The first band we saw at ACL was Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. What better way to kick off a Texas music festival than with some good old fashioned jamgrass. We were treated to a cover of The Beatles' "Come Together" and got to witness some furious pickin on the banjo from Bela.
Immediately following Bela were Peter, Bjorn and John, the swedish trio who have been all over indie radio with their song "young Folks" which may not sound familiar, but if you heard it you would probably recognize the extremely catchy whistling parts that will inevitably hang around in your head for days at a time.
Next, on a whim and a sense that you simply cannot go wrong with funk, we checked out Big Sam's Funky Nation. This 8 piece horn heavy band from New Orleans was the first surprise of the weekend. Big Sam was once the trombonist for The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and has also backed up big names like Widespread Panic, Elvis Costello and Dave Matthews. Neiter Brianna or myself had ever heard of these guys, but left huge fans of them, and that is one of the coolest things about festivals like this-with so many diverse bands, you are bound to pick up on something new and unique and leave with a list of things that need to furter explored.
After Big Sams funky set, we caught some of Joss Stone, the 20 year old bluesy British diva that is best known for her wildly different cover of the White Stripes' "Fell in Love with a Girl". Man, she is a sultry little thing. She pranced back and forth about the stage, flaunting her pretty little dress and newly darkened red hair. She was entertaining, but with so much else going on, we wanted to wander around and check out what else was happenin.
JJ Grey and Mofro's swamp funk on a small stage. Those guys tear it up, and were one of the highlights of the day.
M.I.A., the popular Sri Lankan hip hop/reggaeton phenomenon, just plain sucked. That's not something I often say. I can usually find some redeeming quality in a band, even if they are not the most enjoyable act I've ever seen. Not only was M.I.A. not enjoyable, her voice was even more annoying live and her stage show was lackluster. She had on a stupid tight red leather jumpsuit kind of thing, and paced around with a false sense of authority. She raps/sings/squeals ultra left wing lyrics, which I would of course normally find ultra charming, but she takes it too far by pretty much supporting terrorism. She is a darling of indie rock and must be stopped.
Spoon took to the main stage at 6:30, and although Brianna is a big fan of the band, they were not great live and before long we made our way over to England's Kaiser Chiefs.
Kaiser Chiefs are one of the most popular and hyped bands in the U.K. right now, and they deserve the hype. I was very unfamiliar with their music before ACL, and they are one of several bands that I will definitely be following up on. They were hard edged, rockin, loud, and extremely fun to watch. At one point lead singer Ricky Wilson climbed up on the speaker tower on the left side of the stage and got about 30 feet up there until, looking down, he decided he'd gone up far enough. He flew up that thing pretty quick, but took his time on the way down. Escaping injury, he dashed back to the microphone, only to trip when he leaped across the stage and sported a noticeable limp for the remainder of their set. Proclaiming in one of their songs that "Everything is Average Nowadays", the Kaiser Chiefs have had several top ten songs in England but have not caught on as much here.
Friday night's headliners were The Killers and Bjork. The Killers went on 15 minutes before Bjork and we saw maybe a half hour of the Killers, enough to catch the major hits "Somebody Told Me" "When You Were Young" and "Bones". The Killers are one of the first bands to gain recognition through the magical medium of "The O.C.", so they deserve mad respect. Plus they are from Vegas, which is pretty unusual. There were an awful lot of very young people at that particular show (again-O.C.), and it was extremely crowded, so it didn't take long to decide that Bjork was the place to be.
I do not claim to be very knowledgeable about the Icelandic pop princess, but I do enjoy some of her work, especially the crazy electronica stuff. Apparently most of what she played was from her newest album, Volta. She was her usual flamboyantly dressed self, and she bounced around the stage with more energy than you would think a 42 year old would have. Having released her first album at age 11, Bjork has been around for a long time, and knows how to put on a show. There were lots of lights and dancing, and a more seasoned crowd than the Killers drew. After every song, when the crowd would erupt with cheers and screaming, Bjork would humbly say "thank you", but it sounded more like "tink-q" that was cute. I would love to see her again, only indoors.
Day one was complete, and it was a success. We had managed to stay alive in the mean Texas heat and enjoy some awesome bands, and could hardly wait to go back again in a matter of hours.
1 comment:
oh, hell yes. brilliant! you really tell it like it is, sir.
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