Let me be
the first to state the obvious; there is no way Zilker Park holds up for two
straight weekends of a festival. So do yourself a favor and get out to Austin’s
otherwise awesome park for the first weekend of ACL so that you are not caught
in a mud/dirt fest in week 2 and you don’t miss the surprise hologram that is Freddy
Mercury during Muse’s performance!
I’ve had
quite a few friends ask me what I think of the lineup this year and my answer
is simply this; it’s great if you’re over the age of 40 or have never been to
ACL before. But for the rest of us it's the same ole same ole. For the oldies in the house
you have Depeche Mode and The Cure. I can’t hate on The Cure because 90% of the
bands I like wouldn’t be around if it were for them and it will be cool to see
Robert Smith and his Edward Scissorhands hairdo live. Depeche Mode…meh. I mean, I
had guaranteed access to their SXSW show but decided to get too drunk during
the day while chasing punk bands and free BBQ plates instead of seeing a band whose
best days are long gone. But I have respect for them so I’ll probably be in the
house.
In the “We’ve
played ACL 8000 times before category” lies Muse, put me to sleep Wilco, Kings
of Leon, Vampire Weekend, The National, Passion Pit, and Silversun Pickups just
to name a few. But after I looked over the entire
lineup, I actually had to concede the fact that ACL had the best lineup of all
the major festivals this year; that was until my friend reminded me that
Bonnaroo had R. Kelly and that ended that argument. Well played Bonnaroo…well
played!
The big act
that I’m excited to see is Muse, mainly because they are my favorite band and
they always put on a killer live show. If you have only heard their recorded
stuff, it pales in comparison how Matt rips his guitar live. Their new album
aside, they are a must see. Atoms For Peace is another act that excites me because it’s Thom Yorke and their album is
growing on me. Plus have you ever seen a black man inspired to dance by a goofy
white guy that's gyrating on stage? Well besides Carlton from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air that is. The National, Queens of the
Stoned Age, Arctic Monkeys, Kendrick Lamar, and Silversun Pickups are the other
obvious choices.
I will be
previewing a ton if acts as we get closer to the actual festival but here are
some under the radar bands to pop in. I've previewed Fidlar here before after
SXSW
I think
you definitely need to check them out in a weekend that's full of mellow and
fruity indie rock. This will definitely wake you up a bit and may even inspire
a mosh pit or two. Another band that is
similar to Fidlar is Parquet Courts. They aren’t as good but they're still
underground New York punk with a lead singer who sounds like a real life Max
Headroom meets a young Ben Stein. "Bueller? Bueller?" The baseline and the beats of
the drums are pretty basic but it’s punk
music so it’s supposed to be simple. I have seen them live before and about
half of their songs have you dancing around like an idiot but then the other half
have you standing there wondering why your beer is getting warm. I definitely
suggest checking them out but they get a rating of kind of WEAK.
Tame Impala
is another band to pop in on. They wont exactly blow you over with their
performances but they give you a refreshing take on psychedelic music by adding
a surfer pop element to it. Elephant is a direct rip from Deep Purple and The Beatles
but it’s a fun song. Solitude is Bliss and Mind Mischief are a few cuts that
are a bit more progressive and seems to set them apart. In the end I can’t really give a psychedelic band a
rating of fresh because after a while it starts to sound like every other psych band you've heard in the past, but
that’s the nature of the style and I can’t really blame them for that. So they get a
rating of kind of WEAK.
Last preview
for today is D’Angelo. I never thought that I would be writing a preview for
him as an up and comer to check out but it’s like that saying with sex; if you’ve
gone so long without having it, it’s like you’re a virgin again. I was in grade
school when he first broke out and he almost single handedly saved RnB music.
This is around the time when Soul music was morphing into full blown hip hop
and you had Puff Daddy dancing in everyone’s videos. And by the time his second album and masterpiece
Voodoo came out, everyone was emulating Missy Elliot and doing weird dances in
their videos. Thankfully his Neo-soul movement reminded you of old school
Marvin in his heyday and all of his tracks had live instruments that had a jazz
feel to it. Missing were all of the over produced beats with awful samples. It also didn’t hurt that he looked like a real life black statue of David; but that eventually lead to his downfall. He didn’t know how to handle all
of the attention he was getting and that led to him becoming an alcoholic. Well, it seems like he’s
back on track now and I would strongly suggest seeing his shows while you have the
opportunity because what he brings live rivals what you see at a Erykah Badu
show with its sexual energy. D’Angelo is definitely FRESH but I will not be
bringing a date to this show as I do not want her looking at me like I’m a
scrub after seeing him.
More
previews to come.
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