ACL: Lessons Learned

The three-day, 130 band musical bacchanal that is the Austin City Limits festival has come and gone. Here are some things I learned:

• Mel’s not a fan of the music festival. “Sometimes, you can stand in one place, and hear three bands you don’t like at the same time!” She apologized several times, and then went home, to sit in the dark.
• Thank God for the Kaiser Chiefs. Right before we left, we saw them … we were up front, against the rail, and they rocked it up real good. Best set of the festival for me. Lots of good, shouty rock, punctuated with fist-throwing.
• Best discovery of the fest: Will Hoge. Good live set, especially if you like the Springsteen-esque blues-based rocker / smart lyrics / Americana / “I’m looking at you, Black Crowes” sound. And - indeed - I do.
• Best song of the festival: Paolo Nutini’s ‘New Shoes’. Sounded damn good in the middle of a field, on a sunny day.
• I love Boomerangs, and they’re great festival food. First of all … “meat pie.” What’s not to like there? Also, they make them in such a way that the crust is durable enough to withstand a pocket, and yet still tasty — useful if you’re getting a bunch, and beers, and then going to find your friends.
• Tip: if you’re a band, consider changing your set for the big, outdoors festival. That slow, emotive, soulful tune that works inside, on a stage, at night? … It turns into “let’s get beer and chat!” time outside, during the day. Have a little empathy for the audience, and keep things moving for the 30-45 minutes you’ve got there.
• Bob Dylan. I admire him, I get it, he’s an astonishing songwriter with a phenomenal band. Voice of a generation, blah, blah, blah. Still - not much of a live show for me. Hey, Bob! … we’ve over here, man. Say ‘hi’ or something. I mean: Willie’s as old as dirt, and he somehow still manages to look like he enjoys what he does for a living. Is the bar too high there? … Alternately, be the old grouchy guy who hates what we’ve become. (God knows, somebody should.) … Just, I don’t know, do something.
• That said, I can’t imagine the price of being Bob Dylan. You’ve got fans who consider you a piece of God; then you’ve got people who come to your show expecting a religious moment, who are bound to be disappointed. Either would be hard to deal with, day after day, and Bob’s been doing that for 40 years.

Austin City Limits, Day 1

One of the many bitchin’ things about living in Austin is that a whole lot of cool bands show up within stumbling distance of my home.

Today, for instance, we’ve got the first day of Austin City Limits, one of the best festivals in the nations.

My schedule is after the jump.

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