearance on the pilot episode of “Austin City Limits” ensured that PBS would commit to turning the show into what has become the longest-running music program in television history. And without that show and the worldwide name recognition it achieved for the city and its music scene, the ACL festival might have remained merely a gleam in someone’s eye.
Although the novelty of seeing Nelson perform has long since evaporated, the pleasure derived from the experience never stales. The classic canon is as bulletproof as it is possible for pop music to be. Nelson’s guitar playing — now that he is on the back side of carpal tunnel surgery — remains a supple, unpredictable, virtuosic marvel (and it’s astonishing how seldom his unique guitar mastery is mentioned in reviews). His rapport with his audience, from toddlers to skateboard punks to grandmothers, is the envy of Bible-thumping preachers and glad-handing politicians.
This particular performance was notable, however, for that rarest of sightings — not one, but two new songs. Now that he doesn’t have to write to put food on the table, new compositions are few and far between. But the new tunes, a wry, jazzy number called (I think) “I’m Not Superman” and what sounded like a mea culpa to a cheesed-off spouse titled “You Don’t Think I’m Funny Anymore” demonstrated that, although the creative machinery may lie largely idle, it’s not rusty.
Although he was slated to play for an hour, that amounts to little more than a good sound check for Nelson and his Family Band. An hour and a half and 25 songs later, he finally left the stage to (go figure) “Roll Out the Barrel.”
“The gang’s all here,” he sang in wrapping the song up as the crowd roared in agreement. And that was a fine moment, too.
(photo by Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment | Categories: 2006 Reviews
Comments
By Esteban
September 20, 2006 11:09 AM | Link to this
I have the utmost respect for Willie Nelson as a songwriter, a singer, and for his growing wisdom as a plain-spoken philosopher, but I am continually disappointed in his live shows. His voice is as strong and capable as it was 40 years ago, but his delivery reeks of boredom with the songs he apparently feels compelled to play. To feel the extent of the soul and passion in his music I still turn to the studio recordings or early live performances. Unfortunate!
By George
September 18, 2006 01:28 PM | Link to this
Sitting three hundred yards from the stage the sound for Willie was so pitiful that it could best be described as sounding like a radio playing in a back bedroom. After a third of the audience gave up I moved to nearly the front row and it was still lousy. If the soundman was screwing things up on purpose he couldn’t have done a worse job. The dude is obviously deaf and had the volume control knob on backwards.
By Dawn
September 18, 2006 10:45 AM | Link to this
I was lucky enough to be fairly close to the stage so could see and HEAR Willie — and he was awesome! Saw Van Morrison the previous night and thought he’d forgotten his Geritol — now I’m thinking maybe we were too far away to hear and appreciate the performance!
By beto
September 17, 2006 08:18 PM | Link to this
I just got home from the ACL Fest and I think I can safely say that Willie was not lip-syncing last night. The display on the video screen at the AMD stage is a bit out of sync with the audio as a result of basic physics. (Sound slower than light, duh…)
However, the sound quality at the AMD stage on Saturday, beginning with Los Lobos earlier, was not very good. Regardless, Willie is still great.
By David
September 17, 2006 01:25 PM | Link to this
I guess I’m that “hypothetical” first time visitor you were thinking of, though I’m no longer young, and I LOVED this show. And I too loved being in on the launch of two new songs. But yeah, the first few bars of “Whiskey River,” with the Lone Star flag unrolling, that was a moment to remember. What I didn’t love was all the so-called fans around me constantly screaming “We love you Willie!”, and blah-blah-blahing over the music so you couldn’t hear it.
By untexan
September 17, 2006 12:45 PM | Link to this
The stage where Willie performed (AMD stage this year) has been plagued by sound problems year after year. Sound for Los Lobos suffered yesterday. And a couple of years ago Blind Boys of Alabama, Shelby Lynn, Elvis Costello and others all had crappy sound there. Something needs to be done.
By Cortez
September 17, 2006 12:07 PM | Link to this
Van Morrison was incredible. I’ve seen him five times since 1990 and this was the best show by far. Congrats ACL on another fine festival. Improvements to make for next year: get the food situation figured out—-it’s a disaster. Maybe take away one stage to make more room or something.
By ALEXIS LEISURE
September 17, 2006 11:54 AM | Link to this
BRILLIANT SHOW BY VAN MORRISON. ONCE AGAIN VAN HAS THE ABILITIES OF A TRUE MUSICAL VISIONARY AS HE MAKES STYLES OF DAYS GONE BY -* NEW * - AGAIN. THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO, VAN. TANKS FOR REMINDING US ALL WHAT MUSIC IS ALL ABOUT - HEART AND SOUL, SOME GOOD BLUES AND GOOD MELODY… BEST OF FESTIVAL BY MILES AND MILES…
By Red Rosie
September 17, 2006 11:53 AM | Link to this
It was surprising that the sound quality was terriable for Willie’s show. Friday and all day Sat. there wasn’t a problem.. seemed like the soundman would have had it ‘down’ by the time Willie came on stage. The volume was so low that we were yelling ‘turn it up’!! We left after several songs when the sound didn’t improve.
By Janet
September 17, 2006 11:43 AM | Link to this
I imagine the sound crew for Willie’s show last night is the most reviled group in the City of Austin this morning. I flew in from LA to see, for the first time, a great icon of country music. Well, I did SEE him. Didn’t hear him, but I did see him. Major disappointment.
By Donna
September 17, 2006 11:32 AM | Link to this
Willie was one of THE reasons I went to ACL….whoever the sound guy is….don’t bring him back! He sucked! I left in the middle of my favorite Willie song “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” cos I could not hear it. I was extremely disappointed as were many others around me. Many were leaving after about 30 minutes of attempting to listen to his songs. Well at least I got to SEE Willie.
By Jeff
September 17, 2006 10:58 AM | Link to this
Terrible sound. Hundreds if not thousands left after the first few songs—we couldn’t hear Willie, people were chanting “turn it up”. The sound finally got turned up about halfway through, but was still problematic. I can’t believe this happened to a music icon and a gigantic audience.
By beto
September 17, 2006 09:29 AM | Link to this
First off, let me just say I’m a Willie fan, but was it just my eyes and ears or was Willie lip-syncing at his ACL fest performance?
By Stephen Ames
September 17, 2006 12:11 AM | Link to this
Sorry but Willie was disappointing. Probably the biggest audience for Willie in 20 years but it was just another show for him. 25 songs in 90 minutes? Come on. The uptempo hurried set is tailored for rodeos and county fairs. He knew better but typically, he and the band are on cannabis autopilot. Get rid of the snare drum and bring back the drumset. Hire some young hungry players and make those great songs come back to life.
By Kaye
September 16, 2006 11:56 PM | Link to this
How wonderful that John T. was able to hear enough of Willie and his gang to write a review. The sound was AWFUL where we were…the biggest disappointment of the weekend. We left early, apparently missing 2/3 of the show. We expect better.