Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > ACL 2009: Saturday category
ACL 2009: Saturday
October 5, 2009
Outtakes from Pearl Jam's ACL taping
Now that I’ve gotten a much-needed shower and some sleep, I thought it’d be worth revisiting some of the more candid and revealing moments from Pearl Jam’s flat-out incredible Austin City Limits taping on Saturday night. The episode airs Nov. 21 and looks to be a whole hour of Pearl Jam, but since they played for two hours a lot of the more colorful asides and such probably won’t make it to air.
The highlights, in no particular order:
The band invited several injured military veterans from the Wounded Warrior Project of San Antonio to the taping. At the start of the first encore, singer Eddie Vedder came out to do a solo take on “Lukin” (more on that in a second) but forgot a guitar pick, so he jokingly asked a nearby audience member for one of the picks guitarist Stone Gossard had passed out at the close of the first set. At this, one of several veterans in the audience with prosthetic legs shouted to Vedder, “I’ll trade you my leg for a pick!”, prompting an “are you serious?” look from Vedder. A moment later the singer was bounding across the stage, leg in hand, while gathering up a guitar pick and drum sticks from Matt Cameron’s drum kit to give to the soldier. Vedder then autographed the prosthetic and two others before telling the rest of the veterans he’d be back after the show to sign anything they wanted. A truly endearing and cool exchange that just can’t happen in any other performing environment.
As mentioned in the review of the show, guitarist Mike McCready closed the night by transitioning from the band’s cover of Victoria Williams’ “Crazy Mary” to going solo on a crackling, feedback-drenched playing of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Couple that with Vedder recounting his five-year-old daughter making him recite the Pledge of Allegiance with him over the phone before a recent show and it’s hard to believe that during the George Bush presidency this band was assailing the direction of the country with the type of vitriol that would’ve gotten it blacklisted during the Joe McCarthy years.
Back to “Lukin”: so this barely one minute ball of fury has always been one of the weirder bits in the band’s canon, and definitely wasn’t up for consideration by most as a tune Vedder would pull out to do pretty much solo at a taping of one of the most hallowed music programs in history. But there it was like a sore thumb, with Vedder bringing a string quartet led by Austin’s Will Taylor back out to back him up, with the instructions that the tune was in E and the string players should just crank out whatever they thought sounded good. “Is that E minor or major?” one of the players asked, at which point Vedder laughed and admitted he wasn’t sure. “I don’t even know what a third is. You’re blowing my cover now.” Not that it mattered much. Vedder abused his acoustic guitar while the strings did their best to be heard above the din. One of those head-scratching moments the band does mostly just to keep itself and audiences from getting bored.
The weirdo cover requirement got met with a set-opening take on Austin native Daniel Johnston’s “Walking The Cow” (featuring only Vedder and bassist Jeff Ament) and “Driven To Tears” by The Police, a nearly 30-year-old political lament beefed up with three guitars. Vedder said he hoped the latter song will lose its social significance some day, which might sound like an ineloquent putdown but was more a lament that not a lot has changed since the Reagan years.
Recording equipment was obviously barred from the premises for audience members so I can’t do justice to the rambling monologue Vedder delivered prior to “Do The Evolution” with anything close to 100 percent accuracy. I just know it started with something about the need for human compassion, and how that’s getting lost as mankind develops technologically, and how maybe we should find a way to measure how well we look out for one another instead of using yard sticks like GDP or something, and how… well, you get the idea. After a couple minutes Vedder trailed off and admitted “… I guess I’m not really going anywhere in particular with this” before finally saying “It’s evolution, baby” and kicking off one of the band’s few enduring mid-period rockers. There’s a reason the guy’s a singer and not an orator. Thankfully, he does the first very, very, very well.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009, Music
October 4, 2009
ACL aftershow review: Grizzly Bear
Brooklyn buzz band du jour and critic’s darling Grizzly Bear summoned the strength to play their second set of the day during a sold-out performance at Emo’s late Saturday night.
And this was no small feat. The affable band - Daniel Rossen (vocals, guitar), Ed Droste (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Christopher Bear (drums, backing vocals) and Chris Taylor (bass, backing vocals, various instruments) - noted that they were very tired as they expressed concern whether members of the audience that had seen them rock their daytime ACL Festival gig had received the chance to change out of their rain-soaked clothes.
The dirty, venerable indie rock club proved a much better venue for Grizzly Bear than the outdoor festival environs of Zilker Park. In fact, an old friend commented that she’d never heard the Emo’s PA sound so clear and sonically pleasing and I concurred.
On their albums, Grizzly Bear’s psychedelic, acoustic, freaky-folk music almost comes across as scatological as the arrangement often appear improvised and without complete resolution. Saturday night, Grizzly Bear lived up to the hype (and they needed to at $25 a ticket) reinventing and remixing almost all of their songs. Knocking out many tracks from their 2009 album “Veckatimest,” Grizzly Bear live was exponentially more powerful, compelling and accessible than their recordings. When the band played their earlier songs, from “Yellow House” and “Horn of Plenty,” what came across as an experiment on record finally sounded fully realized.
Bear is a ferociously skilled drummer. His powerful beats rhythmically propelled the songs to places that their albums only tease at going. And Taylor proved to be one of those cats who can get ear-pleasing sounds out of any instrument he picks up. When he wasn’t playing the bass, he was playing what appeared to be a saxophone, woodwinds and keyboards.
Mid-way through the set, Beach House’s Victoria Legrand joined Grizzly Bear on stage to sing backing vocals, adding another soprano to their already complex and multi-layered harmonies.
“We keep trying to get Beach House to join our band,” Grizzly Bear bassist Taylor jested. “I’ve asked them three times on this tour (already).”
Joking aside, Legrand’s harmonies added lush counter-melodies and symbiotic female energy. “Knife,” “Cheerleader” and their “hit” song “Two Weeks,” shot forth with staccato beats and serpentine arrangements, dynamically rising and falling all in time to Taylor’s “Smile”-era Beach Boys’ back beats.
After a brief breather, the band returned to the stage to play their lone encore, “Fix It” from “Horn Of Plenty.” The song encapsulated what Grizzly Bear does best: multiple-part choral harmonies, exquisitely arranged. You get the sense that these guys have the capability and skills to play jazz, classical or any other genre-melding music they please.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Dave Matthews Band
Some 15 years after its first concert in Austin, the Dave Matthews Band made its debut at the Austin City Limits Festival. Considering the band’s massive appeal, it was a set that seemed long overdue.
Unfortunately, the band was met with the sloppiest conditions in the history of the fest. That does not mean the fans stayed away. While the crowd was not as deep or thick as with headliners from years past, considering the state of the park after a long day of rain, the numbers were still impressive, with chair people and standing fans having marked their territory for the night’s set hours earlier. In fact, the scheduling of DMB was probably perfect for the conditions, considering his large, dedicated fanbase and songs that could get people moving without much heavy lifting.
After some acoustic whispering, the band, with a possible ironic nod to the day’s events, launched into a raucous version of “Don’t Drink the Water.” No problem there, Dave. Matthew’s primal scream served as proxy for the beleaguered and drenched but appreciative crowd.
As the laser light spectacular and bass overshadowed the back of the crowd, the band tore though “You Might Die Trying,” a tune that fit the mood set by the ominous lingering clouds, as Matthews danced enthusiastically during the bands extended jams that featured the prowess of guitarist Tim Reynolds.
What Matthews lacked in lyrical poetry, he more than made up for with sincerity in the band’s last set of the tour. Many of the band’s newer tunes seemed less melodic, with less room to breathe than his older tunes, but Matthews & Co. have shown an ability to re-seed and renew their crowd over the decades, and the folks up front hardly seemed to care about the mud in which everyone was entrenched.
The set hit its apex with the extended jam of “Jimi Thing,” which had many, some perched atop their boyfriends’ shoulders, singing along in full throat, while others reluctantly, maybe spurred by nostalgia, mouthed along. The song was a testament to the fact that, while DMB produces safe, radio-friendly tunes, years ago they built a reputation as being a jam band, thanks to the group’s collective improvisational and soloing skills.
After the simplistic and cutesy “Love the Way You Love Me,” the band picked up on the energy created by “Jimi Thing” with an unexpected and strong cover of the Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House,” apropos not just for the “nasty weather,” but the fact that David Byrne appeared on the same stage at the festival last year.
With mud people doing running belly-flops amid the hundreds that started to trudge toward the exits, the band reached back to a trio of older tunes (“So Much to Say,” “Ants Marching,” and “Two Step”) that rewarded the diehards and resilient fans who stayed until the fest’s Saturday night conclusion.
Ricardo B. Brazziell photo
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Citizen Cope at ACL Fest
Pardon the bit, but I couldn’t resist offering up my review of Saturday’s performance by Citizen Cope in a style loosely modeled after his somehow-popular “Let The Drummer Kick” - that song made up entirely of lyrics like “Elation. Humiliation. Incarceration.”
But no celebra-shuuuuun
Whole lotta precipita-shuuuuun.
Causing frustra-shuuuuun.
And lotsa complica-shuuuuun.
Not into this musical masturba-shuuuuun.
Gotta get to my transporta-shuuuuun.
Move to a new loca-shuuuuun.
Lame, I know. But I was soaked and had to head out for the Pearl Jam Austin City Limits taping, so my A-game wasn’t in play here. Next time, though.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Pearl Jam ACL taping
“Man, this room is great and it just drives like an old Buick.”
Apt words from Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder during his band’s first taping of “Austin City Limits” at the KLRU studios on the University of Texas campus. The ACL studio of course has lots of years and miles on it, while Pearl Jam now is nosing into that old guard stratum — and doing so more than comfortably if the two-hour spectacle the band put on Saturday night is any indication.
The 17 songs were, of course, kinda heavy on material from the band’s new album “Backspacer” that, while good and played with all the drive and vigor of older material, don’t feel as lived in yet. The new ballad “Just Breathe” took on warmth from the intimate setting and a string quartet led by Austin’s Will Taylor of Strings Attached (“They’re Pearl Jam for a day” Vedder wryly remarked at the start) and rockers “Johnny Guitar” and “Got Some” had all the oomph needed to make them feel at home amongst more veteran material.
An outing like this is all about the little moments and reveals afforded by a small room, though, and there were plenty of them: Vedder going on a well-intended but messy ramble about the human condition prior to “Do The Evolution”; Mike McCready closing a second encore with a feedback-drenched “Star Spangled Banner”; Vedder and bassist Jeff Ament opening the night with Daniel Johnston’s “Walking The Cow”; Vedder bringing Taylor and company out for the encore on a head-scratching solo run through “Lukin” with the instructions “Just play whatever you think sounds good”; touring partner Ben Harper joining the band on slide guitar for “Red Mosquito”; and turning The Police’s “Driven To Tears” into a three-guitar workout.
After teasing about becoming the ACL studio’s house band (with a 12 bar lounge jazz run from the band) it was on to straight-up classics like “Better Man” (the opening verse sung by the audience) and takes on “Porch” and Victoria Williams’ “Crazy Mary” that gave guitarists McCready and Stone Gossard plenty of time in the solo spotlight while Vedder did that stagger-bop dance thing he’s nowhere close to retiring 20 years into this whole ride.
Not that he needs to. Everything works for this band, whether writ large on an arena or festival stage or in the closed confines it took to fabulously Saturday night.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009, Music
Live review: Mos Def
Well, that was…interesting.
First, Mos Def took the Dell stage about 20 minutes after his 6 p.m. start time Saturday evening.
Now, a 6 p.m. time slot on one of the two biggest stages at ACL is a pretty big deal You are essentially the last act before that night’s headliner. It means the organizers, acting presumably as a conduit for the fans, expect you to own that stage with a dynamic, forceful set, or at least an emotionally involved one.
It does not mean they, organizers or audience, expect you to show up late. And it doesn’t mean they, organizers or audience, expect you to ramble over funk-jazz jams for most of your set.
Mos was nearly unrecognizable at first, playing percussion over funk vamps. This was hip-hop as jam band. So far so good, more or less. But when it he going to grab that mic and just kill it?
Well, not really ever as it turned out. Oh, he grabbed the mic, a large 50s-looking thing, the kind Elvis Presley and Wynonie Harris sang into. But he seemed a little distracted or out of it here and there, seemingly freestyling when not stringing together bits of songs such as “Life is Marvelous,” the Roots feat. Mos Def tune “Double Trouble” the one with the Bob James “Nautilius” break; see also Ghostface’s “Daytona 500”) and “Casa Bey” (“Magnetic, the flows are athletic”). It may have played brilliantly to people up close, but the volume of non-interest seemed to get bigger the further back into the crowd one went. He let us know that many things were “in the building” - hip-hop, Brooklyn, Austin, etc. (also: “building?”)
By the time the rain started again, lots of folks simply gave up on the man, mumbling about the worst set of the weekend and such.
Except then he did something so completely in the realm of “things ACL crowds like” (perhaps a subset of the popular “stuff white people like” meme) as to nearly render the rest of his set moot: He covered Radiohead’s “All I Need.” Sang pretty much all of it.
Well played, Mr. Def. Well played.
Ricardo B. Brazziell photo
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Ghostland Observatory
A cynic could be forgiven for having doubts about Austin dance rock duo Ghostland Observatory’s worthiness as a Saturday night headliner. 2008’s “Robotique Majestique” was released to uneven reviews, and while the local electro pioneers built their reputation partially on the strength of a previous smash Austin City Limits performance, they’re unquestionably orders of magnitude less popular than the Dave Matthews Band.
But when Aaron Behrens and Thomas Turner were joined on stage by the entire University of Texas marching band, with multicolored laser lights on full blast and horns, drums, guitar and synth blending together for an intoxicating cocktail, the night hit a transcendent high that made one thing clear: only a fool doubts Austin’s kings of dance rock.
Across an hour and a half set dominated largely by cuts from the band’s “Papparazi Lightning,” with occasional forays into material from “Robotique Majestique” and “delete.delete.i.eat.meat,,” Ghostland Observatory demonstrated that they’ve honed their festival performance to an exact science.
With industrial fog machines and laser displays operating at full capacity — and it stands to be mentioned just how brilliantly timed and dazzling the show’s visual element was — the two-man team pulled in a large crowd on the strength of mesmerizing performances of band standbys like opener “Piano Man.” An enthused version of “Sad Sad City,” as close to a local music anthem as anything else produced in the last ten years, had thousands singing along note for note as Behrens whirled about onstage like a man possessed. “Heavy Heart” and “Move With Your Lover” brought the grooves, while an encore of “Silver City” was pleasantly smooth.
And just when the band’s studied stage antics and driving beats threatened to seem almost clinical in their precision, Ghostland Observatory employed the UT band to throw in that something extra and illustrate their genuine enthusiasm at having a headlining slot. For the massive crowd assembled at the Dell Stage — constantly jumping and throwing their hands into the air even hundreds of yards back from the photo pit — it was clear that their faith in Behrens and Turners was not misplaced.
Jay Janner photo
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: The Decemberists
That the Decemberists would someday record a sprawling, ambitious rock opera would likely not come as a surprise to long time fans of the band. This is, after all, the same nerdy, intellectual baroque pop group that once released an 18-minute-long single based off the Irish myth “Táin Bó Cúailnge.” And the band’s arguably most famous song, “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” is an eight-minute-long original tale of revenge.
But fans reared on the acoustic folk-rock style of “Picaresque” might have been more surprised to discover that somewhere along the way, the band learned how to rock. Hard. As they took to the stage in light rain Sunday night, the Decemberists put on a heavy, tight show — less a performance and more a production — with a surprising amount of thunderous percussion and studly axe work from bookish-looking band leader Colin Meloy.
For their set, the Decemberists essentially performed their most recent album, the hour-long rock opera “The Hazards of Love” in its entirety. A whimsical story of love and fantasy with Meloy as the protagonist, it also has large roles reserved for Lavendar Diamond’s Becky Stark and My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden, who, with her powerful, soul-influenced vocals and fetching stage outfit, was a captivating presence. Though quiet moments seeped in here and there — as on acoustic stunner “The Rake’s Song” — the performance was dominated by electrifying theatrics from Meloy, Stark and Worden.
Though the Decemberists have always been a compelling live act, their unlikely evolution from an epic folk band to a group mixing mythology with occasional doses of hard rock has elevated them to a new level. It takes equal doses of intellect and vigor to sell a rock opera on stage — at a festival, in the rain — and the Decemberists seem to have developed the necessary chops.
Jack Plunkett photo/Associated Press
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: The Scabs
Local boys the Scabs brought a little taste of Tuesday night at Antone’s circa 1998 to the Austin Ventures Stage on Saturday night. The band’s set was culled primarily from their seminal album, “Freebird,” but it looked at first as if the notoriously raunchy funk outfit was going to turn in a set of G-rated versions of these tunes. Singer Bob Schneider censored the choruses of the band’s second tune with an air horn turning the funky, James Brown inspired ode to horniness into “HONK Fever.” The air horn wasn’t working properly, though, and thankfully Schneider ditched the prop during the song’s extended ending vamp.
Without a self-censoring device, Schneider reverted to the original, vulgar lyrics for songs like “Pudding & Cheese” and another song that extols the virtues of large rumps and fellatio. I don’t know what was more enjoyable, watching the guys to my left who’d never heard the band get into the bawdy groove, or watching the young parents to my right try to decide whether they should scoop up the kids and beat a hasty retreat. Both stuck around and were dancing and singing along to “Tarantula” by the end of the set.
Guitarist Adam Temple turned a few blistering guitar solos and the horns were incredibly tight; “Pushing on the Pull Bar” and “Bombananza” sounded like they hadn’t aged a day. The band proved it still has a sense of humor with brief teases of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” and the “Entertainment Tonight” theme song. The band’s thrash metal send up of local grocery chain HEB got a few laughs as well.
All joking aside, Schneider and crew turned in an hour of tight, high-energy funk that held the rain at bay long enough for the most lively crowd I’ve seen at this year’s festival to shake off the mud and dance, dance, dance.
Jay Janner photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
October 3, 2009
Live review: STS9
On record, STS9 can be pretty snoozy and obvious. On the California jam band’s latest album, the 15-track ‘Peaceblaster,’ they manage to find 15 different ways of evoking your disinterest in their funky jungle-trance-house-metal amalgam.
Live, STS9 is plenty obvious, too. Barely a second goes by that they don’t push one of your pleasure buttons with great fanfare. And their vapid melodies — essentially, a series of major-key vamps that aren’t developed, but, rather, invoked, massaged and discarded — grow thin over the course of a seven-minute song and downright grating over the course of a 45-minute set.
But, live, one thing STS9 sure aren’t is snoozy. Taking the stage at 7:16 pm amidst a heavy downpour, they quickly banished the rain and the soggy vibes that came with it, seemingly through sheer force of will. Their music wasn’t surprising, but it was amped up to a higher level of energy than they achieve in the studio, which riled the crowd up. (‘Ohmigod, I love this song,’ one liquid-dancing girl said. ‘It makes me feel so sexy!’)
The crowd threw that energy — and a lot of glowsticks — back at the stage, which seemed to rev the band up even more. At around the half hour mark, STS9 dug into a house-music-inspired track that was as electrifying as this band’s synthesis of rock and rave ever gets. The fans — wet, cold and crowded together — danced themselves into a frenzy, doing the muddy grass beneath them no favors at all.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Airborne Toxic Event
The Airborne Toxic Event are a band from Los Angeles. They formed in 2006 and have a hit single called “Sometime Around Midnight” that sounds an awful lot like the Arcade Fire. An awful lot.
In fact, there’s a lot about the band that smacks of the Arcade Fire. There’s the name with its definite article followed by an “A” word, five or six more syllables, connotations both literary and base. (Arcade Fire recalls video arcades and the Parisian arcades that Walter Benjamin loved so much; Airborne Toxic Event is both a Don DeLilo reference and, well, a joke about broken wind.) Both bands favor suits or black clothing, melodramatic singing and rolling, epic songs short through with violin and keyboards.
Unfortunately, they’re nowhere near as willfully strange and pretentious as Arcade Fire, and while their energetic sounds seemed to foot the bill Saturday in the pouring rain, it was hard to see them as more than a flavor of the moment. Or maybe it was just that it was awfully hard to take a band seriously when the lead singer says he has no idea how the assembled crowd has every heard of them when anyone with access to MTV2 has seen the video for “Sometime Around Midnight” an awful lot.
Come on, man.
Ricardo B. Brazziell photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: DeVotchKa
Colorado-based DeVotchKa have been building a strong fan base for awhile; last year they enjoyed widespread success with the release of their album, “A Mad & Faithful Telling,” having their music included on film soundtracks and making high profile appearances at SXSW and various other festivals. At their Saturday evening set underneath the rain-free Wildflower Center tent, the band showcased its unique blend of Middle Eastern, Latin and American rock sounds and were even joined on stage by an acrobat that climbed two strips of fabric attached to the top of the tent, wowing the crowd with a series of flips and splits.
While the band employs a variety of instruments to achieve their sound, including an accordion and a tuba, they mostly avoid coming across as gimmicky (acrobat excluded). Lead singer and guitarist Nick Urata drove much of the music with his frantically energetic voice, although it was hard at times to make out some of the lyrics. Highlights included “Venus in Furs” and “How it Ends,” big rock songs that fall on the more contemporary side of the band’s sound; coupled with a pretty good light show, the set rivaled the Decemberists, who were playing across the way.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
ACL review: Levon Helm
It wasn’t the Last Waltz, but it wasn’t bad. Levon Helm, whose unmistakable drums and vocals were among the indelible signatures of the Band, brought his own band to town. And, unlike the relatively intimate mountain music ensemble he recruits to play his hometown Midnight Ramble shows at his home in Woodstock, NY, this bunch came loaded for bear.
He had a five-piece horn section, four different vocalists, a B-3 organ, accordion and at least three guitarists. Maybe a partridge in a pear tree (I didn’t check).
The only thing missing was Helm’s twangy, evocative vocals. Although he played drums with gusto, Helm was confined to an instrumental role.
Throat cancer almost killed him a few years ago, but a recent press release from his record company confirmed that Helm is currently cancer-free. Rather, his silence was attributed to “doctor-ordered vocal rest.”
Fair enough, but disappointing nonetheless.
Given how central Helm’s voice and harmonies were to the Band’s recordings, songs like “The Shape I’m In,” “It Makes No Difference” and “Chest Fever” sounded incomplete without him (no disrespect to the vocalists onstage intended).
It was sort of like going to an Eric Clapton concert where Eric sings great, but confines himself to playing the cowbell.
But even if Helm had never sung a lick, he would still be celebrated as one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest drummers. He is that rarest of birds, a drummer who swings. Chopping up the time signature, riding slightly behind the beat, playfully tickling the meter, Helm drives whatever group he’s with to play beyond themselves. And at age 69, he still works at it as hard as ever; his kit was set up at right angles to the group, and you could see his back and shoulders flex and knot as he swung the lumber.
Vocalist Teresa Williams’ version of “Long Black Veil” and a Dixieland version of “Deep Ellum Blues” (with Helm on mandolin) temporarily turned the Livestrong Stage into Texas’ largest back porch.
But the highlight of the set, to these ears, was the great (if still lyrically incomprehensible) rock-of-ages slab of music that is “Chest Fever.” With guitarist Larry Campbell kicking it off, and Helm riding the ride cymbal, high-hat and snare for all he was worth and everyone else onstage hitting anything they could get their hands on, it was a big, joyous mess. This listener wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Jay Janner photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Fashion, Ghostland style
Fans and critics always seem to take notice of what Ghostland frontman Aaron Behrens wears on stage. And for good reason. He almost always brings a dramatic flair to his stage outfit.
I just caught up with him at the side of the stage where Mos Def, currently covering a Radiohead tune, is playing and Ghostland is scheduled to play. Behrens said tonight’s outfit, replete with fringe jacket, is an homage to Hank Williams Jr. and his spectacular Monday Night Football introduction. Classic.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Eek-A-Mouse
The sheets of rain pummeling Zilker Park around 5:45 p.m. turned the normally low key Wildflower Center tent into a jam-packed hot spot providing a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd for the beginning of Jamaican reggae veteran Eek-A-Mouse’s set. The band dropped a guitar-heavy rock groove that slid into a reggae rhythm and the bassist called out, “Are you ready for the Ganga smuggler?” Based on the thick haze hanging in the air, I’d say yes. The crowd went wild. And so the tone was set.
The Mouse took the stage clad in green and gold with a green cap he shifted from side to side. Though his guttural vocals were sometimes lost in the mix, he knew how to play to the crowd, leading regular chants of “Ganga, ganga,” and “Weed, smoke weed,” which drew enthusiastic responses. His set included a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” a loosely politicized version of “In the Jungle” and, naturally, a slew of his own easy groovin’ material. While the crowd thinned when the rain slowed (and Mos Def started his set on the AMD stage), those who stuck around were with the man all the way. He closed his set exhorting the crowd, “Remember tonight, don’t you drink and drive, but you can smoke and fly,” while his band played a muddy thrash in the background. And when he coaxed them to call his name one last time they chanted right along.
Ricardo B. Brazziell photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Bon Iver
It’s been a while since Justin Vernon released his breakthrough album, “For Emma, Forever Ago,” under the moniker Bon Iver. Vernon’s portrayal of his self-imposed isolation over a Wisconsin winter turned out to be very appealing, and since then he’s released an EP, “Bloodbank,” as well as a side project, Volcano Choir, which he began recording a few years back with fellow Wisconsinites Collections of Colonies of Bees.
The crowd at his soggy Saturday afternoon set was a testament to Vernon’s popularity. Vernon now tours with a four-piece band, a wise move that has allowed the “The For Emma” material to come to life in a more organic way. Feedback and pounding drums punctuated opener “Creature Fear.” “Flume” and “Bloodbank” both benefited from fuller rock arrangements as well, with Vernon strumming away on an electric guitar.
The band was predictably able to draw the biggest response with two of his best songs, “Skinny Love” and “For Emma,” material that, even in an unfocused festival setting, is able to get a lot of mileage from its emotional heft.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Henry Butler
New Orleans native Henry Butler brought a little slice of Jazzfest ambiance to the Austin City Limits Festival on Saturday afternoon: Rain pouring down outside the tent, a genuine Crescent City “piano professor” holding forth inside. Any Jazzfest habitue would have felt right at home.
Butler is not as well known as other Louisiana keyboard maestros, such as Allen Toussaint, Dr. John or Austin’s own Marcia Ball. But he is clearly their equal in dexterity and power. Playing with precision and strength at a head-turning velocity (and, at times, hammering the bass registers with the edge of his hand), Butler’s playing evoked an image of a guy with a tackhammer nailing down roofing shingles at 78 rpm.
Through the course of his nearly hour-long set, Butler — who has been blind since birth and began playing piano at age 6 — led a winding tour that featured stops at the blues, soul, stride piano, boogie-woogie, New Orleans R&B and jazz. At times he has recorded them all, to the ongoing frustration of record companies who have tried to market him. After an introductory jazz/soul instrumental workout, Butler worked his way into a jacked-up version of “Iko Iko,” followed by a strutting original, “Jump To the Music.”
A playful little lick on the bass end of the keyboards eventually resolved itself (after taking the long way around the barn) into Fats Domino’s “Hello, Josephine,” while another long blues vamp and singalong took too long to get to its point.
Butler brought things back to earth with a slow and soulful version of Jerry Butler’s “I Stand Accused” before releasing the crowd back to the elements with a peppy take on Billy Preston’s “Will It Go Round In Circles.”
In point of fact, it is Butler’s music that goes round, circling past all the history and stylistic stops of the piano in American popular music (he’s been known to tackle the Broadway songbook, too). An hour was just enough to wet (no pun intended) an aficionado’s whistle.
Ricardo B. Brazziell photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Random rain quotes
Michael Barnes is Out & About at the fest, asking how people are dealing with the rain:
“Garbage bags. And Tito’s vodka.” - John Semmens of California
Vijay Ravula: “How did we survive the rain? We got wet.”
Shefaly Ravula: “We thought we brought the right gear.”
Vijay: “She didn’t listen to me.”
“My 13-year-old is out there in the put having a safe ‘Woodstock.’ Fabulous experience.” — former Austin mayor Will Wynn
“And you will know us by the trail of mud …” — Jennifer Wijangco of Austin
Clayton Harrell and Sarah Caldwell (in unison): “We stayed in tents.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Federico Aubele
If your ACL set gets rained on — and I mean pouring afternoon rain, not the drizzles that percolated much of the morning — you basically have two options: Push back against the weather by ramping up your intensity or completely ignore the flood.
The first option really isn’t an option for Federico Aubele. His gentle music — a melange of his native Argentina’s tango, Jamaican dub and washes of ambient techno — doesn’t really give him any tools for holding back the storm. You might as well build a levee out of Lego.
Instead, Aubele (on lead vocals and nylon string guitar) and his modest backing band — a drummer, a keyboard player and a woman who sang harmony vocals and a few solo parts — did what they would have done under any circumstances: played 45 minutes worth of gentle, lilting love songs, most from his new album, ‘Amatoria.’
Aubele’s hushed intimacy held up surprisingly well in a festival setting, even as the storm grew fiercer midway through his set. A bigger problem than the weather was the pummeling guitars bleeding over from … And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead’s set at the nearby XBOX360 stage. ‘It’s like a remix,’ Aubele joked about the unintentional mashup of punishing indie-rock and breezy Latin American balladry that resulted.
As if trying to block out the noise from afar, the crowd moved closer and closer to the stage as Aubele’s set went on. Or perhaps they were just huddling for warmth.
Ricardo B. Brazziell photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Rain getting old already, but Tyler kills
What started off as a fun deviation from the usual sweatathon that is ACL Fest started getting irritating by late afternoon. A music festival suffers when music is not at the top of everyone’s mind and on day two of ACL 2009, the rain dominated.
“I wish (the rain) could have waited a few more days,” said a drenched Melanie Young, 37, about half an hour into a pouring downpour. “I thought I could tough this out. I didn’t think this would be more miserable than the heat but it’s impossible to have fun when everybody is this cold and huddled over.”
Not that there wasn’t fun in Zilker Swamp. Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights got a rare ACL encore on the BMI stage with their psychedelic redneck boogie. Dallas native Tyler, a tireless entertainer always covered in sweat by show’s end told the audience, “it’s not that often that the audience is as wet as I am.” Watch for this young band of Jimi Hendrix worshippers. The songwriting’s way obvious, with songs about “Gypsy (fill in the blank) and the like, but this is a pretty amazing live act.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: More rain, SEC football and more
As the rain started to really come down around 4:15 p.m., Irish band Flogging Molly seemed like the perfect band to have on the AMD stage.
Walking toward AMD, I observed a jam-packed tent of folks watching Georgia vs. LSU. Sure, some were just trying to avoid the rain, but many were there with the expressed intent of watching the game. Every year, as evidenced by the hats and T-shirts, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of SEC football fans at the fest. It seemed there were more Dawg fans than Tiger fans, which is kind of odd, what with the proximity of Louisiana and the number of residents that usually make it to the fest. Maybe the LSU contingency went to see piano man Henry Butler.
Maybe not suprisingly, the lines for food were almost nonexistent (excepting Hudson’s), as every covered spot at which to eat was spoken for. We bashed on regardless and hit up Restaurant Jezebel’s stand. Amazingly, or not, considering he is always on the grill at his restaurant, owner Parind Vora was actually manning the grill in the rain. Talk about commitment. His attention to detail and quality control paid off, as the chicken and vegetable skewers I had were the best meal I have ever had at ACL Festival.
In terms of clothing options, it seems tennis shoes with canvas are a bad idea, flipflops not as bad as one would think and hiking boots or galoshes coming in as the bet idea. The raingear preferred by diehard of a certain headliner? Clear Dave Mathews Band ponchos.
With the rain still coming down, some people are starting to leave, but more are entering than exiting. The beat (and rain) goes on.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Neon Indian
Low-profile Brooklyn/Austin band Neon Indian got lucky twice: Once when the Raveonnettes canceled their gig at the last minute due to visa problems,giving them a 1:15pm berth at the xBox360 stage, and once when they managed to avoid any real rain.
A bunch of the crowd, perhaps unaware that the Raveonnettes weren’tplaying, fled virtually the moment the synth-pop/rock quartet started up (an annoying high-pitched synth line surely didn’t help), but everyone who stayed got into the band’s frantic techno groove, which was a nice warmup for !!!, who had a set immediately afterward one stage over.
Extra fashion points to the band’s female keyboardist, who had her hair done up in purple with widow’s peak bangs — a riff, if memory serves, on the old British sci-fi show ‘UFO.’
In any case, band leader Alan Palomo sure won’t stay low-profile much longer.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: !!!
Who knew, pulsing afterhours club music would work so well on a rainy Saturday afternoon at the park?
A flock of 15-year-olds pushed their way to the front as the Brooklyn-based dance rock outfit kicked off their set, layering pulsing bass, funky guitar riffs and horn punches over an electro-conga groove. As a drizzle escalated into a downpour halfway through the group’s first song, lead singer Nic Offer seemed to revel in the deluge. He worked the crowd with a shoulder shake, hip swivel and furious falsetto. Throughout the set he tossed out ample obscenities, danced scandalously with a microphone and spent a good part of the set on the lawn in front of the stage, even jumping the barrier into the crowd at one point.
Meanwhile the band kept up the dense grooves, which smashed together elements of afro-pop, funk, punk and electronica. And the people kept moving.
Toward the end of their set Offer explained the band’s conundrum. “We’re like moody nightclub music and it’s like 2 in the afternoon. So you might want to close your eyes or something. There’s colors in your eyes.” Then the band shifted into a more downtempo groove with ambient keys while bubbles floated ethereally over the stage. Most likely it was less the tempo change than the fact that buzz band Grizzly Bear was getting ready to perform across the field that motivated it, but a minor exodus cleared the field as the band began to close their set.
Nonetheless, !!! drove it home, with frenetic percussion, blasts of horns and a beat that would not stop.
Jay Janner photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Grizzly Bear
It makes sense that it started raining heavily in the middle of Grizzly Bear’s much-anticipated set: On record, most of their baroquely-arranged songs sound like they’re being rained on. Live, the band goes for a sparer sound, so the rain and the rustle of ponchos being unfurled filled in the spaces.
And there were a lot of ponchos being unfurled — the Brooklyn indie darlings drew a big crowd, though it was clear that many of the people who showed up didn’t know the band’s music all that well; whoops of recognition rose up only for the best known songs (‘Knife,’ ‘Two Weeks,’ “On a Neck, On a Spit’). Then there was the guy standing next to me who explained to the person next to him that Grizzly Bear “are like the Pogues.” (I think not.)
As for the set itself, if you walked in a skeptic who thinks the band has some interesting production ideas but not enough good songs to hang their arrangements on (Daniel Rossen seems to have saved most of his best melodies for his other band, Department of Eagles), chances are you walked out a skeptic, too. The great songs were great — ‘Knife’ and, for sure, ‘Two Weeks,’ on which bassist Chris Taylor really impressed; some weird harmonies that I took for a production trick on the record came out of his mouth without any technical assistance — but too many of the tunes just stood there an did nothing, as did much of the crowd.
When a bunch of people left after the band played ‘Two Weeks’ — the big hit — was it because they had heard what they wanted to hear, or because the rain was starting to come down?
Jay Janner photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: No wet blankets here
Despite the morning rain, afternoon foot traffic and lines at the Republic Square shuttle (where I am told people can exchange tickets for wristband) have been undeterred. At 3 p.m., the lines heading down Barton Spings Road seemed as healthy as they are every year.
I have heard more than a few fest-goers mention that they prefer rain to blazing heat. I even heard one guy tell his friends, Whatever! It’s raining … stop being a (expletive).” Easy to say now, as we are not getting spit on much, but dark clouds do seem to be threatening.
The music has as much energy as ever, with the Sam Roberts band tearing up a blazing rock set at the small Wildflower tent, a venue that should have more than a few JazzFest veterans on hand when New Orleans piano legend Henry Butler takes the stage.
!!! (pronounced chick-chick-chick) also proved that you can have a dance party in on a rainy afternoon with their hyper-energized set.
Bon Iver and Levon Helm should fit the soggy but spirited mood well at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. respectively.
Update: At 3:41, the rain returns. Does not look terribly promising. Fans still flocking in nonetheless.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Felice Brothers
The multitudes were soggy but, well, multitudinous. “We’re not used to playing for so many people,” exclaimed one of the Felice Brothers, surveying the poncho-ed horde in front of the Dell Stage Saturday afternoon. “Holy (expletive), that’s a lot of people. Give yourselves a hand!”
Obviously, the acclaim drawn by the trio of brothers from upstage New York in their short but prolific recording career (four albums in four years) preceded them.
Onstage, they revealed a more muscular and assertive sound than their albums hint at. A fiddle and accordion scraped and sang in alternating harmony and counterpoint, while David Turbeville’s drums modulated from a rustle to a rumble, depending on the song.
A product of the same environment that bred the Band and Bob Dylan (and yes, those comparisons must get tiresome, but, guys, there are worse touchstones), the brothers borrow some of the same back-hollow imagery, with its antecedent roots of murder, strong drink and hardscrabble origins that Dylan and Co. have often employed. “Frankie’s Gun” (that rarity, a singalong murder ballad), “Murder By Mistletoe” and “Greatest Show On Earth” are all replete with images of violence, sometimes juxtaposed against flashes of natural beauty and human frailty. “Put a pistol in my hands if we’re going out to dance,” they sang at one point, epitomizing the tension that illuminates many of their songs.
Softer moments and onstage good humor balanced the bleakness of some of the folk-noir numbers. “Cooperstown” was a wonderful mood piece that followed the shade of Ty Cobb through a ghostly ballpark. And the band was perfectly capable of rendering a heartfelt Woody Guthrie-style paean to brotherhood called “Take This Bread” and following it shortly thereafter with a song introduction that ran thus: “This is a song about weird sex in the back of a limousine. A big, white limousine.” Take that, Woody.
Jay Janner photo
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Rain greets ACL fans
The much-anticipated rain greeted undeterred ACL goers Saturday morning. Fans at the west entrance got their afternoon off to a rocking start as the Henry Clay People finished up their set with a high-energy, nearly spot-on cover of T. Rex’s”Bang a Gong (Get It On)” on the Xbox 360 stage.
Nearby on the AMD stage the Virgins turned a set of bouncy, shiny dance rock. (The band is from New York, but from their music you’d swear they were from East London). Lead singer (and former model) Donald Cumming struck a few Jagger-esque poses during the band’s song “She’s Expensive.”
The festival grounds were surprisingly clean; most of the main areas were free of litter as I made my way around this morning. Beer vendors looked forlornly at the teeming masses streaming past them, more interested in a chicken cone than a cold one. The rain slowed to a polite drizzle for the Mimicking Birds on the Austin Ventures stage. The band’s moody indie rock mirrored the gray skies over Zilker Park, but was a little too gloomy for me.
The swampy, bluesy sounds of Albeta Cross drew me across the park to the Livestrong stage. The band has a Neil Young, folk-rock feel with powerful drums and heavy bass riffs. The band kept a sizeable crowd gathered even as the rain picked up around 1 p.m. and finished up their set with a song titled “ATX,” a nod to the city where the band spent three months recording their latest album. Alberta Cross’ gritty, plodding Southern rock was the perfect soundtrack for an overcast, rainy morning at the festival.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Free compliments
Does the gray, drizzly weather today have you down? Have you got the “it’s the first properly rainy Austin City Limits Music Festival and I have no poncho” blues? Do the overcast skies have you feeling more Elliott Smith than Airborne Toxic Event?
Then Cedar Park High School students Garren Gibson and Evan Lafosse, both 16, have just the ticket for you. As part of a community involvement project for a leadership class, the pair have had the bright idea to position themselves outside the main entrance to the festival and issue “free compliments” to passerby.
“Nice shades! Hey, I really like those shorts! Totally dig your style,” said Lafosse to a smiling festivalgoer.
Gibson and Lafosse started at around noon. They chose to launch their project at the festival but have plans to do it again in other locations.
“We just want to make people’s day generally brighter,” said Gibson. “There’s so many people in the community who could use just a little pick-me-up, so we’re out here to make people feel better. It looks like we picked a good day for it.”
And so far, the reactions from festivalgoers seem chipper, as the two have become a popular subject for pictures.
“Some people take it different ways, but normally they love it,” said Lafosse.
Patrick Caldwell photo
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Deer Tick
Like fellow Rhode Islanders the Low Anthem, Deer Tick are part of Bob Dylan’s family tree, so much so that at times during their Saturday morning set, they seemed to be direct descendants of the Hawks, with drummer Dennis Ryan trading verses with lead singer/guitarist John McCauley, who was in full rock-star mode, donning oversized white sunglasses, drinking a 24-oujnce can of Lonestar and commenting on how the 11:45 set was the earliest he had been out of bed in a long while.
The set started strong, with songs culled mostly from their most recent album, “Born on Flag Day.” Opener “Easy” kicked off with big chords; McCauley’s nasally, half-asleep voice gave some character to choppy ballads “Little White Lies” and “Houston, TX.” A pumped-up cover of Lightning Hopkins’ “Shotgun Blues” was a highlight, but the band lost steam toward the end of the set as other members of the band took the lead and a cover of “La Bamba” fell flat.
Jay Janner photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Tonight's Live at Seaholm lineup announced
The mystery has been solved.
Live at Seaholm organizers have announced tonight’s music lineup. Check it out:
Moonlight Towers: 9:30 to 10:30 p.m.
Solid Gold: 10:50 p.m. to 12:05 a.m.
DJ Reflex: 12:15 to 1:30 a.m., then 1:30 a.m. to ??? in the VIP area
Gates — located at Third Street and West Avenue — open at 8 p.m. and only folks with wristbands will be allowed in until 9 p.m., when walk-ups will be admitted if there’s still room. Wristbands from Friday night can be used again this evening.
The party is free. Enjoy!
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Let it rain, let it rain
Cheers greeted the first downpour of the day, at 2 p.m. just as !!! (ironically, the band whose name looks most like raindrops) took the Livestrong stage. The ACL audience, which has endured 108 heat and dust storms in the past, is not a bunch of wimps. The attitude early on is “bring on the wet stuff!”
We’ll see if they’re still thinking that way tonight.
By the way, the initial downpour lasted only 10 minutes.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Such a deal: $2.50 ponchos on Barton Springs Road
Kimberley Weaver of Texas Coolers was selling packs of two rain ponchos for $5 at her stand next to Chuy’s. Weaver cleaned out the Dollar Tree for her stock.
Weaver was in a good mood considering that she lost five hours of business yesterday when police cracked down on vendors who didn’t have the required temporary use permit. She received the citation at 11 a.m. and sent an employee to the Texas One building for the right paperwork. After waiting for five hours and paying the $50 fee, Weaver’s employee was back and they were open for business at just after 4 p.m.
Meanwhile, the drizzling rain has not hurt the secondary ticket market, as scalpers were getting $150 for an $80 one-day ticket.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
