• Austin City Limits

    Ickmusic @ ACL: Day One Recap

    Here’s a brief recap of my first day at ACL: Friday, September 14th….

    Jesse Malin – my bro and I walked in part way into Jesse’s set. Jesse gets instant cred in my book because he pulled the Boss in to his new album to sing “Broken Radio” with him. He’s got the east coast pure rock n’ roll vibe going, and he delivered with his set. One of those acts that I need to see in a small club. I’ll be catching him next time he hits Phoenix.

    Youtube snippet from ACL.

    Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts – far be it from me to be a superficial, “typical male”, but the bass player for Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts enhanced the show for me. Her name is Sybil Buck, turns out she’s a model for Yves St. Laurent, and she shakes and shimmies like she stepped out of a Robert Palmer video. The Astronauts set was a favorite of both my brother and I. Buck and the other female in the group, killer lead guitarist Jen Turner, laid down some sweet harmonies – making some of the tunes sound very ethereal and even Pixies-like at times. A great set, and it made me re-listen to their latest release, Let’s Just Be, with a new appreciation. Hail hail Joseph & the Astronauts…

    Sybil Buck at ACL 2007

    Will Hoge – the mid-afternoon, post fire set by Will Hoge at the Austin Venures stage was a nice well kept secret among the throngs at the festival. A relatively small crowd got treated to some down home rock n roll, often reminiscent of the Black Crowes (at least to these ears). Hoge even busted out some trademark Chris Robinson moves at times, complete with some handclaps and mic-stand staggers. Good set.

    will hoge at acl

    Blonde Redhead -We only caught a couple songs before getting positioned for Crowded House, but what I did hear sounded interesting. I’ll have to dig into some of their stuff.

    Youtube snippet from ACL.

    Crowded House – my bro’s highlight of the weekend was seeing Crowded House, who he hadn’t seen since the early 90’s in Minneapolis. It was my first time seeing Neil Finn, Nick Seymour and the band. It was a solid, tight set that was the last of their six week North American tour. Hearing familiar tunes like “Weather With You” and “Don’t Dream It’s Over” was mighty nice.

    Youtube snippet from ACL.

    M.I.A. – We were stuck behind the soundboard for Maya’s packed set, so we cut it a bit short after a few songs. But I watched some video screen action of M.I.A. and her dance partner jump around to the likes of “Bucky Done Gun”, “Sunshowers”, “Boyz”, and “World Town”. I should’ve pre-positioned myself for this one, if you know what I mean (huh?)…

    (photo courtesy of Mark C. Austin on Flickr)

    Youtube snippet from ACL (“Bucky Done Gone”)

    Spoon – okay we were about 2 football fields back and I laid down and closed my eyes for a while, then we were off to see the Kaiser Chiefs. But I did hear some cool tunes off the new album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, like “The Underdog”, “Don’t You Evah” and “The Ghost of You Lingers”.

    Youtube snippet from ACL.

    Kaiser Chiefs – These guys tore it up. All I really needed was “I Predict a Riot”, in which lead singer Ricky Wilson scaled the scaffolding, came down, jumped around, and then proceeded to twist his ankle. That didn’t dampen his spirits though. He hopped around on one leg for the remainder of the show; a set list filled with high energy British rock from start to finish.

    Reverend Horton Heat – I’ve seen the Rev a multitude of times over the years, so it wasn’t a priority to catch the whole set. But we did manage to catch the last several tunes, which gave us “Psychobilly Freakout”, “Bales of Cocaine”, “It’s Martini Time”, Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”, “Greensleeves”, and “Folsom Prison Blues”. It’s always good to see the Rev and his Gretsch, Jimbo and his stand up bass, and their latest drummer.

    But I missed “400 Bucks“!

    The Killers (from a diiistaaance) – We gave it a shot, but couldn’t get anywhere near the stage. So I can’t say I truly got to take in any of the Killers. We decided to head out.

    Recaps of Days Two and Three coming soon.

  • Austin City Limits

    Thanks Austin

    Well I’m back in the desert after a nice long, hot, exhausting, and thoroughly exhilarating weekend at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Crikey, do those folks at ACL know how to put on a festival… seven stages scattered throughout Zilker Park – an immense city park that accommodated 65,000 (!) of us each of the three days. The army of shuttle buses from downtown Austin to the park was a godsend – when we figured it out on the third day. For those who are curious, it takes an hour and 10 minutes to walk from Zilker Park, across Town Lake, and down Cesar Chavez Blvd. to downtown. I know from experience. Thanks to the Lavaca Street Bar for serving as a veritable oasis to me and my brother – two very sweaty & weary customers who emerged from the hot and humid Austin night. Your pitchers of Dos Equis are to be commended. Well played.

    With 130 acts playing over the span of three days, it was impossible to see every act I wanted to see. Unfortunately, I missed Damien Rice, Stephen Marley, and Joss Stone – to name a few. But here’s who we did get to see over the three days.

    Friday:
    Jesse Malin
    Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts
    Will Hoge
    Blonde Redhead
    Crowded House
    M.I.A.
    Spoon
    Kaiser Chiefs
    Reverend Horton Heat
    The Killers (from a diiistaaance)

    Saturday:
    Raul Malo
    Steve Earle
    Beausoleil
    Arctic Monkeys
    Arcade Fire

    Sunday:
    Yo La Tengo
    The National
    Sound Tribe Sector Nine
    Ben Kweller
    Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
    Common
    Lucinda Williams
    Amos Lee
    My Morning Jacket
    Wilco
    Ziggy Marley
    Bob Dylan

    I’ll spend some time focusing on each day over the next few posts, but here are some highlights…

    BEST IN SHOW: The Arcade Fire – Win Butler and his band of crazed gypsies killed on Saturday night. Since discovering them a couple years ago, they are the one band I’ve been dying to see live. And they lived up to my high expectations. The moment for me was the emotional anti-war “Intervention“, which he dedicated to “Governor Bush”. The studio version gives me the chills every time as it is. But live, it’s taken to another level. The encore, “Wake Up”, was an amazing crowd experience, as everyone sang along to the epic “OOOOOWOOOOOO”s. It was a high energy assault on the senses, and for me, one of the best live music experiences of my life.

    MIGHTY NICE TO MEET YA, v. 1: After Steve Earle’s hour long set (with his quite fetching wife Alison Moorer joining in for a couple), he headed over to the Waterloo Records tent to sign some CD’s. My brother, camera in hand, came through with what will be a prized possession of mine: me and Mr. Earle!

    Steve has shaved off his long, grizzly beard that he wore for his role on The Wire, and he’s looking like one bad-ass mofo these days. I remember not too long ago that he would have been the one with the double chin. Oh how the tables have turned! (dammit Pete, no more ice cream for you!… but that Ben & Jerry’s Willie Nelson Peach Cobbler is so Good! …NO!!).

    MIGHTY NICE TO MEET YA, v. 2: I had a chance to meet up with the mighty Ace Cowboy over at Hidden Track. We caught some Beausoleil, Arctic Monkeys, and Arcade Fire together (or Arcade Monkeys as we came to call them). Ace has some detailed ACL posts up. He was dedicated enough to post from the road. My lazy ass left the laptop at home. Nice to meet a fellow blogga.

    MY RUNNERS UP FOR BEST SET: Steve Earle, Raul Malo, Amos Lee, Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts, and Common.

    More details will emerge this week. For now, I rest!