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ACL 2008: Friday
October 3, 2009
Scene report: Bright Light Social Hour
Bright Light Social Hour — the band that beat out 1,500 other bands in the Sound and the Fury contest, earning the right to play the Austin City Limits Music Festival — took the Dell stage this morning and began playing to a sparse crowd.
People passing by gravitated over to the field to watch the band, drawn by the music. By the final two songs, there was a cheering crowd.
“It’s their energy that’s making people come over here,” said festival-goer Martin Gilliam, 24. “I never heard of them before, but they’re good, and I like them. I’d buy a CD.”
Gilliam’s comments are a testament to the idea behind the Sound and the Fury contest — taking 1,000 or so unknown bands, letting people vote online for their favorite and giving that band a once-in-a-lifetime chance to jump-start a music career.
Members of Bright Light Social Hour include two Westlake High School grads, singer and bass player Jack O’Brien, a member of the Class of 2003, and singer and keyboard player AJ Vincent, Class of 2005.
Dell started the contest three years ago to celebrate independent spirit, said Susan Kittleman, Dell’s ACL liaison.
“We like to celebrate people’s passion and music,” she said. “So much music is heard online these days. This band got over 11,000 votes, earning them the spot at the festival.”
The 24-year-old O’Brien was one of the founders of Bright Light Social Hour five years ago. He describes the band’s music as funky indie rock.
“We want to give (indie rock) some soul again,” Vincent said.
O’Brien and Vincent, fresh from their performance, were still wired and a bit awestruck at their participation in the festival. They won the final nod from Dell at a contest at Antone’s late Tuesday evening.
“We’ve been coming to ACL for years, and now we are playing it.” O’Brien said. “Most festivals play only the artists who are selling the most records. But ACL does it right — they work to get the best artists.”
“They get all kinds of bands,” Vincent, 22, added. “They know not everybody wants to hear the same kind of music over and over.”
Along with the ACL gig, the group won $1,500, a Dell Studio XPS laptop and the use of a publicist for the weekend.
The band starts a tour in November and will soon be recording a full-length analog CD.
Will the music be what the band likes to do best — catchy autobiographical clips?
“We always write the music that comes from us naturally,” O’Brien said.
Bright Light Social Hour is focused on putting together play dates for the upcoming tour and finding the financing to record that album.
“We want it full-length, well-produced and well-funded,” O’Brien said.
Both band members are well aware that they are at the heady start of their career, and they seem to have a good idea how they want it to progress. Where will they be in 20 years?
“We want to be like the Rolling Stones, still putting on shows, but putting them on because we love the music and not because we’re hungry,” Vincent said.
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October 2, 2009
Umbrellas - yes you can
No reason to panic, festival-goers. With rain looming in the weekend forecast, there seems to be some confusion about umbrellas. Bottom line: Small, handheld umbrellas are just fine, organizers say. But leave the large golf umbrellas at home. If it can fit in your bag, you should be fine.
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September 27, 2008
ACL aftershow: Gnarls Barkely at Stubb's
The stage wardrobe was more conventional than the “Star Wars”- and “Clockwork Orange”-inspired garb they’ve sported before — just tan sport coats for the bandleaders and waiter-like outfits for their colleagues — which put Gnarls Barkley in line with the packed crowd, many of whom (women especially) were primped enough that they couldn’t have been spillover from the day’s ACL shows.
Performing in advance of their Sunday showcase, the band tore energetically through songs from their two albums, making even their Violent Femmes cover “Gone Daddy Gone” sound uncontrived. While their supporting musicians flailed and jumped around, Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton) hid behind shades and worked quietly at his vintage organ. Vocalist Cee-Lo Green made up for DM’s calmness, milking drama even out of the act of wiping sweat from his bald scalp.
The show began with “The Odd Couple” opener “Charity Case,” and was highlighted by “Run (I’m a Natural Disaster),” where lyrics were fused into long polysyllabic strings, and “Suicide,” whose emotionally intense delivery had Green’s body spasming along with the guitar and drums. Claiming “my throat’s not so good tonight” (a complaint belied by his robust performance), Green let the crowd do much of the singing on their hit song “Crazy,” which came near the end of the set, but he was back in full voice for an encore including “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” and “Smiley Faces.”
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ACL review: Gogol Bordello
That’s not to say it’s not fun. In fact, in the right dosage the unlikely hybrid preferred by lead man Eugene Hutz and company — immigrant folk and klezmer filtered through both punk rock and a weird jump blues — is pretty thrilling and almost impossible to not dance along to. And things are just as overloaded on the visual end, with players dressed in an array of ethnic garbs exaggerated to the point where the whole spectacle looks like a Benetton commercial on acid.
So there’s a lot to take in and try to process. Maybe it’s best to not think about it too much. I mean, it’s OK to just mindlessly sing along to catchy tunes like “Start Wearing Purple” or “Think Locally, (Expletive) Globally,” right?
That’ll have to do for now. Because the alternative is to realize I spent 60 minutes Friday night watching the “Saturday Night Live” Wild and Crazy Guys sketch dressed up like a rock show. And worse, I kinda liked it.
Photo: Erich Schlegel FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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ACL review: Yeasayer
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ACL review: Del Tha Funky Homosapien
As musical cliches go, rappers claiming they’re all about “real hip-hop” is the one that sounds the loudest alarms. It’s the kind of thing Talib Kweli has said repeatedly for the 10-plus years he’s been preaching crowds to sleep; a signifier that you’re usually in for lots of back-in-the-day speechifying absent that pesky notion called fun.
So there was some worry when Oakland, Calif., rapper Del Tha Funky Homosapien was introduced early Friday afternoon, by members of Hieroglyphics and Souls of Mischief, as being about “real hip-hop.” Thankfully, Del knows that the purest essence of the music is entertainment and he didn’t let the entertainment value lag much if at all during his hour in the sun.
The crowd of a few hundred — indie wunderkinds Vampire Weekend were on an adjacent stage — did all the requisite “hey”ing and “ho”ing when prompted, but the crowd antics weren’t really necessary since Del was pretty much spectacular while twisting words on the mic. Mixing in cuts from his new album “11th Hour,” he especially shined on cuts like “Dr. Bombay” and “Mistadobalina,” which is probably the closest thing he’s had to a hit outside his guest work with Gorillaz.
Back to the “real hip-hop” thing for a second. About 35 minutes in Del took a moment to quiz the crowd about their knowledge of old-school funk, imploring them to search beyond milemarkers like Parliament and James Brown. What saved the history lesson from robbing the show of its considerable momentum? The fact that it was immediately followed by head-nodding funk beats and rhymes by an MC who knows how to not take himself too seriously.
Photo: Erich Schlegel FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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ACL scene reports: Byrne doesn't burn gas
One of Friday’s biggest acts, David Byrne, could be the fest’s “green it like you mean it” spokesman. Forget the limo, Byrne rode his bike to Zilker Park, wearing a Chi Chi Rodriguez hat and his white stage outfit.
Austin’s Black & White Years play a “Rock the Vote” party tonight at 10 p.m. at the American Legion Hall, which has been taken over by Blender magazine and renamed the Music Lounge Mansion. It’s at 2201 Veterans Drive, just off Lake Austin Boulevard. By day, the “mansion” serves as a “gifting suite” for festival acts and the cast of “Friday Night Lights.” Hopefully, the kid who plays Tim Riggins will show up for a free haircut. There are free goodies, spa services and tattoos.
Someone at C3 can’t spell. All the signs for field access were spelled “Feild Access.”
Let us know if you hear a song dedicated to the late, great Paul Newman today.
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ACL review: Ryan Bingham
Who knew that plains poet Ryan Bingham rocked so ferociously? Perhaps inspired by the biggest crowd for the BMI stage all day Friday, Bingham put a metal slide on his pinky and let ‘er rip on the last two songs of his set, including KGSR fave “Bread and Water.” As a former bullrider, Bingham knows a bit about adrenaline and his slide work seemed to express the thrill of an eight second ride.
The standout of the set came earlier, with “Southside of Heaven,” the calm before the storm. With his voice set between whisper and growl, Bingham sang about feeling lost in an aimless place where “a breeze is just a change of pace.” His fine band, the Dead Horses, shaded the sentiments with care and then at the song’s end came the sweet release. Newly resolved, the singer headed down those byways and highways where he now calls home.
It was a powerful moment and the crowd reacted by pumping their arms over their heads. Next year look for Bingham on one of the bigger stages.
A sometime Austinite, Bingham plays Wednesday at Threadgill’s South.
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September 26, 2008
ACL review: Alejandro Escovedo
For as long as I have watched Alejandro Escovedo perform (and it’s been long enough for a Savings Bond to mature), I am always put in mind of that Robert Frost poem where he talks about how “work is play for mortal stakes.”
That is always how Escovedo’s work has come across to me. It’s music for grownups, infused with loss, but never quite bereft of hope, informed at every moment that it (and he) are playing for keeps. That sense of gravitas—and accompanying sentiments of fun and joy—was present from the moment that Escovedo stepped on stage for his inaugural ACL performance.
ACL visitors from out of town don’t necessarily have to know that Escovedo’s life has been shaped by cathartic and life-altering circumstances. But surely, listening to him launch headfirst into the joyous choruses of “Always A Friend,” they must have gleaned some sense that here is a man who has been there and back. There is a wonderful sense of abandon and unfettered celebration in singing “Every once in a while, honey, let your love show/Every once in a while, honey, let your love go.” There is a liberation in those lines that has to be merited, and Escovedo has earned every syllable.
The set, per se, was a sampler of his new album, “Real Animal,” as well as a hopscotch survey of his life and times and influences (heads up, Iggy Pop). “Chelsea Hotel ’78,” with its nihilistic echoes, butted up against the sunny “People We’re Only Gonna Live So Long” (Escovedo was still walking on air from having performed the latter at the Democratic National Convention), which had a shotgun wedding with the churning, paranoid “Everybody Loves Me,” which eventually yielded to the top-down unfettered rock of “Castanets.”
Escovedo, characteristically, seemed enamored of every note he played, of every musician who shared the stage, of (as that movie queen memorably phrased it) “all those wonderful people out there in the dark.” The feeling was contagious. Listening to his set was, as always, like diving into a renewing well capable of quenching every weary thirst.
Photo: Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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ACL review: Jenny Lewis
A good chunk of the crowd that was on hand for M. Ward’s fantastic set on the WaMu stage hung around to see Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis perform. Like Ward, Lewis brought out a five-person band, and also like Ward, was a highlight of day one at ACL. Lewis’s solo work is in some ways an experiment in mixing genres, from rock to country to rhythm and blues. All of these forms were on display as she made her way through the set, captivating the audience the entire time.
Lewis played a selection of songs from 2006’s “Rabbit Fur Coat” and her most recent album “Acid Tongue,” which was released earlier this week. She started off on the piano with “Jack Killed Mom,” evoking Dusty Springfield and trading lyrics with her guitarist, and then grabbed the guitar for “Rise Up With Fists.”
Lewis’s bassist Jonathan Wilson stood out on several songs, including “Bad Man’s World” off the recent album, which she dedicated to John McCain. A friend pointed out that Wilson, who looked to be wearing a George Harrison t-shirt, switched back and forth between a Rickenbacker and a Hoffner violin bass, Paul McCartney’s weapons of choice.
The band closed with the driving country-rocker “See Fernando,” also a new one, with Lewis climbing up on to the piano bench and clapping along with the crowd, who were focused on her every move.
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ACL review: Mates of State
The quirky pop tunes of husband-and-wife duo Mates of State have always sounded full, even with just the two members. Kori Gardner’s electronic organ pumps out so many diverse sounds over Jason Hammel’s pounding drum beats, and the two belt out such meticulously layered melodies that both their live shows and studio recordings create the illusion of at least a four-piece band.
But at the ACL Fest the duo took their live sound a step further for many songs by adding a three-piece string ensemble to the mix. The violin and two cellos soared over the doo-wop piano rolls of “Like U Crazy,” while in “You Are Free” they melded with the organ to create an epic sound.
Aside from a couple of shaky moments, the vocal delivery of both Gardner and Hammel was impeccable as always. On many numbers, their voices blended in harmony so well that it was hard to tell which member was singing what.
Equally as impressive was their seamless flow between the shifting rhythms in many of the songs. Fan favorite “Ha Ha” in particular changed drum beats at least three times, but the shifts always sounded natural. Whether they’re playing as a two-piece or more, Mates of State always seem to make it work.
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ACL scene report: Friday night quotes
What people were saying as they left day one of the festival around 6 p.m.:
“I’m going to a presidential debate party later, but I won’t be missing any music for it. My favorite act was Gogol Bordello. We’re going to eat now.” - Rene Francis of Austin
“Awesome music. Really awesome.” - Maggie Koerner of Shreveport, La.
“It was hot, but really good. Showering is the number one priority right now, then we’ll probably walk around downtown. We ate at Kenichi last night. We really enjoyed it.” - Sarah Sour of Shreveport
“It was good. We saw Vampire Weekend, Heidi Griffith and Jenny Lewis. Vampire weekend was definitely our favorite.” - Drew Miller of Austin
“The presidential debate is actually going on in our state right now, but we’ll probably just go eat and come back.” - Andy Baker of Jackson, Miss.
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ACL review: M. Ward
M. Ward and his band played to a super-packed tent, running through 2006’s “Post-War” album. Ward is an entertainer—after a solo acoustic number he brought out a band of five, which included two drummers (and two drum sets), and offered up rocking versions of “Right in the Head,” “Chinese Translation” and “Requiem,” among others.
The only low points came during a few of the lower-key songs, when chatter from the crowd drowned out the band a bit. After a cover of a John Fahey song (Ward produced a Fahey tribute album a few years back and is clearly influenced by Fahey’s fingerpicking), the band pleased the crowd with the loungy and delightful “Rollercoaster” and “Magic Trick,” the lyrics of which he changed so the song was in the first person.
He closed with a cover of Austinite Daniel Johnston’s “To Go Home,” which appears on “Post-War” as well. Part of the joy in watching Ward perform is that he appears to really love making music—he went over his allotted time, and probably would have kept playing if he didn’t have to cede the stage to Jenny Lewis.
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ACL review: Jakob Dylan and the Gold Mountain Rebels
With the Wallflowers’ breakthrough album, 1996’s “Bringing Down the Horse,” Jakob Dylan proved himself a solid songwriter, showing that there was more to him as a musician than just his father’s famous last name. Now with five Wallflowers releases under his belt, Dylan has dropped the roots rock for a stripped-down folk sound on his debut solo album “Seeing Things.”
Dylan’s new act translated perfectly to ACL’s AT&T stage on Friday afternoon. Dylan and his bandmates, the Gold Mountain Rebels, took the stage dressed in black suits, white shirts and shades, then breezed through an hour’s worth of softly floating folk tunes and hard-driving blues rock numbers.
There was some trouble with the mix at the start of the set and the band’s harmonies wavered slightly for the first few songs, but they found their stride with “Here Comes Now.” In the song, soft snare strokes and egg shakers created an atmosphere of understated percussion to underlie Dylan’s twinkling, finger-picked guitar lines.
The next song, “Three Marlenas,” was a pleasant surprise for longtime Wallflowers fans. The track from “Bringing Down the Horse” had audience members singing along and clapping.
The highlight of the show, however, was “Will It Grow,” a cut off Dylan’s solo album lush with imagery and smooth-flowing guitar solos. “Jet black starlit midnight rolls/I am down in the valley where I let go,” Dylan lamented with his rich voice as clean guitar lines danced in the background.
This was Dylan’s first ACL performance, but fans will surely be eager to welcome him back.
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ACL review: David Byrne
“One fine daaaaay,” David Byrne sang from the AT&T stage Friday evening at Zilker Park and boy howdy was it. Dusk is always a fun time at ACL - the setting sun takes the edge off the day’s heat, and soft light fills the sky. “Then before my eyes- Is standing still/I beheld it there- a city on a hill,” he sang. There it was, right behind him, Austin at magic hour.
Playing his second set in two days, Byrne and his band of white-clad musicians, dancers and back-up singers cranked out a roiling set of Talking Heads hits and material from his new collaboration with Brian Eno, “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today.” As with his show Thursday night at the Paramount Theatre (and every show on this tour), Byrne drew on previous collaborations with Eno such as “Once in a Lifetime” and “Houses in Motion,” making it a theme for the tour.
Some elements worked better on the Paramount stage and some worked better at Zilker. The dancers, who already looked under rehearsed (unless it was supposed to look a little “off”) at the Paramount were completely swallowed up by the massive AT&T stage. But Byrne’s guitar was audible throughout the Zilker set, something you couldn’t say about the Paramount and its somewhat wonky acoustics. Like the Paramount set, the newer material blended seamlessly with older hits, though when the band hit “Once in a Lifetime,” with its angelic synth-drone, crisp poly-rhythms and Zen-like lyrics, really is one of the pop highlights of the past 30 years.
Photo: Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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'Love Hurts,' Jenny? Really?
A rule of ACL Fest should be that every act should do a cover. I mean, we love your new stuff, but out in the fields we want to hear familiarity now and then.
I wasn’t sure what to think about Jenny Lewis’ set Friday at the WaMu stage. The overflow crowd, perhaps the biggest in WaMu hist, was digging every move the high-heeled Lewis was throwing out. But I kept wondering, are these songs really great, or is this a case of style winning big?
Then, she and her shaggy guitar player, sent the rest of the band off the stage to do “Love Hurts.” This could be the laziest cover ever at ACL, akin to if David Byrne did “I Shot the Sherrif.”
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ACL scene report
If there are going to be major problems at the ACL Festival this year, they haven’t reared themselves yet. Unlike last year, when a fire erupted just a few hours into the first day, the festival’s kickoff has been smooth and, well, festive. Perhaps seeking escape from the week’s relentless financial and political roller coasters, festival-goers were ready for a good time.
By 2 p.m. the grounds were already packed as people rushed out of work to make the most of near-perfect festival weather. Breezes whipped through the crowd just at the right time during exuberant sets by What Made Milwaukee Famous, Vampire Weekend, Jamie Lidell and Gogol Bordello.
Food lines have moved quickly so far, with people packing the picnic tables and filling up the nearby WaMu Stage (aka the “FDIC Stage”), the only one at the festival covered by a tent. In fact, it was the hottest place at the festival late Friday afternoon as a swell of people crammed into the tent for Portland, Ore., troubador M. Ward and stayed for Jenny Lewis, lead singer of Rilo Kiley. No one seemed to let the financial troubles afflicting the stage’s sponsor, Washington Mutual, affect their mood.
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ACL review: Delta Spirit
The onset of fall is simply a rhetorical conceit in this neck of the woods. So the music of Delta Spirit, as the sun began its seemingly imperceptible descent behind the Austin Ventures stage, was entirely in keeping with the climate—a parting shot of summery indie pop and country-inflected rock.
No strangers to Austin (they took a moment to plug their upcoming Thanksgiving gig at Emo’s), the San Diego-based quintet had a bigger canvas to paint on than their customary local club gigs afford. Changing between instruments as the songs demanded, the group set up a rolling thunder of guitars, two-fisted keyboards and floor toms that alternated with more nuanced pop and confessional songwriting.
One common denominator in the musical checkerboard were the forceful vocals of frontman Matthew Vasquez (particularly as vocalists often represent the Achilles heel of even the most high-flying indie groups.) Multi-instrumentalist Kelly Winrich and drummer Brandon Young also stood out during this particular set.
Delta Spirit has drawn comparisons to Drive-By Truckers and the Waterboys (Reckless Kelly might represent the local template). But their multi-instrumental versatility, strong vocals and infectious presentation, at least to these eyes and ears, set them apart.
Songs like “Streetwalker” and “People Turn Around” painted a dour lyrical picture juxtaposed against exuberant melodies, while “Trashcan” (which, like the previous titles, derives from their sole 2007 release), with its irresistible, percussive piano line, was clearly a crowd favorite.
Photo: Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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ACL review: Vampire Weekend
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ACL review: Jamie Lidell
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ACL review: Sunny Sweeney
One big way in which ACL Fest is different than all the other festivals is the way mainstream country intercuts with hip indie rock bands. Even the sons of legendary promoter Louis Messina would have a hard time making it to Coachella or Bonnaroo if they had a steel guitar.
Although Austin’s Sunny Sweeney has the semi-tough demeanor of a tender biker chick, her music is aimed at Mass-ville appeal. Her self-depracating “Next Big Nothing” had the crowd of about 750 in front of the BMI stage bobbing like a rebuttal. A swipe at Lucinda Williams’ “Can’t Let Go,” meanwhile, had folks dancing. “This is Texas,” the Longview native said. “Might as well dance.”
A couple of missteps kept the set from hitting its stride. “Band of Gold,” although Sweeney’s best vocal performance of the night, was sappy, as was the new “It’s a Sweet Dance.” Even worse, “Contrary & Western,” with lines like “If you don’t like Merle, I believe/ You might end up on the fightin’ side of me” was the sort of pandering that didn’t belong in the groove fields.
At the end, Sweeney totally nailed it on “If I Could,” with its rapidfire lyrics setting up a fluid Telecaster run by Charlie Rich’s grandson Cole Lee. The Sweeney set in one word: refreshing.
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ACL review: Rodney Crowell
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ACL makes a 'Love Connection'
First celeb sighting of ACL Fest was the first person onstage. Chuck Woolery, who was the original host of “Wheel of Fortune” (right you were, Mrs. Scheibal) and brought us back “in two and two” on “Love Connection,” introduced Friday’s first act, Ben Cyllus on the BMI stage.
Woolery lives in nearby Marble Falls. His connection to Cyllus is not known, but the two were off to the American Legion Hall off Lake Austin Boulevard, which has turned into a pamper palace for ACL artists.
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ACL review: Jones Family Singers
Here’s the scene at the WaMu stage, which is known as “the gospel tent” when Bay City’s Jones Family Singers are onstage: Led by the volcanic Alexis Jones-Roberts, whose voice could dust an abandoned house, the group has about 100 audience members doing a simple synchronized dance. When the five Jones sisters vamp ten steps to the right on “I Am,” the crowd follows them. Then it’s ten paces to the left, with the crowd aping their slinky movements.
It’s still Friday morning, just past 11:30. It’s on, peoples!
What seemed like boneheaded booking, putting the ACL show-stealers on so early Friday, may turn out to be a tradition. The JFS had the tent at least half-filled and most of the folks were on their feet throughout.
The material is getting a little too secular- Roberts’ rewording of “Saving All My Love For You” was a vocal showoff, but didn’t hold up the intensity. And a short “Wind Beneath My Wings,” for a couple in the audience’s 25th anniversary, fell totally flat. Still don’t like “Shout” as the set-closer, but when this wonderfully joyful band kicks out a rock groove, it’s just plain irresistable.
I vote for having the JFS open every ACL, right after the “Star Wars” theme. This family group just puts everyone in a great mood with their choreography and electric smiles.
Photo: Erich Schlegel FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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Three day passes: $150
And on the seventh year, the unbearable heat rested. But everything else seems business as usual the first morning of ACL.
The secondary market for passes and tickets to ACL Fest is pretty brisk. One fella had a handful of three-day passes he was unloading for $150 each, though some were asking $180 and more. The top price of $170 has been sold out for a month.
Shady Grove is charging $25 for parking, while Chuy’s, closer to the fest gate, is charging $20 a car. Weird, since they’re both owned by the same company.
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