I just got home from ACL. 130 bands. 3 days. I’ve never experienced such concentrated sick insane awesomeness. Buckle down…. I made a 50 hour road trip for this business, so I hope you can bear with me as I do my best to summarize the epic journey in all its splendor. better late than never!
First, this happened on the bike ride to the park: I bumped into an Austin Icon LESLIE impersonator and he tried to eat the Audio Muffin Logo off of my tshirt.
We arrived at the park, jumped off our bikes, and tied them up just as The Low Anthem was getting its start onstage. The day was bright and sunny, the grass was fresh and green and soft, and the park was expansive with stages at every corner. We hurried over and caught an apology that was made for the slow low tempo songs. However the crowd was a tiny fraction of what it would be at later points, and the quiet melody wasn’t lost on the group that had gathered. I about lost my shit with the closing song, a classic tune “Cigarettes, Whiskey and Wild Wild Women”. Clarinet player and bassist Jocie’s big harmony was a little teeny bit tear inducing… I mean – I’m an emo wreck when it comes to live performances… but really y’all her big voice was BIG. I’m a dedicated fan after this very surprising show, and I can’t wait to catch The Low Anthem on tour with another Favorite, Blind Pilot. They’ll perform in both Asheville and Chapel Hill NC, early November!
The Low Anthem – Charlie Darwin
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One stage over and we had arrived at the Blitzen Trapper act just in time. I was especially excited for this show, I felt like my brother would really enjoy this band. We got relatively close and I merrily fell in love with the little Bob Dylanesque lead singer with his harmonica and his curly head of hair. I’m such a girl, can’t help it. The performance was great, no big surprises, just a solid show.
Blitzen Trapper – Not Your Lover God I love music that hints at discontent
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As you know, we are huge Avett Brothers fans and for as long as they holler and harmonize I’ll never tire of seeing these boys perform, never.ever.ever. This was the first time I saw them outside of our great state of NC and though it was not the typical experience, I still think they swooned the crowd. It was a nice mix of old and new songs and wasn’t remiss of any of the usual foot stomping banjo string breaking energy that I feared we may lose once they went a bit more mainstream. God I love these boys. I don’t care if the American Idol judges produce their next album, I’ll gladly gobble up any new material they put out.
Avett Brothers – January Wedding
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Avett Brothers – It Goes On and On
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Phoenix… Holy Shit. I mean. First of all, let me state that this was the largest concentration of cool kids that I’ve ever seen. Baby Hipsters flocked to the stage in their neon jeans and wayfarers, inspiring me to stay back and love the Levar Burton looking drummer from afar. We took a seat at the edge of the crowd and enjoyed the show from the comfort of the grass (thus the pic of the band on the jumbotron). It was pretty moving still. You could really feel the love and awe that lead singer, Thomas Mars was emanating as he thanked the ‘largest crowd ever played”. And he kinda shocked me by jumping off the stage and right into the mobs of crazed teenyhipsters. Okay, fine I was moved to the point of chills and tears, yet again. Second time. First Day. Catch Train’s recent Phoenix Post here
K’Naan was a FAIL for us by this point in the day. We kinda heard Fatima, the crowd was too large. I have a feeling we will be hearing more about K’Naan in the Muffin future.
Andrew Bird was just beautiful. Beautiful. I met up with Austinite friend Bregii and fam for this show. Happily stood back with them and soaked in a mellow soundtrack to the festival at dusk. We exchanged our awe over his ability to whistle (into a mic!!!!) unlike anything we’d ever heard before. I bid farewell to my friends and ended up with a much closer spot by the end of the set, which afforded me this fantastic fuzzy pic. Andrew Bird is a man of many talents. He was perfect.
And speaking of decisions: Kings of Leon and YYYs happened at the same time and we saw Kings of Leon. I could give two shits. I decided that I don’t like them anymore. Eddie Vedder came out onstage to clap some tambourines together, I suppose in support of some weird shit that happened, that had prompted Calebwhatshisname to make some strange “we don’t give a F if you like us or not, we are proud of ourselves” comment… I dunno, it was weird. and I was tired with a lower back that wished it was sacrificing its 8th hour standing for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs…. Poor choice. Biggest regret of the festival. Plus if Phoenix was the collective magnet for all hipsters, this was surely the same for all the douchebags at day one of the festival.
Okay, so Day One was a BIG DAY. It was also the BEST DAY. Day TWO was super wet and cold and a little more difficult.
The Virgins were an awesome kickstart to a rainy Saturday. This lead singer guy has some serious showmanship and some pretty awesome green eyeliner, which you can’t see, but I could. And it ran down his face, and he was awesome with his little dancy moves and his hand on his hip. I want to see them again sometime.
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Grizzly Bear was symphonic. I had no idea how much arrangement went into their sound until I saw them perform, each of the four guys weaving their voices in and out, each of them a super talent with their instrument. We were pretty close and you could feel the music so much that I had to hold my chest to feel right, and it felt amazing.
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Bon Iver – Totally LOVED him. He killed Day Two with his ambient falsetto. It was kind of a perfect feeling to go along with the grey wet day and we were soaking wet for the 4th hour and kinda miserable. I REALLY wanted to see him perform the AutoTuned recording, Woods, from the recent EP, I thought if I wished it hard enough it would happen… but no such luck. However, I do think that the weather happened just to make me appreciate him more. I wanna be his next NC heartbreak that he writes an album for. “For Bootsy, Who’s Emma?”
photos by Brian Leli
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After Bon Iver I was so fulfilled (and soaked to the core) that we made yet another tough decision and traded the Decemberists and Ghostland Observatory for dry clothes and cold beers.
The most notable thing about day 3 was the mud. I can’t even remember who I saw except the Dodos (who were actually a teeny bit disappointing) and I had to choose between Dirty Projectors and Passion Pit, and WOW that Passion Pit crowd was RETARDED HUGE. We went and waited an hour before the show started for a decent spot. We still weren’t close. Check out this brief video clip for an idea of the size of the crowd.
Passion Pit – SleepyHead Yes Giantess REMIX – cause Yes Giantess is the SHIT.
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Whew! If you’ve made it to the end of this post, you might possibly feel as exhausted as I felt by the end of Sunday’s Dead Weather show. F Austin City Limits Music Festival!
You sound like the funnest person to go to a festival with. We’ll have to do that sometime.
That Passion Pit crowd is fuckin’ insane!!
And I’ve seen the Kings of Leon three times now, all on accident, and all three times they were whack.
Sounds like an epic weekend, wish I could have been there! I def need to see Grizzly Bear and the Avett Brothers live at some point in my life…
p.s. your Muffin shirt is outstanding.
TWSS!
and for those who aren’t in the know…
That’s What She Said!
Yes!! Thank you. We should do this AudioMuffin Author round up at Coachella, or whichever festival is easiest to get everyone together.
Also, I’m pretty set on attending SXSW in 2010. Austin seems to be the perfect backdrop. Just seems like Musicians love to be a part of such an infected music city.
Thanks for the T-shirt compliments! Anyone want one?
that was long. i’m jealous.
y’all need a muffin that lives in austin..i mean, I live in austin…i’m just sayin’.
What an epic post. I need to hit up a festival at some point. Grizzly Bear live sounds like an amazing time. Good thing I live in NYC.
That photo of you and Leslie may turn out to be one of his last…he’s in the hospital in “grave” condition. I am super sad because I went to ACL and didn’t see him there. Then I find out about this. Pull through Les! http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=255328&SecID=2
I finally got to catch up on my Muffins following my trip to Baja and wow, this is an epic post Bootsy. Awesome pics and great songs, sounds like a weekend to remember. bravo
I went in 2009 am going again this week. Loved it so much am making the trip from Canada again. I agree totally about Phoenix. YYY’s were great. Suprised about your take on K’naan. Love “fatima” and thought it was a good show.