ACL 2010: Wrap-Up

I've finally caught my breath! After an epic Friday at the festival and a Saturday night aftershow that finished after 1:30 AM, I was back to work early on Monday morning (foo!) and still haven't really caught up on my sleep. Now I can fill y'all in on this year's festival, while it's still fresh in my mind.

THE DEAL

Best Overall: Spoon / LCD Soundsystem

Spoon has a love affair with Austin. Temple, TX-born front man Britt Daniel was a longtime resident until just recently, and can still be spotted around town occasionally. We've seen them a few times before, and the prior time was slightly disappointing. At the time, the band was promoting its latest album, Transference, and that night at Stubb's the band played a lot of material from the album. It's a good album, but coming after a run of great albums in Girls Can Tell, Kill the Moonlight, Gimme Fiction, and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

This time was different. Transference has been out for a while now, and the band felt no pressure to dig too deeply from it. Instead, the band played a perfect set of songs from across its career, mixing in the best and most familiar songs from different albums with concert favorites. The thick crowd was into it the whole set, but picked it up 4 songs in when the horn section came out for "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb." I turned and gazed behind me during "Don't You Evah" and saw nothing but a sea of bobbing heads. Daniel and co. even brought out surprise guest Eleanor Friedberger from the Fiery Furnaces for a cover - the only act I saw that brought out a guest of note. The set finished with the band ripping through a ferocious "Jonathan Fisk" and something of a sing-along in "The Underdog." The whole affair was near perfection from a band that has become as good as any out there at writing a hook.

Speaking of great hooks, LCD Soundsystem's set was an exercise in making people's booties shake. This time, though, the album being promoted, This is Happening, is full of great material. The band played lots of material from the album, which James Murphy and friends made even better on a gorgeous sunny afternoon. Kickoff song "Dance Yourself Clean" kept on going and gaining momentum, and by the time it was over nobody was sitting down. The band next nailed "Drunk Girls," a funny song with a groove that the early Cars might have come up with. The rest of the set was the beginning of this year's version of Dance Party ACL, which transitioned nicely to the Deadmau5 set on the adjoining stage. We almost didn't even make it in time for this set, and it turned out to be a festival highlight. Something like that happens each year -- one reason we keep going back.

Spoon locked in at ACL 2010

Other Musical Highlights:

• Sonic Youth aftershow at La Zona Rosa: Hadn't planned on it but got up front and the band just cranked out song after vicious song, sounding almost as good as they did last time I saw them two decades ago. The group played for a long time in a tight environment after already having played their ACL set the night before, keeping us up well past our bedtime. True professionals.
• Those Darlins played a set of really good tunes on the small Austin Ventures stage, where it was easy to get up close. They could be rising.
• Yeasayer was lots of fun. Right in the middle of the day, we picked a nice spot not too far back, near the speaker tower, and just relaxed.
• Martin Sexton played solo in the tent, where the crowds always seem to be receptive. Here was no exception, as the hooting and hollering after each song was pretty strong. His bluesy, jazzy style went over well, just as it did last time we saw him at the festival years ago.
• Then there's The Strokes. This was a case of taking the bad so you can get the good. The good in this case was a great band playing good versions of a ton of its classic material. "Someday," "Hard to Explain," "Last Night," "Juicebox," and "Reptilia," to name a few, along with some songs that Julian claimed the band hadn't done in "forever," like "Trying Your Luck" from debut album Is This It. During every song, everyone played well. Nick Valensi on lead guitar stood out a bit with his restrained, well-crafted solos. Julian's voice sounded strong, too. So what was the bad? Well, the band came out about 15 minutes late for starters. Also, the band never really seemed totally into it. Julian had his weird mix of self-deprecation and being almost condescending. Maybe he doesn't like Austin? To cap it off, the band split about 15 minutes before scheduled, so that's a total of about 30 minutes off a slot scheduled for 90 minutes. At least it wasn't as big a rip-off as the Stubb's show apparently was. So it was nice to see the songs played live by that band on that stage, yet I left feeling somewhat unsatisfied.

Biggest Traffic Jam: Insanity at the AMD Stage for the Black Keys.

Second Biggest Traffic Jam: Navigating the Sea of People during the Deadmau5 dance-a-thon at the Zync Stage.

Worst Sound: Girls a the Zync stage. Someone always gets screwed.

Best Food Item: Fried Chicken from Olivia / Steak-n-Frit Sandwich from Aquarelle (tie). For the tastiest food at this year's festival, we headed to two of Austin's finest restaurants. The fried chicken was perfection -- seasoned well with a touch of spiciness, super crispy, not sickeningly oily, and cooked just right. And that sandwich was just as good. Thin steak with fries and some very good aioli. I could eat that often (too often for my good). Next Runner-Up: Bratwurst from The Best Wurst.

Damn, that chicken looks good, too.

Best Logistical Decision: Taking the shuttle in and out on Saturday and Sunday. Parking near the shuttle station was simple, and when we traveled to and from the festival, the lines were light. That beat the long walk Friday with our clunky chairs, which didn't got back to the festival after that.

Chances of Returning Next Year: What do you think? The dates suck, but we always end up going.

Band of Horses cover Cee-Lo at the festival