September 17, 2007
ACL Fest Day Three Wrap-Up: Part One
We entered the park around 1:10pm to the strains of a seriously thrashy number from Yo La Tengo. It was impressive to hear how determined YLT were to throw out some serious noise rock at such an early hour. Being a bit sunburned and rather low-energy, we listened rather than watched, grabbed a blissfully freezing cold beer, and headed over to grab a spot for The National.
The National (1:30pm): What perfect music for a Sunday afternoon. The National took the stage and joked about the hot, still day: "Pray for rain." As they launched into "Start A War," it was hard to resist feeling chills as the song's slow, majestic build began. An ace sound mix really aided the proceedings, as it was easy to hear Matt Berninger's words and slowly take in the beautiful music surrounding them. The group's pacing was excellent, and when they finally tore into full-bore rock mode on "All The Wine," the crowd simultaneously exhaled from the build-up and applauded wildly. Other highlights included new tracks such as "Brainy" and "Slow Show" from the excellent Boxer album. All of the songs were given a beautiful boost thanks to the viola and additional vocals.The National's constant touring this year was obvious in the sharply executed performances, some of which even improved on the album versions. Perhaps the band that everyone will regret missing a year from now, The National's music brought grace, power, and intelligence to the stage and helped cure everyone's Sunday afternoon hangovers. Consider us impressed.
Ben Kweller (2:30pm): After our amiable chat with Kweller back in August, we had to drop in and see how he fared at ACL 2007. Kweller entered dressed totally inappropriately in a long-sleeved stripey T-shirt and red jeans, and we wondered if he'd follow last year's allergy attack with an accidental heatstroke. Short sleeves, Ben, short sleeves! His 3-piece band was solid, but played mostly mid-tempo numbers rather than out-and-out rockers. They may have decided to take it easy on the crowd at such an early hour, focusing on newer material and only playing two songs from our 2002 favorite Sha Sha. Kweller also mentioned that he's stopping over in Austin for a few weeks this fall to record a new album, and featured two new tracks during his set (one of which had a strong Americana and gospel flavor.) The highlight of the set was a two-song (mostly) solo piano sequence featuring new classic "Thirteen" and "In Other Words". He then segued into the sad rocker "Sundress," and as we walked toward the fringes to rehydrate, the huge crowd at the AT&T stage smiled and swayed with the mellow sounds.
Midlake (4:00pm): We were a little surprised to see Midlake performing on the Austin Ventures stage, a relatively small stage that had, for the rest of the weekend, been populated by some pretty big names locally, but not by international acts like Denton's smooth-rockin' darlings. In the end, it made sense: Midlake offer a unique show at a festival the size of ACL, specializing in complex harmonies and multi-instrumentation that probably suffers a bit on a larger scale. We noticed the band struggling to hear themselves on stage, but they worked through it and seemed totally on top of their game once the ball began to roll. The last couple of years have been filled with travel, tours and various efforts to support The Trials of Van Occupanther, and all of that practice was obvious. From "We Gathered In Spring" to crowd favorite "Roscoe", the band was tight and polished, showcasing their apparent adoration for classic rock, their talent as arrangers and their beautiful vocals. "Head Home," a compelling tune featuring a fuzzy '70s guitar solo, some of their most complicated vocal arrangements and a steady, pulsing beat propelled by bass and drums, was a highlight. The crowd got a special treat midway through the set as the band introduced their friend John, who shocked his girlfriend by proposing on stage. The crowd cheered as John got an emphatic "Yes!" and as the couple exited stage left, the band jumped right into "Young Bride". Midlake's set was one of our favorites of the weekend, and we were totally wrong about them being on the wrong stage: the intimacy of the smaller Ventures stage was perfect for their tightly knit, carefully composed tunes.
Images via Joshua Huck. Midlake review by Paige Maguire.
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1. I think Midlake was on the small(er) stage because they're really not all that big a band. They've gotten a lot of indie press, but they have in no way crossed over into the mainstream consciousness. I think it was a mistake to put another similar band in the exact opposite situation when they put Dr. Dog on the huge AT&T stage. I thought both Midlake and Dr. Dog's sets were pretty damned good though.
2. The National was pretty good. They started out slow and I was about ready to go find some shade or more beer. Then they kicked it up a notch about 4 or 5 songs into the set. I'd never really heard much of them before (just some assorted songs in the background while drinking) and I'm sold.
3. Yo La Tengo was amazing, I'm guessing you didn't make it out early enough to catch them.
4. MMJ was the highlight for me; Ending with Phone Went West, One Big Holiday, etc etc etc. But I still haven't heard ANYTHING about Wilco. At all. Setlist folks?
5. Ben Kweller canceled his kiddie stage show because of a "sore throat". Last year, his nose bled because of "the tour bus air conditioning". Who the hell is that guy partying with in Austin!?
Scratch my YLT presumption -- I missed the intro sentence saying you got there for the last little bit!
Wilco was typically amazing - mostly material from the new album, but a few from every album...the closing salvo was Outta Mind (outta site)/Casino Queen/I Got You. Verry nice.
Yo la tengo ruled
national were a good listen in the afternoon
ian ball was great
devotchka ruled
pres hall brought it
mmj smoked it
dylan sucked a fatty.
Dylan actually did get better, although the first two or three songs contained some of the worst singing i've ever heard in my life...
it did pick up, though. "watching the river flow", "things have changed", and "highway 61" were all very cool to hear.
Someone needs to tell the Decemberists (or at least Colin Meloy) that they aren't AC/DC. The show was pretty good but the needless hair band stage antics were distracting (even annoying) and un-Decemberists-like.
I've seen Dylan a few times, and that was the worst his voice had EVER sounded -- particularly at the beginning.
Did anyone else notice that Bob's voice became a lotclearer during the 4th song ("Spirit on the Water") when he sung:
You think I'm over the hill
You think I'm past my prime
Let me see what you got
We can have a whoppin' good time
After that point his vocals were WAY better, but even as a Dylan fan I couldn't recognize that song until the very last verse... It was like he purposefully was singing like shit (which isn't shocking, because his Chronicles book makes it evident he does this shit on purpose).
Why were there no face shots of Dylan? Not only did his voice sound aweful, but I couldn't see him with that hat blocking the light. Just like Van Morrison, he lost me after the first three songs because anyone could have been on that stage for all I could see. Lame.
What a weekend, though. I've been to every single ACL festival, and I have to say that this one was my favorite so far because even the smaller acts that I saw pulled off amazing shows. There have been more interesting headliners in the past and great individual acts here and there, but seriously, every single set I saw was great.
And if I had anything to say about it, Arcade Fire would have been headlining, as they actually perform and engage their crowd. That set was freakin' amazing. Almost as good as their first show at Emo's. Did anyone get to go to the taping? I opted out at the last minute and stayed for Bjork.
I'm guessing Dylan has a contract saying you can't show his wrinkly ass face. Plus, he never engages the crowd and the only time he generally talks during a show is to introduce his band. So I think the result is two-fold:
1. Keeps people from seeing how old he looks nowadays
2. Keeps the focus on Bob Dylan AND HIS BAND; He clearly thinks of himself as part of the band and the result is not to highlight him as a solo artist.
Maybe.
I'm just speculating.
3. Yo La Tengo was amazing, I'm guessing you didn't make it out early enough to catch them.
YES!
Yo La Tengo was *EASILY* the best show of the weekend. Absolutely killer set, good mix of tunes from the last 15 years of their stellar career with a bunch of fun '60s pop and R&B throwbacks to enthrall the masses, but sandwiched between a pair of epic, feedback-soaked, 10-12 minute guitar pieces (one from the new album, one older) that sounded like the JAMC, MBV and Spacemen 3 fucking in heaven.
The Decemberists were being "un-Decemberists-like"? How is that even possible? The way that a band performs defines them, not the expectation somebody else has of them. They had the best show on Sunday I saw by far, exceeding anything I'd anticipated, in part because of their "stage antics". It's called showmanship. Colin was funny and fired up a crowd that was already thrilled. Watching them made me think that they deserved to close out the festival and Dylan should've been relegated to some little stage earlier in the day. As far as I'm concerned the Decemberists did close out the festival. It seemed like when they were done everyone left. - Andrew
Andrew,
Everyone left? Really?
When I left Dylan after 9 songs, I had to walk from the back of the "no chairs" zone through a crowd that stretched all the way into the Decemberists' crowd area. It didn't thin out significantly either.
There were still plenty of people there at the end of Dylan...maybe not as many as there would have been fifteen years ago, but certainly plenty.
Dylan sounded bad. Seriously bad. Forced retirement-level bad. Which is a shame, because this was probably my one chance to see a guy who's right there with Elvis and John Lennon.
all I know is a lot more people were at Ghostland than at Dylan.
that is completely untrue, and i love ghostland
#15 haha
I dunno Andrew, I went to the show to see them kick ass on their *music*, not re-enact a scene from Back to the Future. I agree that a band has to have a stage presence, but he just got stoopid. He didn't pull that at Stubbs, and consequently, it was much better show. Anyway, the ACL show *was* very good, it could have just been far better. In fact, the sound sucked through the first part of the show (not the band's fault), and I was only 15 feet from the stage. It seemed like it got better but that was really disappointing.
this is # 15 again, you detractors either didn't see how many people were at ghostland or left dylan too early to see how few people there were after 30 minutes.
Whatever happened to 'Part Two'?
AMBER ALERT!
MISSING: Paige Maguire, Austinist music reviewer, and Part Two of her ACL wrapup.
Last Seen At: The relatively small Austin Ventures Stage at 4 pm, classic-rocking out to the complicated vocal arrangements and steady, pulsing beat of Midlake, Denton's smooth-rockin' darlings.
If Spotted: Approach with caution, as Ms Maguire is believed to have been abducted by Arctic Monkey Alex Turner, who despite looking incredibly young, may be armed (with a sonic 1-2 punch) and dangerous and irate about the competent ambivalence of her review.
Contact authorities immediately and ask Ms Maguire if she stayed for Dylan and whether the Decemberists were better at Stubbs or ACL.
This was my first time seeing the Decemberists and didn't know what to expect, whereas you saw them in a slightly more intimate stage, and maybe they had more time at Stubbs and thereby a more relaxed pace. I don't think they even had time to play the Mariner's Revenge at ACL, so maybe they felt they had to go "big" to impress a festival crowd, much of whom maybe only know 16 Military Wives.
Who else saw those floating and glowing ballons going over the park during Dylan's set? Where did those come from?
no part two, eh?
where is part two?
i thought common was disapointing.
too much preaching, not enough crazy hip hop beats...