ACL Festival 2008: Day 3
I left bright and early (11:45 a.m.) to make sure that I'd show up in time for The Kills at 1:30. On the walk between 4th and Congress, where the city bus dropped me off, and 4th and Guadalupe, where the shuttle buses were, I saw a telephone pole covered in giant, glossy Raconteurs posters. "If I were a person who stole," thought I, "I would totally rip one of those off right now." So I was lamenting my ethics when I saw one of these posters on the sidewalk! About to blow into the gutter! Clearly, I needed to rescue it. So I did:
Once I finally pull myself together and finish decorating my apartment, I will frame it and hang it in a place of honor.
I ended up getting there just after 12:30, so I caught part of the set by Nicole Atkins & The Sea. I hadn't heard anything by her before, but she sounds kind of like a female, indie rock Roy Orbison. I only stayed for a few minutes because I decided to spend my bonus time participating in the festival's Rock & Recycle program. The idea is that you pick up a large garbage bag and fill it with bottles and cans (just clap your hands) that you find around the park. You then exchange it for an ACL T-shirt, poster or tote bag. Within an hour, I had earned myself my very own Daniel Johnston 2008 ACL poster (picture not online yet for some reason) and saved myself the $20 that I was going to spend on it anyway. A few tricks I learned: go around the areas where people are sitting in chairs. They're there for the long haul, so they don't get up. They also tend to be older and more likely to afford copious amounts of booze in aluminium cans. Also, look in the areas on the edge of the park near the outhouses. There aren't very many recycling bags there, so people throw their bottles and cans in the trash or just litter. I considered filling another bag for a T-shirt (retail value: $35!), but I decided to take the rest of the day off to enjoy the music. I feel like the search for recyclables made me appreciate the festival in the way it was meant to be enjoyed. I took in bits and pieces from all stages of the festival, including artists I wouldn't have sought out on my own. So in addition to Nicole Atkins and The Kills, I heard parts of sets by Abigail Washburn, The Octopus Project and someone listed in the schedule as Adele but was clearly not her.
After turning in my recyclables, I treated myself to a snowball. This one was from a different stand than the one I had Friday, and was much better. Still not as good as the stand right by my apartment, though. (I have recently discovered that snow cones, done perfectly, are one of my favorite foods ever.) I cooled down in the Zilker Beach tent before heading out to see Gillian Welch at 2:30 and (again!) overloading myself with water. My stomach ache disappeared much more quickly today, probably because the heat made all the water evaporate out of me within five minutes. Gillian Welch was great, and I was pleased to hear her play "Revelator." Alison Krauss made a surprise appearance to sing "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby," with David Rawlings doing a very convincing job as Emmylou Harris. (You can see the ASL interpreter in the photo. All shows I saw from there on had an interpreter there. Where were they Friday and most of Saturday?)
I then got some more water and a steak frites sandwich (mmmm) and settled down for Neko Case's set at 4:30. I had already planned on seeing Neko Case, but realizing that she was the act on the AMD stage before The Raconteurs made getting a good place even more imperative. I overheard some Stars from the AT&T Blue Room stage, but since my experience with them is limited to what erint's played in her car, I don't feel like I missed anything. Neko Case was pretty good, although I like her work with The New Pornographers better. She also didn't play any of her songs that I knew. She did say that a lot of what she was playing was new, so I guess we got a preview of her upcoming album.
Then it was waiting for an hour for The Raconteurs. Enough people left after Neko Case that I found a spot in the front row! (Of course, having such a prime spot means that a cameraman stood in front of me during the entire Raconteurs set, for the most part blocking drummer Patrick Keeler.) Okkervil River were playing nearby, so I got to hear most of their set while waiting. I saw Okkervil River at Fun Fun Fun Fest last year (with The New Pornographers), and I wasn't won over. I did like them better tonight, though, so I might give them another chance. I mean, they played "Sloop John B"! OK, so they lose points for it being in a song about John Berryman (get it?!). Watching the roadies set up for The Raconteurs was entertaining enough, though. They all wore more or less matching outfits: dark grey work shirts and Dickies, black fedoras, ties and belts. The video monitors were even in black and white. It's nice to know that Jack White's aesthetic sensibilities (because you know it has to be his) extends to all details of the concert experience. Except Brendan Benson, it seems. When the band walked on stage, Jack White was referencing The White Stripes from the neck up (black hair, white face, red eyeshadow), looking like a 19th century tuberculosis patient. Brendan Benson, on the other hand, was about a century apart from everything else on stage, somewhere between California surfer and '70s pot dealer.
Appearances aside, The Raconteurs rocked. Jack White is my hero. They played "Steady, As She Goes," "Level," "Blue Veins" (which was like 15 minutes long) and "Broken Boy Soldier" from the first album, and much of the second album: I specifically remember "Consoler of the Lonely," "Rich Kid Blues," "Many Shades of Black," "You Don't Understand Me" and a killer version of "Top Yourself," my favorite song from Consolers of the Lonely. Sadly, no "Carolina Drama."
The hour and ten minutes flew by. When it was over, it was time to go home. I had wanted to see Band of Horses (whom I haven't heard much by, but whom Ben loves) and Foo Fighters, but Austin's bus sytem meant that the last city bus I could catch home on a Sunday night departs downtown around 9:30. The Ranconteurs' set ended at 7:45 p.m., giving me more than enough time to catch the bus. However, the longer I'd have stayed at the festival, the longer the line for the shuttle buses, the later I'd arrive downtown and the less likely I'd be able to secure a spot on the overcrowded buses that would bring me home. If I really cared, I could have taken a taxi home - which is what Ben, Kristi and I did after Bob Dylan closed the festival last year - but I didn't want to see Foo Fighters or Band of Horses enough to spend over an hour standing in a taxi queue by myself and then forking out $20 or more extra to get home (and on a school night!). As it is, I ended the festival on the best possible note. Anything afterwards would have been anticlimactic. I kept thinking "I can't wait to come back next year!", but where will I be this time next year? It's not very likely that I'll be in Austin, and I probably won't make the trip to ACL if I don't live here anymore. The past two years of ACL were awesome, though.
