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ACL was the perfect excuse to visit my friends in Austin-- besides, I'm kind of into music festivals. Even though I already saw Muse, LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend live this year, I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to see them again. At $185, the 3-day pass is a bargain when you consider all the bands to see. The weather was a perfect 80 degrees all weekend.
On Friday, we rolled up Downtown and took the free shuttle to Zilker Park.The park was more crowded than I thought it would be. I guess I pictured more people coming in and out because the park was in a city, but you can't really walk anywhere Downtown too easily from Zilker. Miike Snow had a huge crowd, so we listened to him and headed over to hear Pat Green. I was surprised that Pat was the only country music at ACL, considering it's Texas and all. I kinda wish there would have been more. It was great, with the sun shining and people dancing. Good times. Beach House and Spoon were next, along with my first taste of the amazing Mighty Cone. The food at ACL is pretty rad because it's mostly all local vendors. The Mighty Cone is a warm tortilla, with chicken tenders inside, and this ridiculous chipotle sauce and coleslaw on top. It was awesome. We saw Vampire Weekend and the Strokes, who were great but couldn't get the crowd going. The first night of ACL was dunzo.
Saturday, the MSU vs U of M game was on, so of course we had to watch that before heading to ACL. We were all in a great mood heading to the festival, but the shuttle lines were out of controllll. We finally got in, and LCD was PLAYING already and I was spazzing out trying to get all the way to their stage. Too bad it was a mob inside Zilker on Saturday night. It was by far the most busy night, and I told my friends I'd just see them later and left. I ran as fast as I could through the crowds, stepping over couples and blankets and people, making my way inside as James Murphy held up his signature capacitor mic, playing "I Can Change." He played a couple songs off the new album, but the crowd really got going during "Us V Them." It was a great show. I had to walk off during "Yeah" because it was getting dark, and I'd never find my people again. I finally found them in the disturbing crowd for deadmau5 at another stage. I got there just as he began, and it.was.INTENSE. Deadmau5 spun with an LED mousehead on, inside a crazy lit up Rubix cube. When he finished his set, we got to Muse as fast as we could.
Muse began, of course, with "Uprising." They had the same set as Coachella, with red lights and words on the huge screen behind them. Muse was extra awesome. "Undisclosed Desires" is SUCH a good song.
Sunday, we didn't mean to sleep in but, it happened. Yeasayer, Edward Sharpe, Flaming Lips, Norah Jones, and The Eagles made it a chill day. Norah Jones didn't play "Don't Know Why" and I was pretty outraged. But The Eagles KILLED it. All the old people seemed to come JUST for them, and they played a 90 minute set with all the classic, plus a "Boys of Summer" cover to top it off. I was surprised how awesome they were, and it was a good end to ACL.
I couldn't help it-- all weekend, I was silently comparing Coachella with ACL in my head. And even though some of the lineup overlapped in both festivals, there were some differences that couldn't go unnoticed.
ACL loves chairs, blankets, and giant flags. People were legit camping out in one spot all day instead of moving around. To mark their group, people would carry 20 foot tall flags with giant stuff hanging off of them, blocking views of the stage.
ACL sells single-day tickets. This was especially apparent during The Eagles. The result? Three days of crowds with varying enthusiasm. The more excited the crowd, the better the festival.
ACL loves kids. I was half-napping in the grass waiting for a band, when all of a sudden I felt a little kick from the blanket next to me. I look down, and oh yeah, it was an INFANT. Between the babies, young children and tweens, it was a bit aggravating when you're at a music festival generally targeted towards adults.
ACL has a lack of electronic and hip hop acts. Personally, I'd just like to see more diversity in the lineup.
ACL ends sharply at 10pm. Late into the night is when Coachella gets the most beautiful and awesome.
ACL has a transportation problem. Getting TO the fest is not an issue. Leaving the fest is a MESS. The lines for taxis and shuttles are out of hand, and by them time you get Downtown, you're just ready for bed. At midnight.
ACL is 99.9% white. I dunno, it's just kinda boring.
The bottom line is that ACL is an event, while Coachella is an experience. The heat. Camping. Making friends with neighbors. The mist tent. The light sculptures. And while the skyline of Austin is wonderful at night, nothing is the same as being in a sea of people under the clear, starlit desert sky. So yeah ACL, I'll probably see you next year. But make sure you know your place as the official "little brother" of Coachella.
Meat, I'm sorry for the harsh review I gave you of your latest album. Cause the concert I saw you at was beyond anything I could have expected.
I went solo to Gibson Ampitheatre to see Michael Lee Aday at a strange point in his career. He's been criticized of losing his voice, his showmanship, and his strength. He was very vocal about his opinion of the critics during the show. But even at age 62, all three of those are still very much intact. I was young in a crowd of old people, to say the least-- so, I walked from my original seat all the way up to the front row. At least those people were standing up!
The setlist was: Hey Patootie (from Rocky Horror Picture Show), Break It, Bat Out of Hell, Peace On Earth, Living On The Outside, Los Angeloser, Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth, Song of Madness, Animal, Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through, I'd Do Anything For Love, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad, Paradise By the Dashboard Light, and All Revved Up With No Place To Go.
It'd be impossible to comment on everything, but I saw it all-- the crazy eyes, the red handkerchief, the shaky hands, the gum chewing, and a '77-esque Meat Loaf sweating like a madman on stage. He yelled in the sax player's ear to play like he meant it. He brought a dull LA crowd to its feet. There was nothing dull about the 2.5 hours he was on stage, alongside the legendary Patti Russo, and a piano player so talented that I don't think even Meat could believe it. He even busted out an American flag guitar with "MEAT" in rhinestones on the strap, jamming along during the final song.
He and Patti have been doing this act on stage for years and years, and luckily for us, he has acknowledged his age-- no more full-on making out on stage during Paradise. That'd be disturbing. But they still have an amazing theatrical presence together, with interactions that are heartfelt and convincing.
The song that had the most energy was Bat Out Of Hell, his third song of the night. He was screaming into that microphone like he was going to keel over right then and there. A huge bat came out of the background with big red eyes. For the most part, he was on tempo-- something that he's had some issues with live. I didn't hear any lyrics that were incorrect. He also sounded on key, but his vocal volume was pretty low compared to the roaring guitars around him. My favorite song was Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through-- Meat and the backup singers sounded absolutely amazing.
After a lackluster VH1 Storytellers album, and hearing that even Jim Steinman himself saying Meat's voice is gone, I was kind of worried about seeing him live. The guy is old, though, and I was running out of time. But I was so impressed with how much fun he was having, and the wild energetic feeling about him. I'd see him live again in a second, and especially with this classic setlist, I recommend that you do too.Pictures are bad quality, but I managed to get a few on my Blackberry:
Last year, I only got a taste. This year, I wanted much more—and really had no choice after the promoter did away with single-day Coachella tickets. I bought my 3-day pass in January and anxiously awaited April 16. After missing out on a sold-out car camping ticket, we reserved a spot in an offsite place (Lake Cahuilla) and hit the road to Indio on Thursday night.
After hanging out with some of our neighbors, we got into our tents and got a few hours of sleep before heading to breakfast and getting some tailgating supplies. After a few beers, the sun was already boiling and we made the walk into the polo grounds. On Friday, we saw Sleigh Bells, Yeasayer, She & Him, Passion Pit, Them Crooked Vultures, LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, and Jay-Z. I wanted to get over to the Sahara to see Benny Benassi and deadmau5 but it just couldn’t happen. Sleigh Bells was pretty fun, although disturbingly loud. She & Him was really relaxing at the outdoor stage, and Zooey Deschanel was amazing. Passion Pit was one of my favorites as well. We moved in pretty close to the main stage for LCD Soundsystem, and they were ridiculous – although closing on “New York, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down” was a bit of a downer. Dancing to Vampire Weekend was tons of fun, but nothing compared to the energy of Jay-Z and surprise guest Beyonce. They closed out the first night with an impressive display and with almost every single he’s ever released. Beyonce killed the chorus on Jay’s “Forever Young” cover!
Day 2 was supposed to start out with RX Bandits, but we missed it while tailgating. I also missed Gossip because we went back to the car to tailgate some more! Saturday was the hottest day and also the day that I had to make the most lineup sacrifice – again, had to miss two Sahara tent acts (David Guetta and Kaskade), but it is what it is. We saw Girls who were pretty cool, but my day was chill until Coheed & Cambria. “Welcome Home” was definitely amazing, but they were a bit lacking live. Next up was Faith No More – Mike Patton’s band was reuniting for the festival after years of not playing together. Little did I know that this is the same guy in Lovage AND Handsome Boy Modeling School – who knew. Anyways they were great, but the crowd wasn’t into it. This wasn’t the case for Muse, who completely blew everybody away. They played more and talked less than a lot of bands, and their light show was out of control. We waited for Tiesto to come on next, and a load of ravers moved in around us. Tiesto stood alone amongst a giant screen display, smiling and spinning, and the energy was insane. The confetti and streamer bursts looked incredible against the lights in the sky, and the constant trance beats were how Saturday night came to an end.
Sunday I was bummed I missed Kevin Devine, but there you go. We chilled out to Owen Pallet and Deerhunter, hitting up the mist tent in between. Sunday’s sun felt the worst of all, and my legs were shot. Some of us found shade and just people watched for a little while. The $5 ice cream was the best I ever had. De La Soul put on an incredible show at the main stage, and the crowd was into it. Sunny Day Real Estate was kind of blah. Jonsi from Sigur Ros put on an amazing show, and the crowd got larger as people waited for Thom Yorke. For Phoenix, we didn’t see much because we went on a journey to the Sahara tent, but Thom Yorke really impressed me. The crowd was out of hand. His live take on his solo album The Eraser sounded much better than listening to the actual album. The sound was way more full, and his voice was dead on. We left Thom early to go get a good spot at the Gorillaz set. There were so many people. About halfway through we had to leave the crowd, but the rest of the night, we were ecstatic!
Coachella didn’t disappoint. As usual, there were mostly awesome people there, with only a few jerks or extremely strung out people. Our camping place was perfect. Jay-Z, She & Him, LCD Soundsystem, Muse, Tiesto, Jonsi, Thom Yorke, and Gorillaz were my favorites. Now, I guess I will return to reality and bask in the afterglow. Sigh. I already miss the constant sound of bass in my ears.
Here’s to COACHELLA 2011 and beyond.
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