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ACL 2010: Friday
October 9, 2010
ACL 2010 review: Phish
I’m not mathematician, but working the calculus in my head Friday night, I figured there’s probably never been an ACL headliner with so few tunes recognizable by a majority of festival patrons. However, there are a massive number of people who know all of the Phish lyrics.
All of which is to say, Phish is not a band for everyone — and, sadly, many will never give them a chance due to judgments of or aversions to the band’s style and its fans — but those who do appreciate the musicality and sense of joy the band exudes were undoubtedly thrilled by the band’s performance at Zilker.
The last time the quartet from Vermont played a live gig in Austin was 1999. They were nearing the end of an amazing run, closing out the millennium as the godfathers of the jam band scene. They had grown a massive following and were selling out shows of all sizes from coast to coast. They were also running out of gas. Whether it was the weight of being the musical Moses for a generation of wandering Phish heads, collaborative issues as a band or personal demons and desires, the two decades of playing together had taken its toll. The band went on hiatus.
After a false re-start earlier in the decade, the band is finally back in full swing following a tour in 2009, and their first visit to Austin in 11 years proved that the time off was a good thing.
The band took the stage looking business-like in dark slacks and shirts, excepting drummer John Fishman, robed in his trademark muumu-style dress, and ripped into a tight “Down With Disease.” The song was tight and crisp, but not in a workmanlike manner. It was a polish that comes from rehearsal and commitment and rejuvenation. The band seemed just as happy to be on stage as the crowd did. And, interestingly, for a band with little left to prove, they did seem to be on a mission of sorts. They had come out the other side, from whatever it was that nagged at them and required their attention for the last decade, and were prepared to blow doors. It was one of many “Clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose” type of moments that would set the tone for the two hour set.
Maybe as a nod to a few fans lingering to get their first taste of Phish, the band used their second tune to play a cover of Talking Heads’ “Cities.” Along with the Velvet Underground’s “Rock and Roll,” it would be one of several covers.
A nod to their eclectic nature and that of the festival, the band jammed a country-inflected “Possum” that had Trey Anastasio’s guitar dripping with Texas twang, as the band seemed to have a blast with a song that is decades old. That hoedown jam gave way to a super funky “Wolfman’s Brother” that synthesized blues, funk, rock and jazz to the delight of a crowd that may have been smaller than a usual headliner’s crowd but was having the fun of 150 thousand people.
Rewarding those who likely had not seen the band in ages while offering accessible tunes for first timers, Phish played a strong, solid set of (mostly older) fan favorites that spanned 25 years. There were few surprises, but almost no weak moments in a set that featured extended jamming in all of the right places and highlighted the musical strength of each member.
Phish’s improvisation and communication on stage, as well as their relationship to the music, was all buoyed and enlivened by the band’s spirit of gratitude that was reciprocated by the audience. A lot has changed for the band and its fans since 1999, but Friday night was the best type of reunion, fueled not my tired nostalgia and rote ritual but by a true spirit of joy. Many will scoff at the band or its fans, and dismiss the music as noodling-you-can-twirl-to, but those who were into Friday seemed like they could care less what the detractors had to say.
(The band has rmade the show available on CD and as CD-quality Apple Lossless, FLAC, and MP3 downloads, as well as higher than CD quality FLAC-HD at LivePhish.com.)
Phish Austin City Limits set list, October 8, 2010
1.Down with Disease
2. Cities
3. Possum
4. Wolfman’s Brother
5. Chalk Dust Torture
6. Rock and Roll
7. 2001
8. Backwards Down the Number Line
9. Harry Hood
10. Light
11. Suzy Greenberg
12. You Enjoy Myself
Encore: Cavern, First Tube
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ACL 2010 review: the Strokes
It was tough to go within five blocks of Stubb’s Wednesday night without overhearing the grumblings of a disgruntled Strokes fan. After everybody’s favorite New York City rock and roll revivalists blew through a 45-minute-or-so set of material spanning their three albums — but only after taking the stage sans opening act more than 2 hours after doors opened — even many of the quintet’s most devout fans seemed a little perturbed.
Of course, the Strokes have always had a lightning-quick approach to their live show, rarely playing a gig over an hour. But even the snappiest, best-delivered, most timelessly catchy nuggets of garage rock can be disappointing when you’ve dropped $65 for less than an hour’s entertainment.
So it was understandable to walk into the Strokes’ Friday night set with a reservation or two — but, mercifully, a headlining set at a major festival where the audience has already spent all day devouring music carries different expectations. So the Strokes’ set — yes, short at just under an hour, and like all of the band’s performances this year a greatest-hits run-through with no new music — needed to be less a mind-shattering individual show and more a fun culmination of the opening day of the Austin City Limits Music Festival. And by that rubric, singer Julian Casablancas and the boys succeeded.
Waltzing onto the stage looking every bit the all-too-imitable picture of New York cool, clad in skinny jeans and sunglasses (“I can’t see (expletive) because like an (expletive) I wear sunglasses at night”), Casablancas immediately grabbed the microphone to launch into the properly anthemic “Is This It.” It was an apropos choice for an opener, as the title and debut track off the album that would endear the Strokes to a generation of music fans with its tightly coiled grooves and sly lyricism.
Backed by an elaborate and impressive LED display (which most enjoyably mimicked “Space Invaders” gameplay during the nostalgic “Someday”), Casablancas preceded to grip that microphone for dear life for most of the rest of the show. He ripped through fan favorites culled from all three Strokes records with an emphasis on “Is This It,” interspersed with glib self-deprecating banter (“Money can’t buy you love, but it can help find you love. Now that I have money girls are coming out of the woodwork.”)
The unrushed note-perfect drumming of Fabrizio Moretti and memorable guitar solos from Nick Valensi further enriched a set that found the Strokes reasonably focused, from the giddy heights of “Someday” to “Room On Fire” deep cut “Under Control,” as close as anything the Strokes have ever recorded to a ballad. After spurning the quaint notion of an encore (“We know we’re supposed to go off-stage and do a fake encore but (expletive) that, we’re just going to keep playing,” said Casablancas) the band grew looser and more enjoyable still, ending with a buoyant send-off in “Take It or Leave It.”
As engaged — and quite possibly moreso — than the band was its audience, a massive throng that cathartically clapped along on “Reptilia” and crooned out every last note on “Last Nite.” If anybody needed any evidence that the Strokes indeed left a genuine legacy with “Is This It,” that they recorded the perfect high school music to drink to, to fall into and out of love to, to chill out with in your parents’ basement, it was all over the crowd. Nothing like seeing an audience rich with high schoolers, some quite tipsy, who may well have been in the second grade when “Is This It” was first released (for people of a certain age, this is a scary thought) to confirm what I’d long suspected: all those music critics who called “Is This It” timeless nine years ago were pretty spot-on.
Set list Is This It Hard to Explain You Only Live Once Someday Under Control Juicebox Trying Your Luck Evening Sun Reptilia Last Nite New York City Cops
Encore (of sorts) Vision of Division Between Love & Hate Take It Or Leave It
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ACL 2010 review: the Black Keys
When the garage blues duo the Black Keys last played the Austin City Limits Music Festival in 2008, on the heels of the release of the Danger Mouse-produced fifth album “Attack and Release,” they played lead single “Strange Times” with clockwork precision. It was an almost perfect reproduction of the studio version of the hard-charging gem.
Two years later, when they again unleashed “Strange Times” on the ACL Fest crowd, as the second song in their massively anticipated and attended afternoon slot at the AMD stage, the sound was different — sloppier, faster and a whole lot more fun. It was only the second in a thirteen-song set, following the title track of second album “Thickfreakness.”
Which proves that while the Black Keys may be smack-dab in the middle of blowing up — “Tighten Up,” off this year’s “Brothers,” is nearly inescapable and the album itself is the duo’s best-selling yet — they’re not letting that success go to their head. Guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney are still able to keep it raw and real when called for, which is nearly all the time, a fact appreciated at the AMD stage as the duo played a too-early set for an appreciative crowd.
Auerbach can still bring the growl like few contemporary rock vocalists, roaring on “Your Touch,” a highlight off fourth album “Magic Potion.” But he’s growing as a singer all the time — just check out those highs he hits on “Everlasting Light,” an earner of many a mid-afternoon head-bob in Zilker Park. Looking svelte and recently beard-trimmed, he cut an equally impressive figure as a guitarist, cutting loose in a controlled fury on closer “I Got Mine.” It would have been easy and understandable for the Black Keys to pull their whole set from “Brothers,” but the occasional foray into deep cuts from albums past was a pleasant surprise for the band’s longtime fans.
And Patrick Carney remains, as always, a rhythmic hurricane, given to losing his glasses no more than three songs into any given show, disappearing into a flurry of limbs on “Tighten Up” — which had much the same effect on the audience, which buzzed with gratitude when Auerbach whistled its first few notes.
As ever, the Keys remain a meat-and-potatoes band, more skill than sizzle, and though they generate a tremendous amount of noise and muscle for two players — well, generally; they were occasionally joined by a keyboard player and bassist for their ACL Fest set — there can be periodic moments of flatness. But under a toasty October sun, their summer-drenched electric blues-rock — and they’re one of the few bands that’s an insult to neither genre — was just what the afternoon called for.
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ACL 2010 Review: the Soft Pack
You have to wonder if Los Angeles quartet the Soft Pack ever consider hanging up their guitars from November through February or so, so quintessentially are they the perfect summer band.
There’s little — okay, nothing — unique in the Soft Pack’s modus operandi. They specialize in spare garage rock with a dash of surf rock vibes, like a more polite and slightly more hi-fi version of fellow ACL performers the Black Lips. But Matty McLoughlin’s perfect guitar licks and Matt Lamkin’s just-disaffected-enough voice hit all the right notes. The Soft Pack aren’t revolutionary, but they sounded tight and — refreshingly — genuinely excited for their 1 p.m. Austin City Limits Music Festival show.
Not that there was much in the way of banter or antics to back that up — Lamkin and company spent much of the show surprisingly stationary. Only McLoughlin moved much on-stage, and the band rarely spoke. But spurning showiness doesn’t necessarily mean spurning the show — the band’s enthusiasm was evident in the music, with a set list drawn primarily from the band’s self-titled debut, released earlier this year on Kemado Records.
Single “Answer to Yourself” galloped along with verve, while drummer Brian Hill’s clockwork beat kept the pace for a set that rocketed along — they’d played five songs by 13 minutes into the show. Hill promoted foot taps from the good-times anthem “C’Mon” to the stripped-down “Extinction.” And what Texan wouldn’t enjoy “Pull Out,” a satirical call for California seccession that doesn’t actually contain the word “California,” making it very easy to repurpose for the Lone Star State (“Draw your own map/Print your own cash/Put up the fence,” croons Lamkin in the song, which could be an anthem for reactionary Texans everywhere if it weren’t so cheeky).
Straightforward rock? Unquestionably. But also a fair sight more endearing than you’d think. And while the Soft Pack may not be the most showy band in the festival, they walked off after 50 minutes covered in sweat — proof positive that they were working hard up there.
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October 8, 2010
ACL scene report: Vampire Weekend
When I interviewed Chris Baio and Chris Thompson, collectively the rhythm section from Vampire Weekend, in the afternoon before their Friday gig at ACL Fest, Thompson remarked that with a catchy melody it’s possible to make highly intelligent music widely accessible.
I thought about this as the band launched into its 7 p.m. set with a couple ridiculously catchy pop tunes from their 2010 release “Contra.” The songs were “Holiday” and “White Sky,” and as the sun dipped behind the horizon and beach balls bounced easily over the crowd of thousands, the African-influenced cascading guitars and vocal hooks felt absolutely, beautifully in place — even if I don’t fully understand the lyrics.
The crowd at the Vampire Weekend set was a mixed group, predictably dominated by a collegiate set but also consisting of a surprising amount of 30-somethings with small children balanced on their shoulders. Crafted by unapologetically preppy East Coast intellectuals, Vampire Weekend’s music comes off as clean-cut and charming. Civilized. Which also, I suppose, makes it pretty kid-friendly.
The set itself was a mixture of tunes from the band’s two albums, well-executed and generally well-received. Crowd-pleasers included an amped up version of “California English,” a rollicking version of “Cousins” enhanced by strobe-like light flashes, and the cerebral yet danceable “Oxford Comma.” Less popular was Ezra Koenig’s soft falsetto croon on the new album’s slow-paced (sort of) title track “I Think Ur a Contra,” which inspired more people to chat amongst themselves than to pull out the lighter function on the ACL Fest smartphone app.
After a spirited rendition of “Horchata,” Koenig remarked that he always loves to play that song in a place that used to be part of Mexico — and before closing the set, he remarked that the band would not be back in Texas for a while as they plan to head back into the studio. “But I couldn’t think of a better way to wrap up our year than here at Austin City Limits,” he said. Then the band played a fine rendition of “Walcott” to a crowd that split between diehard fans and deserters rushing to catch Phish or the Strokes.
Overall, it was a solid set. Fun. But coming immediately after a mind-blowing performance by Nortec Collective, it felt a little anti-climatic.
Jack Plunkett photo / ASSOCIATED PRESS
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ACL review: Nortec Collective
Nortec Collective’s Bostitch and Fussible presided over the Tijuana-based group’s electrifying evening set standing in front an elaborate audio control center that wouldn’t look at all out of place in Bruce Wayne’s basement.
Working the monstrous sound machine remotely with iPads in hand, the two producers pummeled the Clear tent crowd with the kind of wicked rhythmic pulsations that sneak into the body somewhere near the base of the spine and proceed to demand full physical submission. Bootys must shake. Hands must be raised. An entire crowd must jump, jump, jump in unison.
It’s that kind of party.
The term “Nortec” references a fusion of Northern Mexican Norteno music and techo, and Bostitch and Fussible recruit top-notch players of the traditional form to tour with the group. Consequently, while the electro beats drove the grooves forward, furious trumpet flourishes traded the spotlight with manic acoustic guitar strums, a wayward tuba and the meanest squeezebox you’ll ever meet. It’s mad scientist conjunto, traditional border sounds flipped, reprocessed, and reborn as something dark and edgy, raw and irresistible.
The audience, a large portion of which had never heard of the group, was rapt, crowding the front of the stage, spilling out of the tent. No one was sitting down. No one was standing still. The sun was still out while the group threw down, but the energy and reckless abandon of the crowd created the vibe of a happening night spot an hour past closing time. It was that kind of party.
Photo: Nortec Collective’s Fussible shows off the custom designed iPad app he uses to power the band’s set. Jenni Jones AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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ACL review: Girls
To paraphrase the ground-breaking American philosopher Mr. T, I pity the fool who has to follow the Mountain Goats at ACL.
Girls (the San Francisco band, not the gender) had to follow the Mountain Goats by about 30 seconds, their set starting on the Zinc stage directly after the Mountain Goats completed theirs. And while it was tough not to admire the sheers ’80s-ness of singer/guitarist Christopher Owens’ sideburn-free hair cut (New Order’s Bernard Sumner would be proud) it was hard for them to gain all that much traction.
Plagued with sound problems at the top of the set, their civilized indie pop felt a dicey fit with an afternoon festival slot. Owens strummed his Rickenbacker at roughly nipple-height on his chest, looking (and often sounding) for all the world like a fellow in a Smiths cover band. Their energy was low, which forced their detailed songcraft into the background. Or perhaps they are like that all the time. Either way, All but the most devout fans looked a little bored and it was tough to blame them. Not the best set of the day.
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ACL review: The Mountain Goats
The Budweiser stage at the Austin City Limits Music Festival is the biggest stage I’ve ever seen Mountain Goats singer/songwriter/ embodiment John Darnielle on. It might be the biggest stage anyone in the audience had ever seen him on.
But if he’s played a lot of those European festivals, it’s probably not the biggest one he’s ever been on, which might be why he and his rhythm section straight-up owned it Friday afternoon.
Darnielle is well known as a stellar lyricist, his songs profoundly specific vignettes, usually detailing victims rather than victors, awkward situations rather than assertive ones. But there is a feeling of victory in every line, largely stemming from his amazing vocal yelp, a furious assertion of the triumph of simply getting through the day in difficult circumstances. Aas he says in “This Year,” “I will make it through this year if it kills me.”
Decked out in a green sports jacket and black pants while barefoot, strumming (almost hammering) an acoustic guitar here and playing a keyboard there, Darnielle was joined by longtime bassist Peter Hughes and Superchuck drummer Jon Wurster, both of whom lent his songs a vibrant bounce, Hughes’s melodic bass lines often doing the driving. Tunes such as “Psalms 40:2” (“Left that place in ruin/ drunk on the Spirit and high on fumes”) and “Your Belgian Things” (“The men were here to get your Belgian things/ They’ll spend the whole day hauling them downstairs/ I shot a roll of thirty-two exposures/ My camera groans beneath the weight it bears”) bounced and rolled with Darnielle’s energy.
He engaged the crowd beautifully, responding to requests (“Dude who is yelling ‘Going to Georgia,’ I have heard your cry”) trying to clarify who he was to those who were there for the other bands and noting that one solo tune he hadn’t played for awhile and might flame out on. (The song was “Source Decay,” which opened with “Once a week/ I make the drive/ two hours east/ to check the Austin post office box,” he did flame out and was bailed out by the devout in the crowd who shouted the words at him until he got the thread back.) He acted like the masses were simply some pals in a club.
By the time he closed with “House Guest,” jumping around, singing sans guitar to nothing but the rhythm section, well, if there were people in the crowd who didn’t feel like one of those pals, you could make a pretty good case that they were missing a bone in their souls.
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ACL review: Sonic Youth
Nobody could accuse Sonic Youth of resting on their laurels, especially not after their latest release, “The Eternal,” which marked their debut on indie label Matador. The band opened their set on the Honda stage with one of the best numbers from the enthralling 2009 album, “Sacred Trickster,” and played the full hour with the emotional force of a brand-new band touring behind their first album and trying to make a memorable impact. At the same time, they possessed the easy assurance of veterans approaching the three-decade mark.
With second bassist Mark Ibold (of Pavement fame) in the lineup, and drummer Steve Shelley providing propulsive yet surprisingly nuanced pummeling, Sonic Youth had more thrust than ever, and guitarists Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore and bassist-guitarist Kim Gordon were free to explore vast fields of dissonance with no fear of losing direction. Moore smooshed his guitar into the top of an amplifier, leaning against it until it apparently surrendered, and a tech brought him another. He and Gordon tortured their strings with what looked like files, suitable for use in a prison break, and Ranaldo bowed his guitar, sending swaths of strange harmonics into the night air.
On another terrific new song, “Antenna,” the rhythm guitar had a melodic, metallic clang, and Moore ground away at his whammy bar while the rhythms grew progressively more violent. “Anti-Orgasm,” also from “The Eternal”, showed the group’s sense of humor, with a vocal chorus of grunts that later recurred as something more martial than sensual, and menacing sheets of dissonance that grew more vast, but didn’t reach for any kind of climax. Throughout, Ranaldo, Moore and Gordon sculpted noise into fascinating forms, creating a fascinating morass from which vocals seemed to emerge almost by accident before getting subsumed again.
At the start of the set, the back of the crowd was full of people texting, consulting programs, gossiping and debating where to go next, but by the time the sun had set, that contingent had melted away, and the audience pressing in toward the stage was held rapt by the ever-shifting aural textures. When the beautiful noise finally stopped and the band said good night, people stood looking a little dazed before turning to find their way in the darkness.
Jay Janner photo / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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ACL review: Robert Randolph
The best set I will ever see at ACL Fest was Robert Randolph and the Family Band in year one, 2002. I will never again feel that way during a set at Zilker, just as I knew, ten minutes into a Bob Marley and the Wailers show in 1979, that I would never see a better concert.
If anything, I know my level of ecstasy.
Friday night, Robert Randolph reminded me what is so special about his sacred steel sound. But only for about 20 minutes. I don’t know the name of the instrumental he played at the midpoint, but it levitated the crowd.
It brought back memories of Sept. 2002, when a young girl of about 13 danced by herself behind the drummer. When Charles Attal, who books ACL, stood with his parents, who looked out over the sea of delirious music fans and knew their boy, this former guitarist of Clown Meat, had found his calling.
The problem with Randolph, the Carmelo Anthony of rock, is that he tries to expand his appeal, when playing it Pentecostal is really what he is. The funk stuff, the jammy stuff, it’s allright, but really nothing special. But when he plugs into his soul, music takes flight. At times, he was other-worldly..
I don’t think I’ll have a better moment all weekend. No, I’m sure of it.
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ACL review: Qbeta
A hot and fruitless trudge around the park in a vain quest for ice coffee put me in a foul mood, but Sicilian ensemble Qbeta immediately yanked me out of it. Led by singer-guitarist Peppe Cubeta, the eight-piece Sicilian ensemble was like a quadruple shot of espresso. They had even the chair people in the Clear 4G tent up on their feet and dancing.
Backed by a three-piece horn section, a phenomenal rhythm section, and wildly versatile guitarist Seby Forte, Cubeta radiated charisma, although the goateed singer in his black fedora looked more like a philosophy professor than a rock star, and was equally likely to emote like an opera baritone, arms stretched skyward, as to unspool a rapid-fire dancehall-reggae rap, or croon gently. Qbeta’s style, definable only by the inadequate word “eclectic,” crazily mixes traditional Mediterranean influences, ska, flamenco, funk, mambo, and a host of other genres, segueing seamlessly between them or recombining them, mostly at a rapid pace, although the group never maintained a single tempo for very long. They executed tricky dynamic shifts effortlessly, keeping fans engaged as they tried to find the right dance moves to match a new polyrhythm.
While Cubeta easily claimed the spotlight, all the band members were fascinating to watch. Forti threw himself around his part of the stage as he played, and bassist Santi Romano, grinning happily, must have made eye contact with almost every single person in the immediate vicinity of the stage. Gray-haired drummer Salvo Cubeta (brother of Peppe) was Gene Krupa one minute, and the next he and Romano were locking in a ska-funk rhythm that made you think people would start stage-diving as if they were at a Fishbone concert. When the band members started jumping up and down, nobody had to tell the crowd to do likewise.
Qbeta has terrific songs, too, including the irresistible mambo-and-then-some “Voglio Vivere Cosi” and metal-ska “Ognittanto.” The crowd gave them a rapturous round of applause as they ended their performance with a group bow at the front of the stage, and every band member smiled ear to ear.
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ACL review: Angus and Julia Stone
Sometimes in the festival business, like in the restaurant business, everything depends on location, location, location. The Australian brother-and-sister duo of Angus and Julia Stone might have had occasion to reflect on that maxim during their set at the Austin Ventures Stage on Friday afternoon.
With an acoustic-based songwriting style that might be described as “pastoral” (think “Harvest”-era Neil Young, or Fairport Convention), the duo has an undeniably al fresco appeal. Unfortunately, sound-bleed from the surrounding big stages made sonic goulash out of some of their quieter material.
Which was a shame, because in their native country, the Sydney natives are bonafide Big Deals. Angus, the possessor of a high and supple tenor voice, merges eerily well vocally with his sister. For her part, Julia, whose own voice has echoes of Sandy Denny and Norah Jones, hopped from instrument to instrument onstage, eventually taking star turns on acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica, trumpet and keyboards. She particularly shone during the quirkily listenable “Private Lawns” and the single “Big Jet Plane.”
It was the kind of set where a mention of getting wasted got a predictable rise from the crowd (“Yay!”), whereupon Julia elaborated that she meant “wasted on love” (“Boo!”)—relaxing and melodic, without being cloying.
Possibly out of self-defense, the duo plugged in and turned up during the last third of their set, bringing many of the seated listeners to their feet for an edgy turn on “Yellow Brick Road,” a convoluted, high-octane Crazy-Horse-style instrumental and the set-closing rocker “And the Boys.”
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ACL scene report: Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson on opening the Austin City Limits Music Festival every year:
“They said, ‘(Asleep at the Wheel) did the first ‘Austin City Limits’ (television) show, so you’re gonna play the first slot every year.’ And I went,‘Deal.’ They like it, and I like it. (Normally at a festival), you want to be on when the lights are out, but this is different. What’s cool about it is that people are fresh, and they ain’t heard a note of music. They’re like, ‘All right! We’re here, and the grass is green and there’s no mud!’”
“The tradition of it is really touching to me. I’ve been on the ‘Austin City Limits’ (television) show 10, 11, 12 times. The festival is not as rootsy as I’d like, but I ain’t booking it. They draw the crowds. They’re doing something right, is all I know. People here are appreciative music fans.”
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Four Seasons and KUT raise thousands for cancer
Hundreds showed up early this morning to see Spoon and Robert Randolph rock the lawn at the Four Seasons. (Read Michael Corcoran’s report here.)
I spoke with Kerri Holden, director of public relations at the luxury hotel, who told me that the event raise $4,625 for the Seton Shivers Cancer Center. Holden said the total quadrupled what they raised in 2008 over two days.
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Video: Live ACL updates at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Austin360.com has 20+ staffers working to bring you the most comprehensive ACL Fest coverage on the web. Stop by Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 5:30 p.m. for a live video update from Zilker Park featuring previews, reviews and live interviews with artists.
Get a (low-budget) sneak peek here. (With stick figures!!!)
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Surprise guests, pretty flowers, PB&J and lots of people
Even though their trippy, reflective silver masks and thumping beats are definitely more fit for a late-night show at a club, Swedish band Miike Snow (yes, it’s a band of dudes and none is named Miike) had what looked to be the biggest crowd of the early afternoon pretty lathered up at the Honda stage. It was the biggest, most excited crowd I’ve seen so early on a Friday.
It was my first time to view an ACL set from the stage, and I say that only to mention that seeing the mass of fans bobbing, swaying and singing along is really a cool site. Obviously the sound is better down in front of the stage, though the claustrophobia-inducing moments are much fewer behind the speakers. The view from the back did allow me a glimpse of Ezra Koenig before the Vampire Weekend frontman took the stage with Miike Snow for a rousing, upbeat rendition of VW’s “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance.”
Speaking of the massive crowd, I’ve never seen so many people at the festival so early on a Friday afternoon. I don’t know whether it can be chalked up to the early acts, the less-than-brutal temperatures or the extra tickets sold this year, but I believe it’s likely a combination of temps and tickets.
Leaving Miike Snow, I checked out some of Girls at the Zync stage. Unfortunately for Girls (all dudes, by the way), it seems the whole park was over at Miike Snow. I will give a tip of the cap to the guys from Girls for the coolest stage accoutrements. The drummer and keyboard players both featured beautiful bunches of roses wrapped around their mic stands.
What’s with the PB&J, you ask? A friend offered me a bite of a peanut butter and jelly Larabar. Maybe I was just starving … but it was damn good.
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ACL review: Pat Green
Although the unhip collegiate country rock showboat, might seem out of place in this Pitchfork-approved lineup, there might not have been a second (and ninth) year of ACL if Pat Green didn’t play the first one. Back in 2002, Green was a phenomenon, with his first-night co-headlining slot played out to a sea of about 20,000 people who had come mainly to see him.
Friday afternoon at Zilker, Green played one of the two biggest stages to a crowd of only about 5,000, while the Black Keys’ audience was the ninth biggest city in Texas for about an hour. But Green, who has been on more labels than the words “dry clean only,” set out to prove he’s still vital and succeeded somewhat, though such songs as “Footsteps of Our Fathers” and “Take Me Out To a Dancehall” sounded a bit corny in this setting. His show was 95% Mellancamp and 5% Merle.
The set-ending cover of U2’s “With Or Without Me” was a crowd-pleaser, but none of Green’s originals could match the energy. Once a headliner, Green is currently relegated to the “something for everybody” file.
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ACL scene report: Play ball!
In previous years, when the fest happened in September, the massive tent in the middle of the festival grounds has always been swarmed on weekends with many seeking relief from the heat and many more looking to catch a little football. You could always count on seeing a load of SEC fans hanging out on Saturday trying to catch a glimpse of their Bulldogs or Tigers, with Sundays reserved for pro football, usually Cowboys fans.
This year, with the festival happening in the second week of October, there is a new game turning heads. Walking around the festival one notices a lot more Major League Baseball hats, specifically those representing teams in the playoffs, which started earlier in the week. I have to say I have never seen so many Texas Rangers hats in my life. Here is where I would accuse the folks I’ve seen today of being hardcore bandwagon-jumpers, but, keeping in the spirit of the festival, I’m in a kind-hearted mood. In addition to Rangers hats, I’ve seen a lot of Twins and Phillies hats. At 4 p.m., there were a handful of Phillies fans lingering around the TV tent in anticipation of the 5:07 p.m. first pitch in game two of the NLDS. It seems fitting to see America’s pasttime get some love in this pastoral setting. (Also, go Astros.)
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ACL scene report: No Phish phreakout ... yet
When it was announced that Vermont jam band Phish would be playing the fest, many assumed the park would be crawling with thousands of hippies, the south side of Zilker park would turn into a full-on Phish lot scene with drum circles and patchouli, and that mangy dogs would be bathing in Barton Springs.
Well, as of 3 p.m. this afternoon, the scene at the Budweiser stage on the east end of the park was as calm as it has been any other year. If you were so inclined, you could walk all the way up to the stage and camp out and wait for Trey and the gang.
All of which is not to say that there haven’t been a few more hippie sightings than in years past. I’ve seen a little more tied-dye and skirts fit for twirling than before, but certainly there has been no serious takeover by the phanatics.
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ACL review: Kings Go Forth
ACL has never been this hyped this early. At three in the afternoon, you had the Clear 4G tent packed in anticipation of Kings Go Forth, while Swedish techo-rockers Miike Snow had what seemed to be 30,000 kids jumping up and down to the beat.
Milwaukee’s nouveau soul band Kings Go Forth no longer has the element of surprise: folks are expecting them to blow the roof off. But the band’s weakness- fresh songwriting- became apparent four songs into the set when every blaxploitation film score had already been remined. KGF has been together less than three years and should beef up their reprtoire in the years to come.
It’s telling of the band that its conga player, Cecilio Negron Jr., proved to be its MVP. He kept the groove tight for 50 minutes. But on this afternoon, KGF was a band to sample and enjoy and move on. By the time they closed with a wild, dance-inducing “Wade In the Water,” a once-packed tent showed some bare spots.
Miike Snow had to be the first spectacular set of this year’s ACL, though it’s climax fizzled when the mechanical pulse of “Animal” cut out just as the crowd was about to lose its collective mind. Looking out at the crowd, however, they looked to be the headliners of the entire fest, not some afternoon delight.
Jay Janner photo / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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ACL scene report: New to the fest: Hope Market
Just to the west of the food vendors this year is a new addition to the fest, the Hope Farmers Market. The market, which runs on Sundays at the Pine Street Station in East Austin is part of the national non-profit group H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People Everywhere).
At this year’s fest, the market is split into two groups: food vendors and artists. All local, the food vendors include Salt + Time, Royal Indian Foods, Cafe Mundi and more. The artists area features vintage cowboy boots, t-shirts, bags, recycled personal products, art work and more.
I spoke with Hope Market manager Greg Esparza who said the idea of the booths is “tooffer a local and fresh option and give patrons of the fest the opportunity to support and learn more about local farmers and artists.”
Check out the fest’s newcomer each day until 8 p.m.
(Full disclosure: My girlfriend is part of the artist’s market at Hope.)
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ACL review: Chief
Los Angeles quartet Chief is a great band for a sunny afternoon — if you want to lie down and take a nap.
The group’s warm-up was promising. They showed a little personality by getting some of those obligatory “AUSTIN, TEXAS!!!!!!!” shouts out of the way while checking sound levels. Then they launched into a song, playing quite a few bars before coming to a halt and joking “Psyched you out! That was just our warm-up.”
The opening number “Mighty Proud” was fairly encouraging, too, with strong four-part harmonies and a Crosby Stills & Nash (but definitely no Young) vibe. However, most of the songs were in pretty much the same vein, no matter which of the two guitarists, Evan Koga and Danny Fujikawa, happened to be singing lead. Periodically, they ventured out of ’70s soft-rock territory into a chimey ’80s sound reminiscent of the Church, but the energy level never shifted.
A good cover song is usually a safe bet to liven things up, but Chief’s version of Springsteen’s “Atlantic City” was so anemic, they might as well have played something by Firefall or somebody else closer to their own safety zone. When they sped up the final verse, it was hard to tell if they were attempting to generate excitement, or had just realized the set was running long.
The vocal harmonies were pretty throughout, but when the four members sang over just guitar backing, the singers dragged a bit. The arrangements throughout lacked imagination, and the rhythm section was stolid, so by their last song, “Night and Day” (definitely not likely to be confused with the Cole Porter song), the effect was of complete stasis.
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ACL review: Those Darlins
Imagine the Dixie Chicks with death-dealing hangovers, attitude to burn and a serious Black Lips fetish and you have some idea of what Those Darlins brought to the table at the Austin Ventures Stage Friday afternoon.
Coming off a country-flavored debut last year, the Murfreesboro quintet (spearheaded by Kelley, Jessi and Nikki “Darlin”) has, over time, skewed closer to a punk/garage/Southern Rock aesthetic. Call it “Even Cowgurls Get the Blues.”
Shredding guitars and three-part harmonies might not seem like the most fruitful musical alliance, but the three frontwomen made the most of the juxtaposition, especially in the Patsy Cline-meets-Patti Smith rocker “Wild One,” and the countryesque train song “Cannonball Blues.”
Ribald, punky and firmly irreverent, the three Darlins put a distaff stamp on macho swagger and guitar machismo. It was a refreshing, fun and revitalizing change of gender roles that endeared them to both sexes.
With an array of new material (including their sassy new single “Night Jogger,” in which the girls ask mockingly, “What you runnin’ from?”), Those Darlins want to put a harder edge on the “girl group” equation. Southern women, Kelley, Jessi and Nikki are saying, will rise again.
Jay Janner photo / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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The wealthiest musician playing ACL is ...
… not Don Henley or any other member of the Eagles. It’s Jim Dolan, who owns the New York Knicks, Cablevision and Madison Square Garden- but not in that order. Dolan’s band JD and the Straight Shot play the BMI stage Sunday at 1:40 p.m.
Not surprisingly, there’s no mention of Dolan’s day job in the ACL program.
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ACL scene report: Code enforcement keeps eye on ACL vendors
Code enforcement officials said that as of Friday afternoon, they hadn’t found a single vendor operating without a permit near the Austin City Limits music festival.
For the second consecutive year, the city is cracking down on selling or setting up stages without permits along Barton Springs Road and other main streets near Zilker Park, where the festival is held. On Friday, every vendor approached by enforcement officials had the required permits, said Melissa Martinez, division manager for the city’s code compliance department. Last year, officials shut down a number of vendors who were operating without permits and issued one citation, Martinez said.
“This is our second year walking the perimeter, and it appears the educational messaging has worked. It appears the businesses have gotten the message,” Martinez said. “Compliance is our goal, and looks like we’re getting there.”
The compliance checks, which will continue through the weekend, are being conducted by the Public Assembly Code Enforcement team, Martinez said. The team is a consortium that includes officials from the city’s fire, police and code compliance departments and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and Texas Department of Public Safety.
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ACL scene report: Noon Friday at ACL
So it begins and let’s not kid ourselves: One should never underestimate the power of nice weather.
It’s the one thing in the ACL experience that nobody can control — not the bands, not the promoters, not the fine people selling straw cowboy hats. It can make or break an ACL experience.
Folks, if this is your first time at ACL, listen up: This is as nice as it has ever been. Temps in the 80s and clear skies beats torrential rain (last year) and blistering heat (pretty much every other year). This is a golden age, ladies and gents, Soak up the sun (safely, of course).
On the Honda stage, Givers rocked remarkably hard for folks awake at 11:45, while Two Tons of Steel delivered Texas honky tonk to a loyal gathering at the BMI stage. The latter’s proximity to big shade trees (along with the Austin Ventures stage) make it a prime spot for the “chair people,” who bolted in as soon as the gates opened at 11 to stake out their spots.
The retail area was doing a brisk trade in hats of all sorts as fans realized that the temps may be glorious, but the sky was cloudless and the sun wasn’t going anywhere.
Things can seem a little tense on the first day — many of the W3 security folks seem like they’re auditioning for something — but everyone always seems mellower by Saturday.
For Twitter fans, the hashtags seem to be #acl and #aclfestival .
One note from @texeyes :” if u ride Yellow Cab to fest they drop u off at Zilker Park Kiddie train station - short walk in”
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ACL scene report: tickets, parking
Three-day wristbands are going for $200 and they seem in abundance. Wonder how much of the 75,000 ticket sellout went to scalpers? A couple of fans were seen trying to unload single day tix for face value of $85.
Shady Grove and Baby A’s on Barton Springs Road are renting parking spaces for $30. But Chuy’s, which is about a block closer is charging $25.
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ACL review: Sahara Smith
“Precocious” is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but consider this: When the ACL Festival debuted in 2002, Sahara Smith was 12 years old. What a difference nine years (and a T-Bone Burnett-helmed debut album) make. Smith, a willowy 21-year-old singer/songwriter from the nearby town of Wimberley, was making her return To Austin after a summer opening shows for Raul Malo and promoting her own album, “Myth of the Heart.”
That exposure has paid dividends, to judge by her early-morning set on Friday at the Austin Ventures Stage. Those who have seen her hometown gigs before were privy to a more polished and confident performer than they have witnessed in the past. Getting a surprising punch out of her minimalist three-piece outfit (Jake Owens on guitar, Will Sexton on guitar and bass, and Mike Meadowns on a small trap kit), Smith was free to let her malleable, elastic voice slide between falsetto and lower registers, often in the same tune.
From the languid opener “Midnight Train” to the easy-rocking country groove of “Tin Man Town” to the erotic bluesy-rocker “The Real Thing” (with its inexplicably wonderful line, “Why don’t we drive all night and wake up in Laredo?”), Smith covered a lot of stylistic territory while threading the eight-song set together with seemingly cool ease. Juxtaposed against Owens’ spiky, crunchy electric guitar, Smith’s vocals sometimes seemed to float off into the air like sonic meringue (as in “Angel”), but she soon returned to earth. If she continues to mature as an artist at this rate, her future seems assured.
Updated to correct who Smith was opening for this summer.
Jay Janner photo / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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ACL review: JJ Grey and Mofro
My first truly musical moment at ACL — when I finally found where I needed to be — was a magical one.
JJ Grey and Mofro’s set had been marred somewhat from the sound bleed of rappers Vonnegut about 200 yards away, but when they launched into the slow-building Southern rock gem “Lochloosa,” they were the only band in Zilker Park. This North Florida band (augmented by Austinites Anthony Farrell on keyboards and Andrew Trube on bass) makes good records, but they don’t do justice to Grey’s passionately soulful voice.
The seven-piece band deserved a later slot than noon Friday, but then all the press they’ve been getting, including a big piece in New York Times and a segment on NPR, came after the times were set in stone.
Much of the set, such as “King Hummingbird” and new title track “Georgia Warhorse,” kinda bubbled under, but the Boys of Simmer blew the lid off on “Orange Blossoms,” which got the crowd of about 3,000 diehards and 2,000 curious dancing to a 60’s-flavored R&B sound. “The relentless groove of “Hide and Seek,” powered by drummer Anthony Cole’s right foot, made the band come off like a swamp-raised Neville Brothers.
A great start to a music festival which is a little more musical than the rest.
Bad news for Chair People, however. The line where chairs are prohibited in front of was easily 50 yards from the Budweiser stage.
Jay Janner photo / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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ACL scene report: Spoon at the Four Seasons
ACL Fest unoficially kicked off this morning with a decidely SXSW feel: two live radio shows open to the public featuring several of the official act: KUT live at the Four Seasons and KGSR live from Threadgill’s. Each charged a five dollar cover which went to the Seton Shivers Cancer Center.
Portland, Ore.’s Blind Pilot — a former guitar-drum duo fleshed out as a six-piece — sent out the perfect mellow vibe on the Four Seasons back lawn in front of a surprisingly smallish crowd of about 250. “Three Rounds and a Sound” was quite lovely, with a melody caressed by soft trumpet and mandolin.
Austin architect Winn Wittman was soaking it up on a morning in which he had headed off to work, heard opener Sahara Smith on KUT and ended up in the Four Seasons parking garage. “I heard Spoon was playing and it’s such a beautiful day,” said Wittman, who is bypassing ACL this year after attending in the past. “This is a great way to get a taste of ACL without battling the crowds.
By the time Spoon opened with “The Beast and Dragon Adored,” the crowd had grown considerably, but there was still room to stand about 30 yards from the group. Let’s see how close you can get this evening for the group’s official show.
Britt Daniel and the gang ended their three-song set with “I Summon You” and “Don’t You Evah.” A nice little sampler for a great cause.
“I’m meeting a client at two-thirty today” said Wittman, sipping a cocktail. “I hope this bloody Mary wears off by then.”
