ACL in Review

Austin City Limits. What a Festival!


The only bad part about this weekend was the HEAT. Almost 100 degrees all 3 days, and out in the sun it felt like 120. Other than that they put on a great Festival. Everyone out in Texas was so nice. If they held a Fest like this back East, in excessive heat like this, I can almost guarantee there would be fights and basically organized chaos. Not here, everyone made this weekend an great experience.



BIG THANKS to:
-ACL Festival
-AT&T (2 stages and the Digital Oasis offered internet access, college and pro football coverage, and AIR CONDITIONING all weekend long)
-The Library on 6th St. (Great Tunes after the festival, cheap drinks, and they welcomed NJ with open arms)
-The Aquarium on Sixth (Water filled walls and $13 for 2 Sapphire Tonics and 2 beers. Game Over.)
-Latitude 30 ($2 Jager Bombs!? Are you serious? That's all I remember, Yes this place is a GEM)


Highlights:
-Ben Kweller's nose bleed during his set that he plugged with a tampon
-Kings of Leon play 3 new songs
-MUSE play an AMAZING set (my first MUSE experience, so I might be bias)
-Tom Petty plays during a classic Texas rain
-TV on the Radio=really good
-AT&T Digital Oasis Tent-AC and Football games on Sat and Sunday saved a lot of people from the heat and football withdrawal.
-Wolf Parade play a good set despite their bassist missing the trip due to Ecoli
-Ben Harper played well and did some nice covers of Neil Young
-Damian Marley played some of his Dad's songs, which was unexpected since I'd never seem him before either
-The Raconteurs shot down any negative hype brought on by the horrible editing of the MTV Awards, by putting on Zeppelin-esqe set.


Kings of Leon

The Kings of Leon came out just as the sun started to set on Day 2. The wind picked up and cooled thing off a bit, and the Kings got things rolling. They played 3 new songs (Charmer, My Party, On Call) and then ran though songs off of both albums. Great set, and everyone seemed to really enjoy them. The new songs are a huge step up for them as far as musicianship. You want to hear what I'm talking about?

Rock this out. And keep in mind, is the audio that is the best part about these, now the video.

New Kings of Leon Songs
Kings of Leon-My Party




Kings of Leon-Charmer


Kings of Leon-On Call




MUSE

I thought MUSE played one of the best, if not THE best set of the Festival. But what do I know? Rolling Stone didn't even mention it, AT ALL. weak. I might be bias since it was my first time seeing them, but they rocked out hard. I knew what to expect from the band as far as songs since I'm familiar with their stuff, but the energy that they exhorted playing those songs blew me away. Add the fact that the stage/light show was pretty good for a Festival and the Lead Singer/Guitarist was very impressive, and you'll see how I came to this conclusion.

Judge for yourself

MUSE-Time is Running Out




MUSE-Hysteria


MUSE-Supermassive Black Hole [partial]


Wolf Parade-Modern World




[listen to:]