Austin City Limits Festival

Ah, ACL Fest. Three days of music, peace and sunburns.

Amazingly enough, I managed to stay unburned even though I was out there almost every hour of the festival. My car, however, didn’t leave unscathed. (Tear. Tear.)

Wednesday morning, I had no prospects of actually attending the festival even though Tom Petty was closing the show out. And I love the Tom. He’s fuckin’ awesome.

Then my company decided to rent them some equipment and asked me if I would like to babysit it.

Well, alright!

So there I was. In the middle of a field with a bunch of people more hippie than me.

I showed up early on Friday, but had to leave for a little while. The little time that I spent there that morning made me feel like I was walking around Yasgur’s farm just before Woodstock really started up. It was kinda awesome.

When I got back the first band I saw was suggested to me by a buddy.

STARS is a Toronto power-pop band that, as much as I liked, I don’t remember too well. All I know is that I want to check out their albums.

Next up was GNARLS BARKLEY. I bought their album when it came out on the strength of their first single, “Crazy.” Of course, that’s gotten all kinds of over-exposure lately, but it’s still a great song.

The only problem is that their album, St. Elsewhere, is only about half an hour long. What can these guys do for a full hour?

Well, they answered that question when they came out all dressed in lab coats and booties playing Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science.” I’ve been a Dolby fan for a long time, so that made me all kinds of happy. Then they performed probably about half of the album (including their surprisingly faithful version of The Violent Femmes’ “Gone Daddy Gone”) plus a few covers that I didn’t recognize.

It was a great concert full of 70′s R&B remixed for a modern audience. If only more R&B artists were doing this sort of thing. Instead we get Beyonce and Usher.

For the next couple of hours I basically just walked around the grounds of Zilker Park taking in some of the artsy stuff on sale at the Soco Market (by the way, no true Austinite calls South Congress “Soco.” It’s just stupid.) and checking out what was to eat. I also stopped at the stage where Okkervil River were playing. Another band suggested by another friend, they were alright. But, since I’ve heard R.E.M.’s second album, Reckoning, a lot (and I think it’s their weakest early album), I moved on.

The headliner of the night and what I thought was going to be the highlight was VAN MORRISON. I’ve been a fan of his probably ever since I found out that the same guy who did “Brown Eyed Girl” also did “Domino” and “Gloria.” I’ve never seen him in concert…in fact I don’t think I’ve ever had the chance to see him. I can’t remember him ever coming to Austin.

What I forgot (and what most of the crowd forgot) is that his last two albums have been genre albums. 2005′s Magic Time was a crooner album in the vein of Sinatra while this year’s Devil To Pay was a country album through and through. Both were very good. Magic Time was more to my taste, but I don’t really like country, so there’s that.

A lot of the songs that he performed were from the later years. Not exactly his most popular recordings. No “Domino.” No “Blue Money.” But he did open with “Back On Top” and eventually did “Wild Night” and a revamped, extended “Moondance.” Then more obscure new stuff. Then he closed with “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Gloria.” I think if he hadn’t done those there probably would have been a riot.

Overall, it was a very good show. But, for a guy who has so many killer cuts, he did precious few of them. He focused a lot on newer stuff that no one really knows. I guess it’s more interesting for him, but that doesn’t make it as interesting for us. After all, if, when I saw Paul McCartney, all he had done were showtunes of the golden age of the musical, I would have been a little bit disappointed. But I still would have enjoyed it because it was Paul.

That night, walking away from the park down a closed off Barton Springs Rd. was like a march on Washington. I really wanted to start up a chorus of “Give Peace A Chance.” But I’m too much of a pussy to start singing all by myself.

Saturday started badly with my car wreck. I won’t get into that. It’s too horrible to recount in a music review. This ain’t no blog. Let’s just say that everyone is ok and the cars will be ok.

When I finally got to the park, I set up my chair and sat in the shade near the AT&T stage. I couldn’t see the acts, but I could hear them pretty damn well.

BEN KWELLER, whom I had just heard of the night before when I logged onto MySpace to check my messages. They touted him as being at the same point in his career as Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen were at when they were just about to become bigger stars than they already were. I had to hear him, so I listened to the only track that would work and I liked it alright.

He took the stage a little late due to technical difficulties, but rocked through a song from his new eponymous album. (Don’t remember which one.) Then his nose started bleeding…apparently profusely. He asked the crowd for a tampon, which he got plenty of. He stuffed one up his nose and then proceeded to play two more songs before he apologized and had to leave the stage. He seemed to feel really awful for only being able to play three songs before a little blood forced him off the stage.

What I heard was pretty good. He takes his cues from the classic rockers, but I don’t know that he sounds much like Tom or Bruce. But what he was able to get out from under his bloody nose was delivered with a gusto that a lot of young rockers these days can’t manage. He loves what he does and it shows. I would see him again and might even check out an album or two.

THE SHINS wear their 60′s influences on their sleeves. They’re obviously big fans of The Beach Boys and The Beatles. Their show was great (even if I couldn’t see them). They did all of their big songs (including both tracks from the Garden State soundtrack). Awesome show. I would see them again, too.

Next was was the show that ended up being the best of the festival. THE RACONTEURS rocked the whole park. I was able to get pretty close for these guys and found a buddy who had never really heard their album before. They rocked his ass, too.

They performed nearly all of the album, most in heavily extended versions. The long intro to “Level” was pretty awesome, but, of their album tracks, “Together” was a particularly tender moment. It’s probably Brendon Benson’s best song on the album and was definitely his standout at the concert. Otherwise, just like the album, Jack White dominated. With “Blue Veins” he was able to jam out his Zeppelin fantasies.

But my favorite song was actually a cover. Jack sang an extremely extended version of Cher’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).” Wow! We all thought that Nancy Sinatra’s version from Kill Bill was great, but Jack White sang (er, screeched) with such passion that he brought us all into his pain. It was an amazing 10 minutes. Possibly the best 10 minutes o the entire festival. If anyone out there has a bootleg of this song from any show, PLEASE let me know. I would love a copy of it. Hell, I would love a copy of a whole show. I’ve been listening to their album pretty much non-stop since the show and I really hope that they’re not a one-off for Jack, Brendon and the boys.

The closer tonight was WILLIE NELSON. I was one of the few Texans who had never seen Willie perform, but I knew that I had to remedy that this weekend.

The problem was that, since he’s Willie, there were a LOT of people in the crowd who wanted to see him. And I couldn’t get very close to the stage. And, for some reason, the people at the AMD stage decided that they couldn’t turn him up very loud. So the drunken asshole behind me shouting, “WOOOHHOOOOOO!!!! WILLIE!!! YOU LISTEN TO WHAT THEY TELLIN’ YOU!!!!” was overpowering everything that Willie was trying to tell us.

Oh well. Either way, Willie puts on a great show. He did all of his signature songs (“Whiskey River,” “On The Road Again,” “Georgia On My Mind,” “Crazy,” etc., etc., etc…) and let just about everyone in his band have a song, including his sister on piano.

Willie is an institution that needs to be seen by anyone calling themselves a Texan. I’m not a fan of country music at all, but I love Willie. He rocks.

Sunday started a little earlier for me. I started off with THE STILLS, another power pop outfit from Canada. I guess Canadian music is getting good again. Not since the days of Neil Young and Rush have I hard about so much rock and roll from Canada. (Shut up, Celine Dion. Get back in that box. And Bryan Adams once was, but is no more. The less said about him the better.)

These guys were pretty cool. My friend who suggested them to me said that they were whiny emo, but I didn’t hear that at all. They were good ol’ rock and roll through and through. They rocked the small audience that was able to get up in time for them. (They started at 12:30, but that’s pretty early if you’ve been up all night drinking like most of these folks had been doing.) I’ll be checking out some of their music.

After that I went to sit down at the Oasis tent while KT TUNSTALL played. Once again, I couldn’t see her, but I could hear her and her Scottish lilt well enough. Not bad. I might check her out at some point.

Then it was time to head to the opposite end of the park.

WEEN was introduced to me at the last ACL I went to a few years ago when R.E.M. was the headliner. I became a fan then, but I didn’t run out and buy a bunch of albums. I knew a little bit about them before that, but not much.

This year’s show was just as good as that show with a few new surprises. They did at least one song off of their 1994 country album, 12 Golden Country Greats along with the hits that everyone sort of knows, “Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)” and “Voodoo Lady.”

Then they surprised the hell out of me. As soon as they started the guitar riff of “Let Me Roll It” by Wings, I knew that there were exactly three of us in the audience who knew it. And it was a really good version of it! Anybody who sites Wings as an influence is ok in my book.

Back to the AT&T stage for THE FLAMING LIPS.

I have a couple of their albums, but I’ve never delved very far into their catalog. I might have to do that now.

Their stage show is freakin’ amazing. Not only are they an awesome live band, but they have a freakin’ circus onstage with a bunch of Santas on one side, Oompa Loompas on the other side, two big confetti cannons, giant balloons thrown out on the audience and a giant balloon alien, Santa and astronaut dancing in the background.

And, of course, there’s Wayne Coyne, the center of all the attention. He starts the show off by rolling around the audience in his giant hamster ball and then sings “Race For The Prize” from 1999′s Soft Bulletin, my personal favorite song of theirs. They alternate between soft and hard songs and the whole show is an experience that everyone shares. This isn’t a show to be alone in. It’s one to get involved in. I loved every minute of it. Especially when Wayne started talking about Ben Kweller’s mishap and how he didn’t like to be outdone. So he poured fake blood all over his face and asked for tampons to wipe it off with.

Awesome.

And now, the big one:

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS have been one of my favorite bands for a long time. They were the reason that I was here in the first place.

And they didn’t disappoint.

Tom and the boys went on at 8:30 opening with a ripping version of “Listen To Her Heart” from 1978′s You’re Gonna Get It. From then on it was basically a hits show with a few covers thrown in for good measure.

But things almost didn’t get that far. After about three songs, the rain washed the guys away and we had to wait until it was safe for them to come back. About half an hour later they came back with a cover of a country song that I didn’t know. According to the guys in the video feed trailer, Tom didn’t cut any songs out of the original set list. He did the entire set for us.

Gotta love that.

Surprisingly, he only did two songs from the new album, Highway Companion. The single “Saving Grace” and “Down South.” We were all a little surprised that he didn’t do “Square One” since it was in a movie and all and is probably the next single…if it isn’t already. (I don’t know. I never listen to the radio anymore. Blech.)

But he did three songs from his 1994 solo album, Wildflowers. “You Wreck Me” is a staple of his live show these days and “Cabin Down Below” was a good rocker. But “It’s Good To Be King” was the one that brought the house down with a really long solo and instrumental break at the end. Fucking amazing.

Tom puts on an awesome show. And, contrary to popular belief, he will be touring again. He just won’t do any huge tours. He’s going to concentrate on studio stuff for a little while and then do smaller shows. Good for him. I can’t wait to see him next time around.

That was my ACL. It was long, wet and full of half naked, hot hippie chicks, just like…um…

Good night, Austin! We love you!!