Our trip to ACL's 10th anniversary was amazing, fun, and a nice bit of R&R from the move back to SoCal. Here are a few highlights, and low points, from the weekend!
First, we got to spend the weekend with Allison and Fred, which were great partners in crime for the festival!
Friday, day 1:
The Secret Sisters: Terrific sister duo that sings great Country Music. Great way to kick off the festival. They did a fair amount of covers, but their song "Tennessee Me" has just the right amount of charm.
Delta Spirit: An Allison pick. The lead singer is from a band we like, Middle Brother, and we decided to give a listen to an alt-country act from Long Beach. Fred picked up a CD after the festival, and we are certainly looking forward to hearing more.
Ray LaMontagne: Finally got to see him. Good set, but the highlight was the Secret Sisters joining him for a version of "Mama Tried"
Cold War Kids: as good as advertised.
Bright Eyes: one of my favorite sets of the weekend. A lot of songs from the album I'm Wide Awake it's Morning, which was a bonus. Molly and I both love the song Traveling Song, and we got to hear it live, together.
Kanye West: Amazing! Probably would not have seen Kanye otherwise, and was bummed when we had to leave other(Parking garage where we ended up was closing earlier then we anticipated) got to song along to "Golddigger" with a few other 1,000 people which was nice. On the way out somebody told us that all the people at the Kanye stage were thugs, not knowing I was at that show. So I guess, ummm, Thug Life, represent?
We missed Coldplay for Kanye, and were a little bummed to miss The Smith Westerns as well.
Saturday, Day 2
Early morning start, but we got to see a little more music.
Antlers: good set, but a little somber to start the day.
The Belle Brigade: terrific brother/sister act. Their song Loser(not a Beck cover) is pretty darn good.
So about now it starts to rain, the day takes an odd crowded turn.
Young The Giant: my favorite discovery of the weekend, picked up a CD before we left Austin.
For the last couple of acts we had selected a spot between two stages so we could see all of these acts. At first it was fine, but after Young the Giant it got really crowded. We couldn't really go anywhere and people were all over the place. It was a bit unnerving.
Iron & Wine: odd electric set by Iron & Wine, not what I was expecting. It was hard to really enjoy this set, the crowds were just overwhelming. Allison left midway through to go get My Morning Jacket autographs.
Oh and it's still raining.
Fitz & the Tantrums: yes! Great fun, and a terrific cover of "steady as she goes"
Rain stops, and we head to a smaller stage for one of our highlights of the weekend!
Wanda Jackson: you know what rocks? An 80 year old ex of Elvis that sings Rockabilly! And covers Amy Winehouse to boot. What an amazing talent, and what a great treat to get to see her play live.
We did a quick swing by to see TV on the Radio, on the way to the evening's headliners!
My Morning Jacket: they did not disappoint, the best just pure Rock concert experience of the weekend. For the final part of their set they brought the preservation hall jazz band on stage, which made a great set even better!
Molly and I left My Morning Jacket to head over and catch a song by the evening's other headliner, Stevie Wonder. Who knew Stevie would be so political, and curse so much! It was kinda awesome.
After the festival the four of us headed to Casino El Camino on 6th Street for some burgers. Even though it was a 45 minute wait, and we didn't eat until midnight, it was well worth the wait!
Sunday, Day 3
We started the day with Breakfast at Magnolia with Paige and Althea! It was great to see a very pregnant Paige, 9 months and 2 weeks, just wish we could have spent more time with her. Sadly, we didn't get to see J.T.. Paige's parent's house was destroyed in the Bastrop fires, and J.T. was out helping them clean up the mess.
It's a lot hotter today then it has been all weekend.
The head and the heart: Their first album has been a constant on my iPod or in my car over the last couple of months, and they did not disappoint! I get a little chocked up just hearing the line, "my roots have grown, but I don't know where they are..."
Our first casualty, Molly is completely overwhelmed by the heat, and decides to call it a festival and head back to the hotel. (she looks like she made the better choice at days end when she comes back to retrieve the rest of us)
Airborne Toxic Event: Great Act! They had a lot of fun talking about getting hassled by the police, and then did a cover of "I fought the law". They will head back into regular rotation for me.
Did I mention it's hot? Allison, Fred, and I head for the shade of the food court to try to cool off a little bit.
Ryan Bingham & the dead horses: if in TX, you have to add in a little country. The set was good, but I can only imagine the guys on stage were suffering the heat almost as much as we were in the audience in front of the stage.
Caught just a little bit of Elbow as we were setting up for the next act.
Fleet Foxes: I love Fleet Foxes. They did not translate well in the heat, from the distance we were from the stage. I'll just have to continue listening to the albums.
Allison decided to stay behind and save our seats, so Fred and I headed over to the next act.
Hayes Carll: boy you ain't a poet, just a drunk with a pen. So sad we couldn't make it through the full set, because this was good stuff! Hopefully he'll make his way out to lala land soon!
Arcade Fire: last show of the festival did not disappoint! 90 minutes of pure pop-rock goodness. Anyone that is not a fan need only to see them live. Great end to 3 days of mostly fun... And some rain... And some unruly crowds... But mostly just good old fashioned rock n' roll fun!
Monday, just worth a note, Allison got to the airport and the folks from Arcade Fire were on her flight. Fred, Molly, and I (after a quick stop at Waterloo Records) got to the airport and found out The Airborne Toxic Event and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin) were on our flight! Very Rock n' Roll to fly coach with the band!
