ACL 2008: Day Three Review

By the time we got to day three this year, we were pretty exhausted. Days one and two were both long ones, and while the heat and dust weren't as bad as they were in some prior years, they were still a factor.

A crowd either trying to combat the dust or preparing to rob a train

Additionally, the lineup for day three was probably a bit less loaded than the first two days. So we decided to make it a short day. We left a bit later than usual and arrived at about 4:00. After catching a bit of the Silversun Pickups' show, we saw the second half of Neko Case's set. Neko's got a great voice -- perhaps a bit one-dimensional (belting it out!). She does sound great live though. Next, we caught a bit of Austin-based Okkervil River. The band sounded pretty good, cranking out faithful renditions of lovely tunes from a recent album. We'd probably have caught more, but got hungry and went to the food court. By the way, the food at ACL is great. They have a very wide range of choices: meaty delites like BBQ, burgers and sausage, ethnic options like kebabs, burritos and noodles, vegetarian items, frozen treats (very important for a late-September event in Austin) and lots more. The beer selection sort of sucks though.

After Okkervil and food, we met up with our group and caught our last act of the day -- The Raconteurs. Guitarist/singer Jack White, better known as the key half of The White Stripes, cautioned the crowd that he might be a bit off due to his suffering from a bad back. I couldn't tell. We'd seen the band a few times, and they rocked and rolled just as hard as usual, rarely giving the crowd a chance to sit down and catch their breath.

Overall, this festival was another great one. Great weather and fab music has a funny way of making you forget that you're grimy and stuck in a dusty field with 65,000 other people. We got to meet up with Kurt, a fellow member of the Tufts class of 1993 and one-time GM of WMFO 91.5 FM, where I put in 4 excellent years as a deejay. (Kurt has a cool music blog, The Good, the Bad, and the Funky -- check it out.) Oh, can't forget to give a special thanks to Heather and Fabian, who were so generous as to drive us there all three days and always managed to find good parking!

Rachel and Kurt, getting ready to put a wrap on ACL 2008

Rachel, Heather and Fabian, cooling in the shade

Will we be back next year? Well, about a week after the festival, Rachel already bought a pair three-day passes for ACL 2009. See you there!

ACL 2008: Day Two Review

Day two was another long one. Arrived at about 2:00 and didn't leave until about 10:00. Eight hours is a long time to spend on your feet in the hot sun, breathing in dust. Thankfully, the weather didn't get too hot -- "merely" 90 degrees or so -- and we had a few good opportunities to sit down and catch a breather.

If the musical theme of day one was world-influenced music, day two's was R&B (and R&B-influenced). A lot of our prior days at the festival had been a little heavy on the indie-rock/pop, so it was good once again to mix it up a little.

Day Two's Best Show: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

I was really looking forward to this show. I had heard and read lots of positive things about Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings' live performances. Plus, I'm a long-time supporter of tha funk. The Dap-Kings play a very pure, classic instrumental funk that wouldn't sound out of place in the Stax, People or Atlantic Records studios in the late 60s or early 70s. Yeah, it is a bit derivative. That doesn't bother me, though. I didn't really have an opportunity to catch the original masters in concert. I was either way too young or not yet born.

The Dap-Kings came out first, looking quite Dap-per and thus living up to the band's name. The band (3 horns, 2 guitars, bass, drums and percussion) played a few "warm-up" instrumentals that got the crowd moving, before bringing out Sharon Jones. The band didn't move all that much -- they were way too focused on tight, flawless playing. Ms. Jones, in contrast, was a dynamo. Her voice was powerful and expressive -- a little bit Tina, a little bit Otis -- and as she was dancing and jumping all show long you'd have never guessed she was in her 50s. She had some fun, too, bringing out a couple of fellas from the crowd to dance with her for two of her numbers (funny choices from the audience, too -- look below and you'll see what I mean). She and the band tore through "100 Days, 100 Nights" and other songs from their latest album. Like all of the good shows at the festival, the only bad thing was that they couldn't play a longer set. Guess we'll just have to catch 'em next time they roll their funky bus through Austin.


Sharon Jones serenading a big dude from the crowd


A trio of dapper Dap-Kings

Day Two's Best Crowd: Beck

Beck played the headliner's spot on day two: last show of the night on the festival's biggest stage. Beck is an artist with two personae (if not more) -- the mellow, folksy Beck from albums like Sea Change and Mutations, and the "hippie-hop" white R&B of Odelay and his more recent albums -- you're never sure what you're gonna get. Being that his latest albums were more in the latter mold, I figured we'd probably get a set of mostly up-beat numbers. That's exactly what he delivered. Beck and his band roped the crowd in early by leading off with his first hit from back in 1992, "Loser," and kept the pressure on all night. The crowd really dug songs like "Devil's Haircut," "Where It's At" and "Qué Onda Guero." He did take a quick break from the electronic Beck to play a couple of tunes from Sea Change. I was sort of hoping he'd mix in a few more of his more melodic, poppier numbers. He didn't, and I might have been a bit disappointed, but the crowd wasn't and it kept on grooving until the close of day two.

Wish We'd Seen It: John Fogerty

Another casualty of the "too many good acts at the same time" problem: overlapping sets by Fogerty, the Black Keys and Iron & Wine. Everything I've read said that the old timer put on a great show. Supposedly his voice, his guitar playing and his set list were all great.

What Else We Saw and Heard

• We planned on getting to the festival in enough time to make sure we were there when Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings started. We got there early, so we were able to catch a bit of the Fratellis. Sounded pretty good, but nothing that really stood out.
• After Sharon Jones, we stayed close by and caught a bit of CSS on a neighboring stage. Some of the people we were with really liked them, but it wasn't really my cup of tea.
• Austin's Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears drew a pretty big crowd for the smaller Austin Ventures stage. His mix of blues, rock and funk was a good follow-up to Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. A bit less tight and more raw, but still good at getting people on their feet and dancing.
• The mellow soul of Erykah Badu was a good wind-down from the earlier sets of energetic R&B. She sounded good live. She couldn't resist getting a bit preachy from time to time, but also displayed a good sense of humor.
• Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band played most of Oberst's latest self-titled album, plus a cover of Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" that appealed to some of the older members of the crowd, as well as some of the younger ones. We saw Conor play with Jim James and M. Ward at the Newport Folk Festival in 2005, so it was nice to see and hear him play an entirely different set of songs with a different sounding band this go-round.
• Iron & Wine, a band we missed at one of the prior festivals we attended, played a well-executed set of interesting, moody songs that meshed well with the darkness of their night-time slot.

A Photoshopped Fratelli


Mystic Valley Band and Conor Oberst (far right)


Iron & Wine's Sam Beam

ACL 2008: Day One Review

Rachel, looking fresh at the start of Day One

ACL 2008 started off on a high note. The Friday lineup was pretty loaded, as described in my preview post. The weather was great, the crowd wasn't too thick, and the music definitely didn't disappoint.

Day One's Best Show: David Byrne

On a day with many good acts, our favorite performance was turned in by David Byrne. Anticipating a good one, we got there early and worked our way up through the crowd, ending up with great spots about 10-20 feet from the stage.

David and band came out in all white clothing, just like his hair. He may be more gray than he was during his Talking Heads days, but David Byrne's guitar playing and voice have not diminished (and I should throw in that while his hair is gray, he looks trim, fit and young). The set featured a mix of songs from his new collaboration with Brian Eno and old ones from the Eno-produced Talking Heads albums. The new songs are good, but the highlights for me were the classics like "Once in a Lifetime," "I Zimbra," "Crosseyed & Painless" and "Life During Wartime." His band and backup singers, while not the Heads, were tight and talented. The only thing I could have done without were the goofy dancers doing moves that looked like they were inspired by Spike Jonze and his troupe's performance in Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" video. That was a very minor bummer. The bigger one was that he couldn't play for another hour!


David Byrne and his pretty red acoustic guitar


Day One's Best Crowd: Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra

There are eight stages at ACL. All of them are outdoors, but one of them is covered by a large tent. For whatever reason, the organizers schedule a lot of non-rock/country acts in the tent. We've seen some great crowds pack the big top in years past to see groups like Beausoleil and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra was a great pick for the tent. The textured, horn- and percussion-heavy rhythmic afrobeat sounds filled up the area and whipped the packed crowd into a dancing, chanting frenzy. Bandleader Martín Perna, who dubbed the WaMu-sponsored venue the "Washington Mutual Memorial Stage," was as energetic as any musician we saw all weekend. His song "Indictment" really worked well with the crowd, who were happy to damn Cheney, W and others in a long call-and-response segment of the song. We only caught about 20 minutes or so of the show, but I'm glad we didn't miss it.



Antibalas' Martín Perna egging on the crowd

What Else We Saw and Heard

• We wanted to get to the festival in time for Vampire Weekend's set at 2:30. Since we were early, we got to hear some of Austin's own What Made Milwaukee Famous on a nearby stage. WMMF sounded pretty good and was a nice way to usher in the festival.
• Vampire Weekend played at one of the two main stages to what I imagine was the first big crowd of ACL 2008. VW has some great songs, and while the band played quite faithful renditions of their material, it was still a fun, peppy set. "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" and "Oxford Comma," among others, were big crowd pleasers.
• Del the Funkee Homosapien performed a set that was pretty similar to the one he did back at the free outdoor show during South by Southwest. He added some tunes from his earliest album, from way back in 1991, which proved to be highlights of the show: "Dr. Bombay" and "Mistadobalina!" The crowd was smaller than at Common's gig last year, but that was to be expected, given it was pretty early on Friday and some folks were still at work or in class. It was cool to catch a little hip-hop, but I wish there was more.
• M. Ward played in the WaMu tent. I think he was a bit too big to be slotted in the tent. By the time we got there, there was no room left under the canvas. Sound outside wasn't very good, but after a while we managed to find a decent place to listen. He played most, if not all, of his latest release, Post-War. Great songs, but I wish they were played at one of the bigger stages where we could have gotten better viewing/listening spots.
• The headliner on day one was Manu Chao. At the end of a week of work and a long day at the festival, we were only able to catch a little of the show. I liked his energy, and his band was good. His Latin-tinged reggae perhaps got a bit redundant though. Still a good choice for a nightcap.

What Made Milwaukee Famous (I think it's the beer)



Vampire Weekend, looking very white


Del, one funkee homosapien