Last weekend Waido and I went down to Austin, TX for the Austin City Limits festival. It was incredible. We left Thursday morning at 4:35 in the morning and pulled into the house we were staying at in Austin at 7:49pm. Long drive, but we switched every 250 miles or so. We were lucky enough to stay with a couple of Waido's friends who happened to work at a couple amazing restaurants in downtown Austin, so that was pretty sweet. Thursday night we all went downtown and had dinner at Manuel's - an incredible Mexican restaurant - and then we walked around 6th street for awhile. Went in to a couple bars and checked out a couple bands, all around good time.
But the best time really started Friday morning when we got to the Festival. Here's the bands we saw.
David Ford - great solo musician from England, does a lot of political songs and plays guitar, bass and piano with loop pedals. Really cool.
Terri Hendrix - really good folk band. Great lyrics, covered a Woody Guthrie song, also a very political act. And speaking of political acts... I don't think any band there - or anybody for the most part supported the current administration... One of the really cool things about Terri Hendrix was that she had a signer on the side of the stage to translate her lyrics for the deaf.
After Terri Hendrix we wandered around the shop booths for a bit and grabbed a bite to eat and then walked over to the Barton Springs. Barton Springs was about a 3 minute walk from the festival grounds and is a natural spring that they've dammed up to make a pool. It's around 68 degrees and although that's normally really cold, it felt awesome when it's 95 degrees outside, there's not a cloud in the sky and it's Texas humid. After spending about a half an hour at the springs (only $3 for the entire day) we walked back to the festival grounds to check out Guster.
That was the first time I'd ever seen Guster live and the thing that made the show for me was their drummer. He was incredible. He has this set that he's put together of a ton of different hand drums and percussion instruments and is just insane on them. You could only watch him the entire time and be constantly amazed.
After checking out Guster for awhile we walked towards one of the smaller stages and as we were walking Waido noticed someone near us and shouted out "Ray?" and Ray LaMontagne said "Yeah?" So we talked with him for awhile, which was awesome. We both shook his hand and told him we were really looking forward to seeing his show later on. We also asked if we could get a picture with him, but he told us he doesn't do pictures. But it was pretty sweet anyway.
Then we checked out this singer/songwriter girl named Tristan Prettyman. Really good music and she had some great sounding riffs on the acoustic guitar. She was backed up by a drummer and a bassist, but you could tell that she's normally a solo act, because they were both at the back of the stage and she was front and center.
After Tristan Prettyman we saw Matt Nathanson. Both Waido and I had seen him before (we cover a couple of his songs) and it's always been a good show, so I was looking forward to it. He did put on a great show and played some songs from his upcoming CD, but his inbetween song bantering went on for a little long. But a cool set none the less.
Around this time (still only 4:30) we were feeling a little warm and a little tired, so we walked over to this big tent that was advertising AT&T and had air conditioning and internet access. So we stayed in there for a bit, bought tickets to see Bob Schneider later that night, cooled off and then were ready to check out Gnarls Barkley.
6) Now I don't know too much about Gnarls Barkley, and they were playing one of the main stages, so it was packed and we were way far away. You could still hear the music and see the stage, but not too well. When they were done with their first song they apologized to the audience that Gnarls Barkley couldn't be here today and they were some other band (I forget the name they used) and were just filling in, but they'd try to cover some of their stuff. Since I'd never seen them before, I didn't know what was going on, but apparently they play all their shows as different identities, and after the third song (their main hit "Crazy") I knew it was them. Fun show, good music, but again, we weren't too close.
7) Then we left Gnarles Barkley to go and see Gomez. Amazing. Awesome show and incredible musicians. I had heard a couple of their songs on the radio, but that was it. After seeing them live though, I'm a huge fan and have to check out more of their music.
8) After Gomez we went to see Austin's home boys - the Los Lonely Boys. They rocked. Although the crowd wasn't as into it as I was expecting, I think because they were still kind of during the beginning of the evening (they started at 6:30) and it was still sunny and really hot out. The band rocked the stage anyway though and played a lot of stuff from their new album which I had bought a couple weeks previous. They also played a couple of their hits from their other album, which went over really well.
9) Then we left Los Lonely Boys and walked to the other main stage to check out the last part of Thievery Corporation. I'll definitely have to see them live again, because it was packed around the stage and we could only really see the screen and not the actual stage. There was probably about 16 people in the band and they rocked the hip-hop/reggae. Really good live.
10) After listening to a couple songs from Thievery Corp, we walked to another stage to see Ray LaMontagne. For as mellow as his songs are, and for how anti-social he is, he puts on a hell of a show. He played mostly stuff from his first album "Trouble" which was fine for me because I love that disc, and I'm not too big of a fan of his new one. "Jolene" was probably my favorite live, but the entire show was incredible.
11) I had to leave Ray early because I definitely wanted to catch the whole set of John Mayer and I wanted to get in close. I got there about 10 minutes before he came out and was able to get a good view of the stage and right in front of the huge projection screen, so it worked out really well. John Mayer rocks. He played a lot of older stuff and a lot of stuff from his new album "Continuum". "Slow Dancing in a Crowded Room" was incredible to see live. He played "My Stupid Mouth", "Daughters", "Gravity", "Vultures", "Waiting on the World to Change" and a ton more. He is absolutely mind blowing on the guitar and he shows it live. It was awesome.
After John Mayer, we left the festival to go downtown. This was at 9:30. We were worn out and needed food so we went to the Rio (used to be the Real World Austin house) and one of the girls we were staying with was working that night so we got hooked up pretty nice there. After some great food at the Rio we walked over to Antone's and got there 10 minutes before Bob Schneider and his band started. Antone's is this great small club that even if you're in the center in the back row of the crowd you're no more than 20 feet from the stage. We had a great spot to start out with, but we'd both been on our feet all day long and were really tired, so when I noticed a balcony section that had some people sitting at tables overlooking the stage, I thought it would be nice to get up there. I walked up to the door (which read "Authorized Personnel only") and asked the security guard who was right next to it if he minded me going up there. He said that he couldn't let me up there, so I went back to where I was before. About three songs later, I used the bathroom and when I came out the security guard was gone, so I just walked through the door. Then I was in the green room with the band's guitar tech, and walked up the stairs and grabbed an empty table next to all of the bands friends. Later I got Waido up there (telling a different security guy "Don't worry, he's with me") and we hung out there for the rest of the show. After the encore when we were ready to leave we walked down into the green room and there was the whole band so we told Bob what a great show it was, got a couple pictures with him, talked with the rest of the band and then headed out. It was awesome. The show was incredible too - another band that if you have the chance to catch, there's no excuse not to. So much fun.
By this time it was well past 2:00am, we'd been listening to live music for over 12 hours and been out in the hot sun for over 8 hours, so we were pretty much spent. I have never slept so well on a couch before in my entire life.
But the best time really started Friday morning when we got to the Festival. Here's the bands we saw.
David Ford - great solo musician from England, does a lot of political songs and plays guitar, bass and piano with loop pedals. Really cool.
Terri Hendrix - really good folk band. Great lyrics, covered a Woody Guthrie song, also a very political act. And speaking of political acts... I don't think any band there - or anybody for the most part supported the current administration... One of the really cool things about Terri Hendrix was that she had a signer on the side of the stage to translate her lyrics for the deaf.
After Terri Hendrix we wandered around the shop booths for a bit and grabbed a bite to eat and then walked over to the Barton Springs. Barton Springs was about a 3 minute walk from the festival grounds and is a natural spring that they've dammed up to make a pool. It's around 68 degrees and although that's normally really cold, it felt awesome when it's 95 degrees outside, there's not a cloud in the sky and it's Texas humid. After spending about a half an hour at the springs (only $3 for the entire day) we walked back to the festival grounds to check out Guster.
That was the first time I'd ever seen Guster live and the thing that made the show for me was their drummer. He was incredible. He has this set that he's put together of a ton of different hand drums and percussion instruments and is just insane on them. You could only watch him the entire time and be constantly amazed.
After checking out Guster for awhile we walked towards one of the smaller stages and as we were walking Waido noticed someone near us and shouted out "Ray?" and Ray LaMontagne said "Yeah?" So we talked with him for awhile, which was awesome. We both shook his hand and told him we were really looking forward to seeing his show later on. We also asked if we could get a picture with him, but he told us he doesn't do pictures. But it was pretty sweet anyway.
Then we checked out this singer/songwriter girl named Tristan Prettyman. Really good music and she had some great sounding riffs on the acoustic guitar. She was backed up by a drummer and a bassist, but you could tell that she's normally a solo act, because they were both at the back of the stage and she was front and center.
After Tristan Prettyman we saw Matt Nathanson. Both Waido and I had seen him before (we cover a couple of his songs) and it's always been a good show, so I was looking forward to it. He did put on a great show and played some songs from his upcoming CD, but his inbetween song bantering went on for a little long. But a cool set none the less.
Around this time (still only 4:30) we were feeling a little warm and a little tired, so we walked over to this big tent that was advertising AT&T and had air conditioning and internet access. So we stayed in there for a bit, bought tickets to see Bob Schneider later that night, cooled off and then were ready to check out Gnarls Barkley.
6) Now I don't know too much about Gnarls Barkley, and they were playing one of the main stages, so it was packed and we were way far away. You could still hear the music and see the stage, but not too well. When they were done with their first song they apologized to the audience that Gnarls Barkley couldn't be here today and they were some other band (I forget the name they used) and were just filling in, but they'd try to cover some of their stuff. Since I'd never seen them before, I didn't know what was going on, but apparently they play all their shows as different identities, and after the third song (their main hit "Crazy") I knew it was them. Fun show, good music, but again, we weren't too close.
7) Then we left Gnarles Barkley to go and see Gomez. Amazing. Awesome show and incredible musicians. I had heard a couple of their songs on the radio, but that was it. After seeing them live though, I'm a huge fan and have to check out more of their music.
8) After Gomez we went to see Austin's home boys - the Los Lonely Boys. They rocked. Although the crowd wasn't as into it as I was expecting, I think because they were still kind of during the beginning of the evening (they started at 6:30) and it was still sunny and really hot out. The band rocked the stage anyway though and played a lot of stuff from their new album which I had bought a couple weeks previous. They also played a couple of their hits from their other album, which went over really well.
9) Then we left Los Lonely Boys and walked to the other main stage to check out the last part of Thievery Corporation. I'll definitely have to see them live again, because it was packed around the stage and we could only really see the screen and not the actual stage. There was probably about 16 people in the band and they rocked the hip-hop/reggae. Really good live.
10) After listening to a couple songs from Thievery Corp, we walked to another stage to see Ray LaMontagne. For as mellow as his songs are, and for how anti-social he is, he puts on a hell of a show. He played mostly stuff from his first album "Trouble" which was fine for me because I love that disc, and I'm not too big of a fan of his new one. "Jolene" was probably my favorite live, but the entire show was incredible.
11) I had to leave Ray early because I definitely wanted to catch the whole set of John Mayer and I wanted to get in close. I got there about 10 minutes before he came out and was able to get a good view of the stage and right in front of the huge projection screen, so it worked out really well. John Mayer rocks. He played a lot of older stuff and a lot of stuff from his new album "Continuum". "Slow Dancing in a Crowded Room" was incredible to see live. He played "My Stupid Mouth", "Daughters", "Gravity", "Vultures", "Waiting on the World to Change" and a ton more. He is absolutely mind blowing on the guitar and he shows it live. It was awesome.
After John Mayer, we left the festival to go downtown. This was at 9:30. We were worn out and needed food so we went to the Rio (used to be the Real World Austin house) and one of the girls we were staying with was working that night so we got hooked up pretty nice there. After some great food at the Rio we walked over to Antone's and got there 10 minutes before Bob Schneider and his band started. Antone's is this great small club that even if you're in the center in the back row of the crowd you're no more than 20 feet from the stage. We had a great spot to start out with, but we'd both been on our feet all day long and were really tired, so when I noticed a balcony section that had some people sitting at tables overlooking the stage, I thought it would be nice to get up there. I walked up to the door (which read "Authorized Personnel only") and asked the security guard who was right next to it if he minded me going up there. He said that he couldn't let me up there, so I went back to where I was before. About three songs later, I used the bathroom and when I came out the security guard was gone, so I just walked through the door. Then I was in the green room with the band's guitar tech, and walked up the stairs and grabbed an empty table next to all of the bands friends. Later I got Waido up there (telling a different security guy "Don't worry, he's with me") and we hung out there for the rest of the show. After the encore when we were ready to leave we walked down into the green room and there was the whole band so we told Bob what a great show it was, got a couple pictures with him, talked with the rest of the band and then headed out. It was awesome. The show was incredible too - another band that if you have the chance to catch, there's no excuse not to. So much fun.
By this time it was well past 2:00am, we'd been listening to live music for over 12 hours and been out in the hot sun for over 8 hours, so we were pretty much spent. I have never slept so well on a couch before in my entire life.
No comments:
Post a Comment