ACL day one review
Day 1 of the ACL was HOT. Ms Pope and I met for
lunch at Habana -- I finally had their vegetarian
sandwich with maduros, and it was great. After lunch she dropped me off near
Barton Springs and Lamar, and I walked over to Zilker Park. Note to self: riding
a bike back to a remote parking spot is much better than waiting for the bus and
then riding with 60 tightly-packed, sun-washed, drunk
festival-goers.
I caught some of Mishka right away. He was playing in the tent stage. In past years, it was the Cap Metro stage, this year it is sponsored by Washington Mutual. But it's arguably one of the best places to stay during the day, one because it is covered and you're at least sheltered a little from the blistering sun. but, also, they have an incredibly fun lineup in that tent. When the big stages are filled with bands that frequently seem a little overhyped, like Deadboy & the Elephantmen, you can escape the machine and hear oddities like a Caucasian Bahamas-born plaintive reggae singer.
In fact, to get away form Deadboy's "Stop, I'm Already Dead," I went back to WaMu stage and caught the Gospel Silvertones. These guys may be form Austin, at least one of the members is on the Austin Police Department. But they sounded like a gospel version of the Temptations. They were so fun, and it made the heat a little more comfortable.
Gnarls Barkley started their show off with a really fun quote from "She Blinded Me With Science." I'm sure most of the crowd does not remember this song, and in fact, of the few who did, one of them was shouting about "Devo." (Thomas Dolby, please!) The rest of the show was somewhat uninspired, though. Lots of slightly amusing chatter from Cee-Lo ("This goes to 11" when intro-ing "Gone, Daddy, Gone"; invitations to the ladies of Texas to get with the feeling, and if they feel inclined, to let their "titties loose.") Although they played a catchy cover of the Doors (not sure what song, I had never heard it?) and they had a qualified string section on the stage with them (the G-strings, heh), the only real highlight of the show was "Crazy." Every time that song gets played in our house, by the way, Sören advises me that it's a Jazzercise song. Just in case I think it is cool. It's not.
Anyway, after Gnarls was when the night really started for me...
I caught some of Mishka right away. He was playing in the tent stage. In past years, it was the Cap Metro stage, this year it is sponsored by Washington Mutual. But it's arguably one of the best places to stay during the day, one because it is covered and you're at least sheltered a little from the blistering sun. but, also, they have an incredibly fun lineup in that tent. When the big stages are filled with bands that frequently seem a little overhyped, like Deadboy & the Elephantmen, you can escape the machine and hear oddities like a Caucasian Bahamas-born plaintive reggae singer.
In fact, to get away form Deadboy's "Stop, I'm Already Dead," I went back to WaMu stage and caught the Gospel Silvertones. These guys may be form Austin, at least one of the members is on the Austin Police Department. But they sounded like a gospel version of the Temptations. They were so fun, and it made the heat a little more comfortable.
Gnarls Barkley started their show off with a really fun quote from "She Blinded Me With Science." I'm sure most of the crowd does not remember this song, and in fact, of the few who did, one of them was shouting about "Devo." (Thomas Dolby, please!) The rest of the show was somewhat uninspired, though. Lots of slightly amusing chatter from Cee-Lo ("This goes to 11" when intro-ing "Gone, Daddy, Gone"; invitations to the ladies of Texas to get with the feeling, and if they feel inclined, to let their "titties loose.") Although they played a catchy cover of the Doors (not sure what song, I had never heard it?) and they had a qualified string section on the stage with them (the G-strings, heh), the only real highlight of the show was "Crazy." Every time that song gets played in our house, by the way, Sören advises me that it's a Jazzercise song. Just in case I think it is cool. It's not.
Anyway, after Gnarls was when the night really started for me...
Cat
Power was playing with the Memphis Rhythm Band, really a stage full of
incredible session musicians. Her voice was throaty and gorgeous, and I really
like her songwork. And backed by that band, it was heavenly.
I left about ten minutes before the end of her set so I could go get some food before an oncrush of others. Oh, and Ms Pope and I had a deal where she would park the car near our old house and ride the bus to Zilker. She was supposed to text me as she got close to the park, or call me if I didn't return her text. I was a little nervous that I hadn't heard from her yet, but figured she was just late. But as I was going to get a meal, I heard her call my name. As in past years, she had been trying to call me, but couldn't get a cell signal in the park, and couldn't get a hold of me. Pure serendipity that we ran into each other so early in the evening. We got some food and headed over to hear Thievery Corporation. They were purely gorgeous. Great rhythms, sitars, loops, vocals. Everything. I was in pure heaven.
We hooked up with the Hodge and his wife, Math Genius, after their set and got in place for Van the man Morrison. Ms Pope almost never goes out to see bands any more because she hates the crowds -- especially festivals. The only reason she bought the three-day passes was to see Van. What if he sucked?
He had a fun Western band with him, supporting his album Pay the Devil. An Irish fiddler (Fitzpatrick?), Georgie Fame on B-3 organ, and Cindy Cashdollar of Asleep at the Wheel fame on steel guitar. They performed a lot of songs off of APlay the Devil, which is not Morrison's strongest album, but the musicians were so good, it's hard to fault them. And they did pull out some great gems, including Times Like These, I'm Washing Windows, Real, Real Gone, Moondance, Brown-Eyed Girl, and of course, Gloria. (Fitting since Michael Hall held a Gloriathon at Liberty Lunch in 1999, playing the song for 24 hours straight with different local musicians, and finally getting Van himself to phone in lead vocals from England!).
Today, Ms Pope is planning on taking a day off from music. I have some other activities I have to do in the morning and middle of the day, but I hope to bike back and forth between them and be at the festival as much as possible. I want to see I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness, the Shins, Calexico, Iron & Wine, and Massive Attack.
I left about ten minutes before the end of her set so I could go get some food before an oncrush of others. Oh, and Ms Pope and I had a deal where she would park the car near our old house and ride the bus to Zilker. She was supposed to text me as she got close to the park, or call me if I didn't return her text. I was a little nervous that I hadn't heard from her yet, but figured she was just late. But as I was going to get a meal, I heard her call my name. As in past years, she had been trying to call me, but couldn't get a cell signal in the park, and couldn't get a hold of me. Pure serendipity that we ran into each other so early in the evening. We got some food and headed over to hear Thievery Corporation. They were purely gorgeous. Great rhythms, sitars, loops, vocals. Everything. I was in pure heaven.
We hooked up with the Hodge and his wife, Math Genius, after their set and got in place for Van the man Morrison. Ms Pope almost never goes out to see bands any more because she hates the crowds -- especially festivals. The only reason she bought the three-day passes was to see Van. What if he sucked?
He had a fun Western band with him, supporting his album Pay the Devil. An Irish fiddler (Fitzpatrick?), Georgie Fame on B-3 organ, and Cindy Cashdollar of Asleep at the Wheel fame on steel guitar. They performed a lot of songs off of APlay the Devil, which is not Morrison's strongest album, but the musicians were so good, it's hard to fault them. And they did pull out some great gems, including Times Like These, I'm Washing Windows, Real, Real Gone, Moondance, Brown-Eyed Girl, and of course, Gloria. (Fitting since Michael Hall held a Gloriathon at Liberty Lunch in 1999, playing the song for 24 hours straight with different local musicians, and finally getting Van himself to phone in lead vocals from England!).
Today, Ms Pope is planning on taking a day off from music. I have some other activities I have to do in the morning and middle of the day, but I hope to bike back and forth between them and be at the festival as much as possible. I want to see I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness, the Shins, Calexico, Iron & Wine, and Massive Attack.
Posted: Sat - September 16, 2006 at 08:51 AM
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Published On: Sep 16, 2006 08:51 AM
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Published On: Sep 16, 2006 08:51 AM