Austin City Limits music festival-who'd you see?

Cafe Society
1

I spent the vast majority of my weekend at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, which was awesome. It was like taking a vacation, except I could sleep in my own bed at night. My friends and I fit in everyone we wanted to see, who included:

REM-they were the main reason I wanted to go.

Ween-not a bad way to kill an hour while waiting for REM

Yo La Tengo-I’d never heard them before. I’d happily buy some of their CDs now, and their Temptations-style number was hilarious.

Lucinda Williams

The Shins-I wanted to see them because I vaguely remembered an local article praising them. I want their CDs now.

The Gourds

Bright Eyes

The Derailers

Old 97’s-I’d never seen them live, so I’d never realized that a) the lead singer is really cute, b) the bass player looks like Stephen King wearing Harry Potter’s glasses and c) the guitarist bears a passing resemblence to Mr. Bean. Great show.

The tribute to Johnny Cash that took the place of Rosanne Cash’s set. Very moving.

Drive-By Truckers-we saw them on the spur of the moment because I was incredibly impressed with their covers of “I Walk the Line” and “Give My Love to Rose” at the Johnny Cash tribute. Great band.

The Damnations

Shawn Colvin-I’d only heard “Sunny Came Home” before. Wonderful music, and she seems like a really cool person. Her little daughter and three other girls came up to dance on stage for one of her songs. Adorable.

Liz Phair-I’d never heard any of her stuff before, and would like to hear more now. I wish I could have been in two places at once so I could catch Steve Earle’s set at the same time.

The Mavericks-one of the other reasons I wanted to go. They should travel with their own portable dance floor.

Del Castillo

Dwight Yoakum-the other reason I wanted to go. Awesome. No encores due to Austin’s noise restrictions.

2

I really wish I could have been there - it sounds like a time and a half. I know that a couple of friends of mine were there for R.E.M., but I don’t know who else they saw yet.

3

Yeah, ACL was a good time. I missed Sunday because I ate something bad. Who knew that the sanitary conditions at an outdoor music festival would be less than ideal?

Fionn, we saw a lot of the same shows.

I saw:

Damnations: Quite good.
Shawn Colvin: Also good. I’ve seen her before. She brought a bunch of kids on stage to dance while she sang. She opened with Donovan’s “Catch the Wind”
Liz Phair: She was okay. Her voice was lost in the mix. I left her to see…
Steve Earle: He’s good.
W.C. Clark: The Godfather of Austin blues. And loud. I had to leave after 40 minutes to keep my eardrums in tact.
J.T. Van Zandt: Townes son. He’s got talent. He isn’t as good as his dad, but he definitely has talent, and a good stage rap.
Steve Winwood: Incredible show. He could have closed the night. He played for an hour and left everyone wanting more. Played Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, and solo stuff. Just fantastic.
I was gonna see Al Green to close the first night, but I was bushed at this point. I had a three day pass and didn’t want to overextend.

Saturday
Gourds: Always a good show.
South Austin Jug Band: These guys are great. I wonder if they can expand beyond being Austin favorites.
Asleep at the Wheel: Another highlight. Ray Benson is awesome. I love western swing. Good music that everyone can enjoy.
Dandy Warhols: I thought these guys were a pop band, like Big Star. But they are more Velvet Underground than anything. They were good. I’ll have to buy some of their music. They had a good line as the rain started during their set: “In Oregon, we have over 100 different names for rain.”
Johnny Cash Tribute: Tift Merrit, Old 97’s, Drive By Truckers, Ray Benson. Was there anyone else? Good little show. Only 40 minutes, though. Wish it were longer. I liked watching the Johnny Cash appearance on ACL they showed on the big screen. I would have seen Los Lobos at this point, but I was curious as to who would show up for the tribute.
Jimmy LaFave: Another great singer. He’s a cross between Bob Dylan and your garden variety bluesman. Soulful voice. I’d love to see him hit it big, but he’s in his 40s now, and doesn’t really aim his music at the youngsters.
Mason Jennings: I was looking for a buddy of mine, who said he would be at this show. He wasn’t. Mason was pretty good.
Ruthie Foster: Probably the best show at the Fest this year. Just trancendant. She played in a covered place with seats. Seats were useless, because she had us all up on our feet. Dancing. Waving our hands, singing with her. If you watch ACL on PBS, look for her this October. She just filmed an episode. She should be really famous if there is any justice in the world. Think a mixture of Janis Joplin, Tracey Chapman and Terri Hendrix. She’s great. Really great.

I went home at this point. Something I ate was wrecking havoc with my innards. I had planned to see Bob Schneider, Lucinda Williams, Jack Johnson, and Ben Harper on Sunday, but couldn’t.

This is just an outstanding music festival, people. I ran into people from Florida and California who came just for the festival. I met someone from Australia who had planned his visit to the U.S. around this event. It’s only in its second year, but has to be one of the best in the country.

4

I didn’t go to ACL but I did see the Shins the night before. I’m a total fan - Oh, Inverted World is their first full length and it’s chock full of instant classics. Their next, Chutes too Narrow, is out Oct. 21st. It’s also spectacular, maybe more, don’t ask how I know.

5

Man, what an incredible weekend.

Friday:
Steve Earle and the Dukes
The Mavericks
Steve Winwood
Al Green - AL GREEN! Admittedly, the audience did more of the singing that he did, but it was AL GREEN!

Saturday:
The Gourds
Asleep at the Wheel
Johnny Cash Tribute- very touching, the video for Hurt is probably the saddest ever

6

Sheesh.

The rest of Saturday:
Patty Griffin - her stream of expletives after having forgotten the lyrics was hilarious
Nickel Creek

Sunday:
The Shins
Lucinda Williams - I wasn’t a fan before, but I definitely am now.

Then around 3:30 a friend of mine and I set up camp about 30 feet away from the stage and stayed put for REM- I am glad we did, because not only did we secure ideal seats, but I got to hear Yo La Tengo. They were great and their bit about N’Sync was terribly funny.

Saw Ween, but could have gone without.

And then REM. They performed Fall On Me, my favorite REM song of all time- I’ve never heard it performed live before and it was definitely worth sitting with the Ween fanatics. :wink:

I thought it was a great balance of old and new- Begin the Begin was a great surprise, as was Walk Unafraid.

Evidently there was a 10pm curfew for the shows- Friday night Al Green said he wasn’t going to stop, but did, and over on the Cingular stage Dwight Yoakam was unable to do an encore because of it, but REM barreled right on through. And lucky for us, since they did a wonderful rendition of Nightswimming.
I am definitely going back next year.