SATURDAY

After a very successful first day at Austin City Limits, we were back for more. Slightly tired, but rested enough to rock.

Old 97s
We walked into the grounds as the Old 97s got to the chorus of their song "Time Bomb". I love it. It's a great song. But by the time we got over to them, they had already packed up for the day. Well shit. Again – don't really care though because we had hit up a notorious Austin establishment called Taco Express for breakfast tacos which made the previous evening's chicken cone seem like nothing more than some shit in a paper wrap. I'm sorry Chicken Cone. I didn't mean that. I still love you.

(By the way: their MySpace page is "TheOld97s", but "Old97s" is pretty hilarious - here)


The Fratellis
Like many others unaccustomed to summer festival heat, the Fratellis played a stage that directly faced the sun. They apologized for not rocking hard enough, but we were happy with the amount of rock that we got. I was never really a fan of them, Scotland's answer to The Killers, but they put on a good show and I would entertain the idea of hearing them down the road. Still wouldn't hit them up in concert though.


Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
My darkhorse surprise for the weekend. The 50's style R&B which just didn't seem to register at Lollapalooza was right at home here in Austin. They rocked, extremely hard. I mean, I would in a heartbeat go see them again. Especially outdoors. I'd even take my Mom. It's the James Brown feel with updated lyrics, breathing new life into a musical genre in the same sort of way that Old Crow Medicine Show cranks out bluegrass for the Pitchfork reader. I think she also came off in a huge way here because of the demographic present. Unlike other music festivals which cater primarily to the twenty-something with a smuggled bottle of vodka and a joint, ACL had a ton of older attendees (who smuggled vodka and joints) as well as J-High rockers.


CSS
You've all heard their tune "Music is My Hot Sex" off of the Itunes commercial (something a lot of the bands at ACL could claim). My buddy was excited to see them, I was interested to see how the band from Brazil that claims to be Grunge/Reggae/Melodromatic Popular Song on their MySpace page would turn out. While I wasn't a huge fan of the music I heard beforehand, they definitely make it happen on stage. LoveFoxx, the lead singer, came out dressed in a full body blue spandex suit with an Amy Winehouse-esque hair-do. Much like Gogol, they put on a show. And when it comes to festivals, that's what you're looking to see.

Erykah Badu
A very pregnant Erykah Buda made the two hour drive down from Dallas to make an appearance at ACL. It was hands-down the most packed daytime show we experienced all weekend. She was on, she did her thing. She had the ladies in the house say "yeah". But I still like her better with The Roots.


Iron & Wine
I love this guy, but I don't know what he's doing playing at outdoor rock festivals. Let's have a bluegrass/folk fest, invite all the low-key guys and you can make all the hipsters cry at once. It'll be great. I just couldn't get into it.


Beck
Awesome. I really enjoyed it. Might have been the lights, the drinks, or the musical solo where the band used videogame sound effects to create a track. While Beck hasn't done much since Odelay in my opinion, the latest album is great. And I am a big fan of "Southern Girl", and I think everyone else there is too now. I'm a little sorry that we missed Robert Plant's rendition of "Black Dog" that has gotten so much praise, but not that sorry. It definitely split up the crowds with everyone born before '83 heading to Plant and everyone else rocking to Beck.

FRIDAY RECAP   ::   SUNDAY RECAP