Like fellow Ohioans The Black Keys and Texas up-and-comers White Denim, Heartless Bastards, the garage all-stars from Cincinnati, are at the center of a return to rough rock, and provide an alternative to the unfuzzy rock of bands such as Vampire Weekend and Fleet Foxes. Sunday evening on the oft-underrated Austin Ventures Stage, megaphone-voiced singer Erika Wennerstrom led the set, with able assistance from the big bass rhythms of Jesse Ebaugh and the steady but hard-hitting drums of Dave Colvin.
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Admittedly, we were among the cynics, and had a preconceived notion that this MTV-friendly band was going to leave a bad taste in our ears after three days of remarkable shows. To our (pleasant) surprise, Dave Grohl and his band put on an epic show worthy of the final slot at the festival.
Band of Horses have come a long way in a very short amount of time, and the enthusiastic crowd that gathered in front of the Dell stage at 7:30 was a good indicator of just how far. The group played plenty of songs from their latest record as well as a few from 2006’s Everything All the Time, and it seemed as if every track they played was a favorite of someone in the crowd and they sang along loudly.
Los Angeles-based Silversun Pickups wrapped up a series of festival shows and their current tour at the AT&T Stage Sunday afternoon. The band opened with the recognizable single "Well Thought Out Twinkles" and snuck in a couple of unreleased songs during their hour-long set.
The heat of the midday sun was a little too much to keep music fans moving around during Gillian Welch. Instead, the majority of onlookers sat and listened attentively to the sincere, story-telling country/folk of Welch and her musical partner and guitarist David Rawlings. The two of them have been playing together for a long time, and it really showed.
Offensive, hilarious and meaningful, the male members of Stars kept us laughing and inspired throughout our Sunday morning discussion of pedophiles and music. The group performed at ACL on Sunday afternoon and took a break with us to chat. Austinist contributing writer Candace Birkelbach spoke with Torquil Campbell, Evan Cranley and Chris Seligman.