Austin City Limits::Austin TX

While I’ve lived in Austin almost four years now, I never seem to be around for the festival of the year.  I always manage to be out of town, out of state, or just plain out of money.  But this year, I managed to get to the festival and to no surprise, I was blown away.  The festival I’m talking about is, of course, The Austin City Limits Music Festival.

The seventh-annual music festival definitely lived up to its name with headliners like David Byrne, The Mars Volta, Beck,  Gnarls Barkley, Foo Fighters, and what seemed like a million more.  Total there were 130 bands playing for the duration of the three day event.  Unfortunately I’m not a superhero so I could only be at one show at a time.  But when I found myself in a crunch, I’d attend the first half of one band, and the second half of another.  Running around like a chicken with its head cut off with pen in hand, I was somehow able to come up with something of a review.  So here it is...

Day One:

2PM:   Due to my hectic class schedule, my first show of the festival wasn’t until late in the afternoon.  But there was no better way to kick the festival mania off than with a personal favorite of mine (and probably yours too): Vampire Weekend.  The group of kids from Columbia University looked exactly as I had predicted they would. The foursome was dressed in preppy leather loafers, button downs and jeans and swayed effortlessly to their insta-popular music.  looked exactly as I had predicted they would.

The crowd went wild when the band busted out A-Punk, the radio-hit that made Vampire Weekend a household name.  Next up was One (Blake’s Got a New Face), where lead vocalist, Ezra Koenig requested a sing along.  Happily, the crowd repeated after him, “Blake’s got a new face!”  This audience-rendition of the song was, I felt, actually better than the album version.  And when it came time to play M79, we were all delighted to see a stringed orchestra playing along with them. 

Finally, after performing almost every track from their only album, Koenig wrapped things up by saying, “Well, we played every song we know…” and leading into their final song, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.  All in all Vampire Weekend’s performance was excellent.  They gave the crowd just what they wanted:  a group of hipster guys playing hipster songs and having a good time doing it. 

5PM:   After refreshing myself and learning to cope with the 90+ degree weather, I found myself at the Austin Ventures stage for the early evening Mates of State performance.  The quirky couple came out to their drum set & keyboards opening up with Now, a mellow song that fit the mood of the crowd.  As evening was setting in, the Mates of State fans swayed along to their music with a beer in hand, glad that the heat would soon be dying down. 

When they reached their third song, Like You Crazy, two cellists and a violinist came out to join the duo.  And at the finish of the next song, Get Better, the set called for a stringed solo ending that definitely pulled at my heart strings.  In truth, there’s nothing like a pop-esque band bringing out traditional, classical instruments. 

When it came time to wrap things up, Mates of State pulled out a fan favorite and title song of their 2008 album, The Re-Arranger.  Their fans danced around and sang along, satisfied with the performance.  This mellow band definitely did their albums justice, giving us a performance that was great for what limited time and resources they had.  Next time Mates of State comes to town, I’ll definitely be there.

6PM:   My next stop was at the AT&T stage for a performer that while I may not be a huge fan of, I was still hugely excited to see.  It was none other than the Talking Head’s front man David Byrne.  And of all of the performances that I saw on Friday, he was by far my favorite. 

When I finally made my way to the front-ish area of the stage, Byrne and his backup singers and dancers all dressed in white performed One Fine Day.  The mixed-aged crowd was in awe.  The sight on stage was like watching angels -- sweaty athletically dressed angels.  The dancers pranced around in a seemingly un-choreographed manner as Byrne belted out the lyrics, “Even though a man is made of clay, everything can change.  That one fine--One fine day.”

When it came time to reminisce with an old Talking Heads tune, Byrne played Houses in Motion.  The agile dancers crawled around behind him while he sang, and when it came time for him to do his infamous hip thrusts, the crowd went wild.  And for a man pushing 60, he looked a bit – dare I say it –sexual on stage.

When Byrne pulled out Once in a Lifetime, another Talking Heads classic, the crowd was in a frenzy.  All we needed to hear was, “You may find yourself…” and bam! It was party time!  The super-fans behind me shouted, “Oh my God! He’s amazing. He’s the shit, man!”  To which I completely agreed.  

David Byrne’s show was the complete experience.  The combination of his great persona, the backup singers and dancers and the excited vibe among the fans made for an excellent show.  In the words of the man himself, Byrne’s performance was the “same as it ever was”… amazing!

7PM:   At the end of David Byrne’s set I booked it to get to G. Love & Special Sauce.  Lead vocalist, Garrett Dutton, bounced around on stage in a trendy fedora rapping out the lyrics to Holla while his inebriated audience played along.  After the harmonic-filled rendition of Booty Call, it was time for the ultimate G. Love song: My Baby’s Got Sauce.  After dedicating the song to the ladies in the crowd, Dutton slurred out the sultry lyrics, turning the crowd into a swaying group of 20 and 30-somethings smoking and joking, enjoying G. Love & Special Sauce’s chill performance.  My Baby’s Got Sauce was my only real thrill with G. Love so once it was over, I headed north to check out Swell Season.

While I wasn’t familiar with Swell Season’s music, I had heard good things about them so I decided to see what all the fuss was about.  I was not disappointed.  The incessantly loud music of Alejandro Escovedo at the stage nearby made hearing Swell Season difficult, but once I fought my way to the center of the crowd I could actually hear the music.  Unfortunately I was only able to catch their last song.  Fortunately, it was amazing.  Band members, Glen Hansard and Markèta Irglovà dished out Fitzcarraldo for their finale.  The vocals were amazing as were the intense instrumentals.  The song was full of heart and that’s exactly how Swell Season performed it.  I definitely considered Swell Season to be my Friday’s find of the day!

8PM:   My final show for the night was The Mars Volta.  Hmm, what can I say about this performance… AWFUL.  Now maybe it’s just my personal taste getting in the way, but in my opinion The Mars Volta not only seemed lost on stage, but their music was just plain bad.  I couldn’t give you a set list if I tried, because the performance just seemed to be one horrible, never-ending track.  It was like an hour and fifteen minutes of numb guitar and whiney screaming.  But keep in mind, this is all coming from a non-fan, so take what I’m about to say with the proverbial grain of salt:  The Mars Volta = headache.  I really wish I would have left the show early to check out Manu Chao.  Dang!

Day Two:

3PM:   I arrived at my first show for Saturday immediately in a heavy sweat.  The temperature was somewhere in the high 300’s (or so it seemed) and even this early in the day, fans were beginning to smell.  Luckily, the 3:30 show at the AT&T Blue Room venue was awesome!  Cansei de Ser Sexy or CSS, the indie-electro pop band from Brazil, completely rocked my socks off. 

With songs like Music is My Hot Hot Sex, CSS managed to rock hard at three o’clock in the afternoon.  Lead singer, Luísa Hanaê Matsushita or Lovefoxxx as she’s better known, came out in a full body cat suit with her hair piled about a foot off her head in a polygamy-style fashion.  After a few songs, when her hair started to fall in her sweat-drenched face, she finally declared, “It’s fucking hot! Hotter than Brazil!”  Her stage presence was great. With her cursing, continual audience-contact and crowd surfing, CSS’s performed an awesome set.  Definitely a band worth checking out.

5PM:   After deciding to skip Robert Earl Keen for a water break, I made my way back to the AT&T Blue Room stage to catch MGMT.  I didn’t stay long, but I did manage to catch their two super-fun hits, Time to Pretend and Electric Feel.  Let me just say, if you’ve never heard of MGMT and aren't sure if they're your style, check out those two tracks.  The performance was great and the songs lived up to their reputation as fun psychedelic dance hits.  Definitely made it onto my playlist. and aren’t sure if they’re your style, check out those two tracks.

6PM:   My next stop was for one of my favorite artists, Conor Oberst and his backup, The Mystic Valley Band.  While Oberst did seem strung out on any number of substances, that didn’t keep him from completely bringing his A-game.

Playing foot-stomping hits like NYC-Gone, Gone begging the question, “where you gonna go with a heart that gone?” kept the crowd totally enthralled.   And my favorite performance was his astounding cover of the Paul Simon hit, Kodachrome.  If I wasn’t already madly in love with Conor Oberst, I was now.  Despite that it was a cover, the lyrics seemed to come from somewhere deep in Oberst and the performance was definitely worth catching. 

Oberst’s final song was the fast-paced piano tune, I Don’t Want to Die (In the Hospital).  One of the best tracks from his new album, Oberst played the crap out of it.  As a super-fan of Conor Oberst, let me just say that I was definitely satisfied with his performance.  10 out of 10.

8PM:   The former 13th Floor Elevators front-man, Roky Erickson was greeted with open arms at ACL and after seeing him perform, I can tell why.  With his gruff voice, he took to the guitar like a fish to water and rocked the world of the 100 or so onlookers.  While most of his fans were in their 40s and 50s (including my own parents), as a young kid I can still safely say that his music is appreciated by all ages.

Just before playing his final song, Erickson laughed and said, “It’s gotta be a human show!” Now I’m not quite sure what that meant, but the crowd sure enjoyed it.  So after playing a few of the 13th Floor Elevator hits, Erickson closed his show with a song I always heard growing up, You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone.  And judging by the fans continual chanting, “Roky! Roky! Roky!” they were definitely gonna miss him when his set came to a close. 

9PM:   My final Saturday show was none other than the uber-famous rock madman, Beck.  After a late start, Beck kicked his show off with an awesome stage set up, complete with a video background of a fast paced world and an amazing crowd turnout.

Beck played all of our favorites, including a much rockier rendition of Where It’s At and the “na na na” song that we all love, E-Pro.  His set was great, but tired from a long day of trekking to rock shows, I found myself sitting under a tree enjoying the show from afar.

One thing that pissed me off and everyone else too, as I was later told by friends in the pit, was Beck’s early departure.  Leaving the show some 20 minutes before his performance was scheduled to close was a bad move.  Nothing makes fans think that you’re an a-hole more than when you don’t give them what they paid for.  And after a blistering hot day in the sun and ACL’s $150 ticket price tag, all that the fans wanted was 20 more minutes of Beck. 

Day Three (It’s almost over!):

11AM: My final day of festival madness started off at the crack of dawn, or at least it felt like it did.  I found myself starting the day with a newcomer and growing favorite of mine, AA Bondy.   Former lead vocalist for the rock band Verbena, Bondy’s new sound is super folky and really good.  Compared endlessly to Bob Dylan by every reviewer that I could find, Bondy creates an original sound in his debut album, American Hearts and his performance on Sunday definitely illustrated that.

Opening the show with the line, “I seem to have left my body in a bottle of whiskey,” I was instantly captured.  Not only was Bondy an excellent performer on stage (completely alone, I might add) he also had a really great stage presence.  His jovial nature was refreshing and his statement that Snuffleupagus was the embodiment of heroin made the crowd almost fall over with laughter.

Like his songs, his show alluded to drugs quite often.  But standing there with his grey t-shirt and jeans on, he looked like an innocent guitar player that wouldn’t harm a fly.  And his blues-style songs put the audience in a state of silence.  It was one of those moments where you just know: this guy is going places.  Playing almost all of the tracks from his album and a couple others, Bondy wrapped his set up with Rapture (Sweet Rapture) and You Got to Die.   AA Bondy gave an amazing performance and I definitely see a bright future for him.

1PM:   Next on Sunday’s menu was an artist that I’m a HUGE fan of: Priscilla Ahn.  After the initial realization that Adele was not in fact playing (due to a last minute schedule change), a vast majority of the crowd stood in awe as the thin songstress in yellow sang us into submission with her innovative melodies. 

Ahn opened her set with Dream, a soft song with vocals and guitar that was almost drowned out by surrounding performers.  Next she played I Don’t Think So and Astronaut in a varied way from the album performance, featuring a slower pace and more vocal looping.   At one point Ahn commented on her lack of an accompanying band, but with her vocal looping, you could close your eyes and think she had a whole chorus of people up there with her!  

Then it came time for her to tell her infamous boob story to which the crowd gave their undivided attention.  So in she went with her neon orange kazoo singing the gorgeous song, Boob Song.  Next up was Lullaby, another song introduced by a real-life story.

Priscilla Ahn closed her set with a track from her latest album A Good Day, Find My Way Back Home.  She sang gently as she strummed the ukulele, cooing extra “la la las” into the song and most likely increasing the size of her Austin fan base. Excellent performance.

2PM:   Up to bat at 2:30 was the increasingly popular Christian-influenced rock band, Flyleaf.   And, as expected, the firecracker of a lead singer, Lacey Mosley-Sturm gave quite the show.  Performing their hits Breathe Today and All Around Me, Flyleaf brought the house down with alarmingly original vocals and inspirational stories of life through Christianity.

While I didn’t stay for the entirety of the show, it was obvious that Mosely-Sturm had a good handle on being a rock star and from what I could see, she wasn’t holding anything back.

4PM:   At the same stage an hour later I caught a bit of Silversun Pickups, an indie-rock band from Los Angeles.  As this was the point when I was wondering around for a beverage and a place to rest my tired legs, I caught only a few of their songs; one being the very moving tune, Lazy Eye.  I’d heard this before but hearing it live different, to say the least.  

Silversun Pickups is definitely a band that doesn’t get enough play.  Their music is innovative and has a really great sound.  Just another band that ACL really made me open up to.  This brings home the point of ACL to me, it’s not really about showcasing the big bands so much as it is about shedding light on the little ones.  And that’s what’s so great about the festival. 

6PM:   My six o’clock viewing consisted of me sitting in a lawn chair waiting for the super-famous Gnarls Barkley.  Now I only know two Gnarls Barkley songs but to be honest, I think a lot of other people in the crowd were in the same boat. 

Gnarls Barkley came out like they were a top shelf wine, really high on themselves.   But in truth, aside from the fame created by their 2006 hit, Crazy they didn’t have a whole lot to offer.  And annoyingly, when they performed Crazy, the song that EVERY fan wanted to hear, front-man Cee-Lo Green seemed to complain asking the audience if we seriously still liked the song.  What?!  Of course we do!  So in a different paced un-sing-a-long-able version, they performed it.

Gnarles Barkley... pretty good.  But nothing really to write home about.

7PM:   Next on my schedule was dinner.  Oh and Band of Horses.  They were pretty decent, a little slow.  Not really my cup of tea, but not bad either. 

8PM:   Before heading back to the AT&T stage to catch the final show, I peeked in on Tegan and Sara.  With humorous political remarks about the upcoming election, Tegan… or no, was it Sara?  One of them, led into some great music. 

This twin duo really knows how to perform and their music was excellent.  If you’re not already a fan of Tegan and Sara, I suggest you check them out immediately.  I didn’t get to stay long but what I did see of them was awesome.  Looking forward to catching them again live sometime in the future.

9PM:   Ah, finally.  It was time for the big dogs, the Foo Fighters.  Of course I was completely beat by this point, what with the lack of oxygen in the air which had been replaced by a thick dust cloud covering the entirety of Zilker park and the three day affair I’d just had with high temperatures and little food and water. But still I was stoked for the show.

And true to form, Dave Grohl got on stage and rocked the house… er, park rather.  Comical as always when a kid got up on stage and security attempted to take care of him Grohl said, “Take it easy, he’s just a fuckin’ student… he’s not an assassin, he’s just a drunk college dork.”  And if you have the chance, I highly recommend you check out his band introductions and solos on YouTube; funny stuff.  I love that not only is Grohl an absolutely amazing musician, he’s freaking hilarious.  I wish I could give you all the funny quotes that he said in that hour and forty-five minutes, but I can’t, we’d be here all day.

But hilarity aside, Foo Fighters were off-the-charts good.  There was no better way to end ACL than with a band like them.  My favorite moment of their performance was Big Me. Opening with, “This song is old as shit,” Grohl led into the song that made the hairs raise on my arms and something like 90% of the hundreds of fans were singing along in unison.  It was the kind of performance that easily gives you goosebumps and butterflies in your stomach.

Foo Fighters went over their allotted performance time of an hour and a half, giving us an encore and plenty of opportunities to fall in love with them over and over again.  Dave Grohl and friends was definitely the best way to end the three day chaos that was Austin City Limits Music Festival. 

So there you have it.  That’s my ACL experience, in a nut shell.