 I've compiled my blog entries here with some additional
commentary about my time at ACL Fest. I spent day one and day two at the festival while James Grayson covered day three. Would I have been able to make it for all three days? The inner child in me says yes. My 36 year old legs say no. But I had a really great time and saw quite a bit. Here's my recap of my two days at ACL Fest 2007.
Day One
Day one of ACL Fest was full of surprises and a little tragedy. A propane
tank exploded and injured two service personnel in the afternoon. At one point,
the fire was higher than the trees. The two men were rushed to Brooks
Army Medical Center
in San Antonio, the best burn
center in the United States.
So I'm sure they'll be OK. It's just a shame that something like this would
happen at ACL Fest. But we were on our way to the festival nonetheless.
My wife and I tried to outsmart the traffic situation by getting a great
parking spot on 6th Street
and hailing a cab to take us to Barton Springs Road.
But it wasn't meant to be. The cabbie explained that all cabs had to drop
people off near where the buses drop people off, so we basically paid $15 to
take the bus route. Kinda blew...
The weather was great and although it was a little on the hot side, it
wasn't "last-year hot." We caught a bunch of great shows including
LCD Soundsystem, the Kaiser Chiefs, and the Killers. But the best performance,
by far, was LCD Soundsystem, who really brought it. These guys friggin' rocked Zilker
Park. And although their
performance might have been aided by a night-time setting, they didn't let up
from beginning to end. James Murphy seemed pretty intent on getting the fans to
forget about the heat and dance, something the entire crowd were pleased to do.
From "North American Scum" to "All My Friends" to "Daft
Punk is Playing in My House," James Murphy and company translated the
techno music into a rocking force. And the drummer plus Murphy, in particular,
worked overtime, banging the skins of their respective kits like crazy. It was
the kind of performance that made my wife and I pull out LCD Soundsystem on the
way home, pop it in the CD player, and just say "Wow. They rocked!"
I'll be buying some more of their music in the very near future.
The next set up for us was the Killers. We staked a claim with our chairs
about 45 minutes before their set. Of all the bands playing at ACL Fest, this
was the one my wife was looking forward to seeing the most. So she gave me a
kiss and was off to the front of the stage. I stayed pat in our chairs with a
couple of friends of mine, although they eventually bailed to go check out
Bjork. The Killers put on a pretty good show. They played some spot-on versions
of their hit songs like "When You Were Young" and "Read My
Mind." Although it seemed like their set sagged in the middle, they
concluded with an excellent version of one of their best songs "All These
Things That I've Done." Pretty good show, in my opinion, though nothing
compared to the energy of LCD Soundsystem.
After the Killers, I was up to seeing Bjork but our friends said she blew.
So we decided to call it a night. The bus line was a mile long and the taxi
area was busting at the seams. I guess a lot of people thought Bjork blew too.
So instead of waiting, we walked from Barton Springs
Road to 4th and Guadalupe, a pretty good hike. We
hopped in our car and concluded our night with a few cocktails at The Tavern, a
fine place to end a fine day.
Day Two
I started day two of ACL Fest a bit earlier than day one. I had an interview
with Dax Riggs scheduled for 3:30.
So I hung out in the media tent for a while, talking to a few of the singers we
interviewed. Butch Walker was there
with 101X DJ Toby Ryan. We
interviewed Butch a few weeks ago so I introduced myself and took a quick photo of him. Nice dude!
A spoke to Toby Ryan for a bit too. I knew he was a big Muse fan and since
they were moved to the headliner spot since the White Stripes cancelled their
appearance, I asked him if he was going to check them out tonight. He said he
was and that they were going to bring the full-on light show. I realized I had
my interview to do and told Toby I had to go interview Dax Riggs. He leaned over and told me, "He's a TOUGH
interview. He doesn't talk much." And I thought, "Shit." I was
already nervous as it was but knowing that he wouldn't be talkative kind of
freaked me out a bit. I had a big lump in my stomach.
I introduced myself to Dax and asked him if he wanted to sit down. We both sat
on a table underneath one of the tents. And the funny thing was, once I asked
him the first question, he talked nonstop for twenty minutes! The nicest dude,
really. Very passionate and articulate about his music. A great interview to
say the least. It should be ready for the next issue.
After my interview with Dax, I was off to find my wife and check out Blue
October.
***
I saw Blue October for some of their set. They're hometown boys and seemed
glad to be playing in front of their home crowd. But after a few songs, my wife
and I had a hankering for some fish tacos. We got a couple of Wahoo Fish Tacos
and sat in the shade under a tall oak tree. It got almost unbearably hot. But
the shade and ice water we had did wonders for us. We were ready to stake a
claim for the Arctic Monkeys set.
The Arctic Monkeys played South by Southwest last year to a huge amount of
hype. And I heard that they were supposedly kind of disappointing. No matter
what, it's hard to live up to mythological expectations. Their debut album was
fantastic. And so is their follow-up, Favorite Worst Nightmare. But despite
what I heard about the SXSW show, I was pretty anxious to see them anyway.
They
took the stage at 6:35 and came out with guns blazing. Playing tight and
with vicious ferocity, they rocked the crowd into a bouncing frenzy. Playing
several songs off of Favorite Worst Nightmare, they opened with "This House
is a Circus" and then ripped through "Ted Picker,"
"Brianstorm," and "Balaclava." They
played a handful of songs from their first record like "I Bet You Look
Good on the Dancefloor" and "Fake Tales of San Francisco." And
for the full hour, they pleased the crowd and their fans. Maybe they had a bad
night at SXSW last year. Or maybe a music journalist who wrote about that show
was having a bad night. As far as I'm concerned, they met all of my
expectations and more. They friggin' rocked!
Afterwards, I was off to find some friends and wait for a spot to watch
Muse.
***
After taking a break from the fantastic Arctic Monkeys show while drinking a
couple of beers, my friends and I staked a claim for the Muse show. Folks in
the crowd were decidedly disappointed that the White Stripes had cancelled
earlier in the week. That's all we heard leading up to the Muse show. But I had
also heard throughout that day that Muse puts on a great show with a lot of
flash. And knowing their music pretty well, I expected that their songs would
play well in front of such a large audience.
I hate to say it but, man, I was right. They put on a spectacle worthy of
any stadium show. Opening with "Knights of Cydonia" off of their
album Black Holes and Revelations, they weren't going to remind the
audience about the former headliner they were replacing. Now, I have to admit
that I have somewhat of a love / hate relationship with Muse. There are some
songs by Muse that just bend my ear. While they do have other songs that I
think are pretty amazing. But, and this is a resounding BUT, they really put on
a great show. And the few songs of theirs that annoyed me in the past were a
little more grandiose at this music festival. Plus, singer Matthew Bellamy can
really play the friggin' guitar and the piano. The guy just wowed the audience.
Compared to last year's Saturday night headliner Massive Attack (who really
laid an egg in the headliner spot), Muse was stupendous and a great band to
close the night. As much as I would have loved to see the White Stripes, Muse
was no consolation prize. They commanded the stage and stole the show. They
were a great act to end a great day at ACL Fest.
***
Unlike Friday night, we weren't about to hike from Barton
Springs Road all the way to 4th and Guadalupe. My
friends found a great spot at a sports bar right north of Zilker
Park. So it only took us about 15
minutes to walk to our car. Nice! Once inside the air-conditioned car, we
headed to Cuba Libre to end our evening. Surprisingly, we saw a lot of folks
from the festival partying downtown. Dressed in shorts and t-shirts and looking
sun-worn like us, we made our way into the usually upscale nightclub, smelling
sweaty but ready for fun. And we ended another evening on a high note.
I'm already looking forward to next year's ACL Fest.
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