Austin City Limits 2008

ACL was greatness... though by day 3 I had the most awful sunburn... I will be dressed like a nun for my next outdoor music fest!

Day 1- Vampire Weekend- They rocked! I love their whole vibe... Then I saw Jamie Lindell. He has a great voice. Very soulful, blue eyed soul... On my way to Hot Chip I heard a little Delta Spirit. I'm not sure if you've heard of Hot Chip, but they are GREAT! Music that makes you want to dance. I wish they played at night because they had what looked like awesome light displays, but you couldn't get the full impact in the day light. I stayed by that stage to hear N.E.R.D. They sounded awful! Even after I move from the side of the stage to the center of the stage, the sound was still bad. I'm not sure if they realized it though. Have you seen the movie Once? If you have, then you know of Swell Season. They are the couple who was in that movie. They won the Oscar for best song in a movie this year. They are amazing live. Buy that time the sun had gone down, there was a nice breeze coming through. The weather was pretty close to the way it was in Chicago.

Day 2- I began the day seeing Fleet Foxes. If you like America or Midlake, you will love them. They have a relaxing, soothing sound. They were crabby to start with; complaining about how early they were playing. But once the crowed filled in and they were getting into it, it was simpatico! After them, I went to see the Swedish born Jose Gonzales. He has a chill vibe also. Or maybe it was the contact high from all the weed that was being smoked around me. I crossed back through the park to see CSS. They are insanely fun! They mainly do dance music. They have one song, “Music is My Girlfriend,” that has been used in commercials. You may recognize that one. And then the first highlight of the weekend was my City and Colour. He’s a Canadian artist that I’ve heard a lot on XM Radio's the Verge station. He’s amazingly awesome. I love to see people who are better live then they are recorded. He has the voice of Jeff Buckley and I’m surprised that he’s not bigger here in the states. But his day is coming! Listen to anything by him, you will become a fan instantly! I heard a little Spiritualized while I was setting up to hear Conor Oberst. They were both okay. Even Iron & Wine disappointed! Beck was ho hum and we left in the middle of his set. He started strong with his hits, “Loser” and “Devil’s Haircut,” and what he played after that made me feel okay to walk away from his stage. I did get to listen to Robert Plant & Allison Krauss while I was waiting for the shuttle back to the car. I guess I should've gone to their stage. It's hard when there are two acts playing at the same time that you want to see. The thing that should have made me choose Plant & Krauss over Beck was the fact that it was very likely the only time to see them play live together.

Day 3-Let me preface this by saying that this is my first time doing all three days. I think that I’m too old for it and I got the worst sunburn. And yes, I know better then to go out with out sun block. My tank top felt like it was slicing into my shoulder. I made it to the park in time to see the Octopus Project. Another techno/dance band. Their stage was packed! They had people dancing and shaking their stuff. I went to see Adele, “Chasing Pavements”. But she wasn’t on her stage. So, I thought that maybe she traded times with the singer who was on stage. That was not the case. She cancelled three weeks before the show, and ACL never posted that information. Her name is even on the tee shirts! I was pissed! Seeing her would have been highlight number two, but no go. I decided to stay in one spot and listened to Gillian Welch. She does folk/ grass roots music. She’s good and Allison Krauss came out to do a trio during her set. But next was the super highlight of my weekend o music! STARS! They are from Canada and I’ve been waiting to hear them for months. The female lead in this band fills in for Feist in her first band, Broken Social Scene. Stars rocked my world… I didn’t want them to stop. Next was Neko Case. She’s great also. I did relax enough to take a nap. The weather was begging me to do it… I hadn’t really heard of Okkervil River, but I really like them. I wish I knew about them in August because they played at Lollapalooza. I stayed for a lil bit of the Rancouteurs. And then I went to see Galactic; a band that I’ve been into since 2000. They were 25+ mins late, so I left their stage to see the next highlight of the weekend, Band of Horses. Those guys are amazing. They played their hearts out. And I ended my weekend with the Foo Fighters. They were amazed at how big the festival was and how many people were there. I stood pretty close to the front. They were better then I thought they would be. Austin has it down! I took a shuttle all three days from downtown to the park and I never had to wait longer then 15 mins for a bus to pick up. They are having the shows the first weekend of October next year. The weather should be even better then it was this year. I can’t wait to do it all again. Wait to do two of the three days again!