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.

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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