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Get Breaking News on your cellACL 2008, Day 2: the Bad
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November 2008
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1). Erykah Badu. Sorry to say it, but Dallas' queen of neo-soul talked too much. After "Love of My Life," she threw down this bizarre scat solo using two curse words as anchors, then she spent three or four minutes rambing on about why the heck she named her new album New Amerykah Part One (4th World War). Something about occupation ... anyway, by that time she'd created a noticeable exodus away from the AT&T Stage. She did finish stronger with decent versions of "Tyrone" and "Honey," but she was as loose as her hair (worn down) and her garb (a smiley-face T-shirt) at ACL, and that was too loose. 2). MGMT. Though a huge crowd gathered for its set on the AT&T Blue Room Stage (read about just how big in the next post) and MGMT's live show has improved in power and tightness since South by Southwest in March, the Brooklyn electro-rock duo's music still lacks hooks, character and distinction. Neither Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden know how to work a crowd, either. Horrible, and darn near unlistenable. Maybe the crowd was so big because they were all taking a break to drink. 3) Five Times August. I know: Brad Skistimas is attractive, he's a Lewisville native that now lives in Waxahachie, and he's a self-made singer-songwriter star-in-incubation thanks to TV-show song placements up the Technicolor wazoo. But live, his act is so hopelessly generic and plain that he wins no one over. Closing note: Saturday's power funk and rock drowned out some otherwise fine performances by quieter types. Iron & Wine's turn on the Dell Stage lost its delicacy during quieter moments because Roky Erickson was WAY loud and proud (and justifiably so, in my mind) on the Austin Ventures Stage; his set also affected Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' performance for its first 30 minutes. |
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Comments
Posted by Kip Mooney @ 2:17 PM Mon, Sep 29, 2008
Didn't care for MGMT either (even though I love their album), but to be fair I was far away, and had just suffered an allergy attack (more on that in the Lovely section). And Roky was the most delightful homeless man I've ever seen on stage.
Posted by Kat @ 4:18 PM Mon, Sep 29, 2008
I saw MGMT at Urban Outfitters during SXSW. The tiny venue was packed, and the energy was fantastic. It was better than the album. Their ACL performance was like listening to another band! I don't know what happened... perhaps the large crowd size?
Posted by Susan B @ 2:36 AM Tue, Sep 30, 2008
I love Five Times August albums, and I love Brad live. The ACL performance was not great. I couldn't really hear and there wasn't much energy. But I've only seen Brad solo before this and he's pretty great, interactive and energetic. He should stick to playing solo and forget the band...doesn't work.
Posted by Susan B @ 2:39 AM Tue, Sep 30, 2008
I love Five Times August albums. The ACL performance was not great. I couldn't hear and there wasn't much energy. I've seen Brad solo twice before this and he's great, interactive and energetic. He should stick to playing solo and forget the band...doesn't work.