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!
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