Austin City Limits Festival: Band vs. Band

Tragically Hip vs. Ray LaMontagne, Nada Surf vs. TV on the Radio, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers vs. going home early

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

FRIDAY: Tragically Hip (7:45 p.m. Austin Ventures Stage) vs. Ray LaMontagne (7:30 p.m., Heineken Stage)

Tragically Hip: It's near the end of the first day of the fest and you're ready to rock, my friend. You've heard enough of that Nickel Creek/ Gomez/ Guster cutesy-pie stuff, and you want to have your skull caved all the way in. Sorry, this ain't Ozzfest. But Toronto's Tragically Hip will give you a dose of the hard stuff. Here's a band that has opened for the Rolling Stones and almost got an encore. Singer Gord Downie is a total weird bird, with the non sequitur poetry and herky-jerky moves, but the band just kicks it, especially drummer Johnny "J.T." Fay, the engine powering this barge of rough and tender songs, played out with dramatic flair. Or you can walk over and see the guy who was inspired by Stephen Stills. — Michael Corcoran

Ray LaMontagne: Look, everyone knows the Stephen Stills thing seems inexcusable, but (so the story goes) LaMontagne, a pretty introverted guy anyway, was working in a shoe factory in Lewiston, Maine, when Stills' "Treetop Flyer" woke him up on the clock radio, inspiring him to start writing songs. You try working in a shoe factory for a bit and see if even dull art doesn't seem like the Mona Lisa. While LaMontagne's album suffers from a case of the mumbles, he's a strangely hypnotic figure live: rail-thin, bearded, belting his folky songs like it's all that's keeping him alive. Which it might be. — Joe Gross

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SATURDAY: Nada Surf (3:30 p.m. AT&T Blue Room) vs. TV on the Radio (4 p.m., Austin Ventures Stage)

Nada Surf: 2002 was such a bad year for music that hundreds of critics were forced to overrate Beck's "Sea Change." But then Nada Surf did the unthinkable. Out of nowhere, the modern rock one-hit wonder (Remember 1996's "Popular"? No? Good.) released the funny valentine "Let Go," featuring the song of the year, "Inside of Love." Live, the New York trio has about as much controlled fun as a sober Replacements, carrying themselves with barely an ounce of pretension and spreading the spotlight around. Singer Matthew Caws has evolved into quite a writer of sturdy pop hooks. Let's hear it for second chances. — Michael Corcoran

TV on the Radio: Very easily one of the most intriguing bands in America (not a claim anyone could make about Nada Surf, even then), TV on the Radio's "Return to Cookie Mountain" is one of the year's most intriguing albums, a smart, visionary mix of new-wave melodicism (David Bowie shows up on one cut), hip-hop beat-mining and head-spinning guitars. Just check out the opening cut, "I Was a Lover," for a riveting mix of all three. Live, the emotions get bigger, the melodies trippier, the rhythms more defined. A can't-miss. — Joe Gross

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SUNDAY: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (8:30 p.m. AT&T Stage) vs. going home early

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: The last set of the ACL Fest is like the final game of the season for a team that missed the playoffs. You've already been through a lot. You're weary and baked, jittery and jaked, but you stick around because this is it for this year. You're no fair-weather fan; you're in it all the way. And what better reward than songs such as "Refugee," "American Girl," "Free Fallin' " and "Won't Back Down," songs that sound as good 500 yards away as they do up front. These are the songs of your youth, your early adulthood, your "OK, I'm getting a little old for this nonsense" period. Just go out in the middle of the field and lie down and let those songs echo all over you. Just this one time realize that there's more to life than beating the traffic. — Michael Corcoran

Going home early: It's getting late. You're exhausted. All you want is a shower, a dinner involving silverware and A/C. But wait, there's one more act. You should push through. And who is it? Tom Petty.

Oh. Never mind.

A geezer no matter how young he was, Petty and his lousy voice ripped off the Byrds for 30 years without ever stealing the good stuff (close harmonies, a psychedelic edge, Gene Clark's songwriting prowess). His first single? "Breakdown," a moronic little tune that sure sounds like an ode to date rape. Other highlights include "Free Fallin,' " on which Petty pats himself on the back for noticing how shallow all these Angelenos are, and "Mary Jane's Last Dance," the only redeeming feature of which is the video, which features Kim Basinger as a corpse. This wheezer is worth missing "The Wire" for? No. Not then. Not now. Not ever. — Joe Gross

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Whose side are you on?

You've heard our critics' opinions, now we want to hear from you. Will it be TV on the Radio or Nada Surf? Tragically Hip or Ray LaMontagne? Tom Petty or heading home for a shower? Cast your votes and let us know.