Oh! The smell of reefer and sweat is in the air, and this means only one thing; the majestic Austin City Limits Festival is upon us. 3 days, 8 stages, and 130 bands, 100 degrees Fahrenheit. When it comes to events in Austin, it's hard to top ACL.
Here's how my Friday at ACL went down.
2:30-3:30: Vampire Weekend, I was sort of torn between seeing them and Jakob Dylan, but because I was so impressed with Vampire's debut album I choose the afro-pop ivy league alt- rockers. They played a decent show but I was sort of disappointed. Their singer sounded good but their overall sound was lacking. They also needed to turn up the volume. But they did play some new material which makes me curious to see how good their next album will be. B-
3:30-4:30: Del the Funky Homosapien, and I now have a new favorite rapper. You probably know him best from his guest appearance on the Gorillaz's hit song "Clint Eastwood." His fast rhymes and jovial style makes him sound like the old school rappers of the early 90's instead of the ones today. Del and his funky rapping crew know how to accompany each other's styles and really had the crowd moving with their tremendous stage presence. B+
5:15-6:00: Mates of States, I have to say that before today I knew very little of this duo. But they caught my attention with their melodic tunes. Their show was good but did not make my jaw drop. B-
6:30-7:30: N.E.R.D., this is probably the show I enjoyed the least. Although they played loud and had a good backing band, for some reason I just wasn't feeling the music. Most of the crowd seemed into it so maybe it was just me, but to me all their songs sounded the same and all the various parts of their songs did not seem to complement each other to well. It wasn't bad, just OK. C+
7:30-8:15: The Swell Season, everybody now knows this two from their Oscar winning soundtrack Once. Their set was a nice change of pace with their laid back and intimate style. Possibly my favorite moment of the whole day was when they played the great Van Morrison song "Astral Weeks." Definitely a good show for laying in the grass on a cool night. B-
8:15-10:00: The Mars Volta, without a doubt the loudest show of the night. Their guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is truly unbelievable as he sounds like a mix between Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) and David Gilmour (Pink Floyd). Volta definitely doesn't sound like anybody else today and I would best describe them as a psychedelic alt-rock jam band. Personally, I'm not big on their recorded albums, but live they are certainly worth the ticket price. B+
Friday was a good day, but what I'm really looking forward to is Saturday.
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