Austin City Limits review

Where else can you have a 20 minute introductory talk with a cute girl while waiting for your favorite band to come on stage in a park that’s about a 10 minute bike ride from your house; only to come to the realization later on in the night that you’ve actually dated this same girl about 5 years earlier? This is just one of the many good and terrible stories that came out of this past weekend’s Austin City Limits music festival. Was I on drugs, you ask? No, but just when I had decided that maybe slamming Jim Beam at a show by myself wasn’t the best idea; some girl said that she couldn’t wait to hear Muse play Time is Running Out off of their first album (incorrect)and then asked who Bonnie Riot was? They were showing a video of Bonnie Raitt right before the show.  It was at this point I decided that hard liquor was actually a necessity for my sanity! But anyway, here is a list of the best, the worst, and the unnecessary moments from each day of a wonderful weekend.

FRIDAY

The Best : This was tough as there were a number of great moments from this day, but the top belongs to The Artic Monkeys and their powerful set. It didn’t matter that Alex Turner looked like a porn star from the 70’s with his gold shirt, slicked back hair, and gyrating hips. He and his mates demanded your attention the second you heard the opening riff of Do I Wanna Know, which is from their new album AM. It feels as though this album finally encapsulates all the characteristics of the band with its confidence, sexiness, and charisma. And that certainly came across on stage as they took their time in between songs; the band knew that they owned us the minute they walked on stage and started ripping through their hits. They of course played I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor, Fluorescent Adolescent, Brainstorm, and rocked it out with the closer R U Mine. The entire crowd felt the energy of the band and danced the entire way through.

The Worst : This moment belongs to ACL and their lack of preparation. Earlier in the day, the sound went out midway through Fidlar’s set, but thankfully they were able to get it figured it out and fixed rather quickly. Well you would hope that they wouldn’t allow this to happen during one of their headliners sets but wouldn’t you know it, it happened twice during Muse’s performance. Right when they were about to break out into the heaviest part of their opening song, the entire stage blew up and there was no sound, no video, and no light show! It was embarrassing for the band, their fans, and the festival as they had to call the band off of the stage as they were unaware of the fact that everything was down. Ok, so mistakes happen and after about 20 minutes they finally figured things out, but for it to happen again at a similar moment during their encore is just ridiculous. Due to the sound ordinance, they could only let them play for so long over the ten o’clock cut off, so we missed out on quite a bit of their original setlist. And this is really a downer as Muse finally remembered that they had some fans that were with them from the beginning and they played old favorites like Plug in Baby, Stockholm Syndrome, and Hysteria. Oh well, once again ACL proves that it is the nation’s 4^th best music festival.

The Unnecessary : For a while I thought this moment clearly belonged to the kid that said to me “Excuse me mister” as he and his friend ran past me. Mister??? Do I really look like an old man to these kids? It’s not like I was one of these lames who brings a lawn chair to a festival. I quickly got over this as I noticed that every white male that was at ACL was wearing a bandanna around their head. What is with this trend? Is it the new headband? Did they watch one too many Tupac videos growing up? Keep in mind that he had his tied together in the front. I was about to openly clown these people but then it came to my attention that my buddy happened to be wearing one as well.  Ugh, oh well on to day 2.

SATURDAY

The Best : This one is tough as Joy Formidable put on as rocking of a set as anyone that day. And it looked like they clearly enjoy playing with one another as they were smiling and joking with each other during extended riffs. It felt like we were holding them up from grabbing a Boddington’s at Happy Hour the second 5 o’clock hit. But the night clearly belonged to Kendrick Lamar. I’ve never heard any artist at ACL have their name chanted by the entire crowd while they were still on stage. He is at the top of his game and you could tell that we were all craving some hip hop as literally 80% of the festival was there for his set.   I don’t think he’s ever seen that many white people holding up cell phones in his life. Made for a really cool scene.

The Worst : This belongs to ACL for only giving us a one token punk band (Fidlar), one true electronic artist (Kaskade) and one true hip hop act (Kendrick). I know they want to keep the old people (because they have money) coming but old people will die sooner than later. Please don’t let this become a K-Lite festival where they have a Luby’s food trailer and a Tag Your Teeth booth.

The Unnecessary : This goes to both the Verve Pipe and to me! What’s with the Verve Pipe being creepy and singing songs to kids? I know they have to pay the bills somehow but why not just do what the Toadies do? Just tour the same album over and over again. I know so many people that would show up just to hear the Freshman. This is my fault for not gathering a posse and demanding that they at least play that song. We could kick those little kids out of the way or lure them away by playing FUN. songs.

SUNDAY

The Best : Atoms for Peace stole the show this weekend. I love everything Radiohead does but I didn’t quite know what to expect from Thom’s side project as I wasn’t that blown away by the AMOK album. Well, you should know that the album sounds incredible live! I don’t know if it’s the fact that Flea is jumping around like a madman while still being able to play complex bass rhythms, the fact that so many instruments went into recreating the sound live, or the fact that the band plays so well together. But as I finally got out of my own experience for a quick second, I could see that everyone around me was dancing and in utter disbelief as to what they were actually witnessing. Thom didn’t disappoint either as he brought his usual energy and beautiful voice. And he even treated his loyal fans to a rendition of the song he did with DJ Shadow, Rabbit in Your Headlights; a song I thought I would never hear live! He also threw in a Radiohead B side.

The Worst : This would normally belong to people wearing ear plugs to an outside show but the fact that Phoenix was on a smaller stage takes the cake. I personally didn’t care as I wanted to see Tame Impala anyway but I was clearly in the minority. When I finally made it over to the stage Phoenix was playing on, I was so far back that I could barely see the screen playing the actual show. So needless to say the sound wasn’t that great either. I know that Lionel Richie was playing after them but given where this band is now, you should never be at a point to where you’re two football lengths away from seeing them.  Give their fans a bigger stage so they can actually enjoy the experience.

The Unnecessary :  Once again this moment belongs to me. I was quite fortunate to have a mom that forced me to listen to Lionel Richie records (yes actual records) when I was a kid; so naturally I raced on over to Lionel’s stage just in time to hear a few Commodores hits, Hello, and All Night Long. I really expected there to be only like 20 people there but was pleasantly surprised to see thousands upon thousands! I was so excited that I started jumping around like an idiot with my hoodie over my head and in the process scaring every white person that saw me! I thought we might be in for another Trayvon situation! Too soon? Oh well at least the weather was nice.

Hope to see you out there this weekend!