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Get Breaking News on your cellACL 2008, Day 3: the Good
9:09 AM Mon, Sep 29, 2008 | Permalink |
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November 2008
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Sunday was the Austin City Limits Music Festival's rockin' day; many of the acts scheduled to perform fell into the realm of modern rock, blues rock and jam rock. As such, it also ended up being the festival's lightest attendance day; tickets didn't sell out until well into the afternoon, and frankly, the performances were lackluster for much of that time. Not a great way to end things. Highlights were few, but they were there: 1) the Raconteurs. Jack White's shaved his facial hair, but Brendan Benson's grown a moustache. Even so, they both leapt onto the AMD Stage with matching straw fedoras on. Once they were shed, the band tore through 75 minutes of material with the gusto of a teen-age punk band despite Mr. White's admission that not only was he feeling under the weather, but that he's got a slipped disk in his upper back. (OUCH). The performance had several times more energy and activity as its show at Dallas' House of Blues in early April, mere days after its second album, Consolers of the Lonely, was released. It was obvious that the band was much, much more comfortable with the new material. 2). Okkervil River. The Austin indie favorites' set, on the nearby AT&T Blue Room Stage just previous to the Raconteurs' show, set a whimsical and unexpectedly upbeat tone despite the band's intricate and brainy take on roots rock. They sounded and acted like R.E.M. melded with the Decemberists with a touch of Elvis Costello added for flavor, with no loss of charm, insistence or honesty. The band had many in the crowd waving their arms to and fro during its emo-like final song, which was a totally unpredictable reaction to such a considered and rarefied act. Bravo. 3). Joe Bonamassa. For blues guitar freaks, this upstate New York native is the seminal prodigy; he was mentored by the legendary Danny Gatton before he was even in his teens. Now at age 31, he's as fiery and charismatic a performer as any in rock -- and he by far commanded the best guitar tone of anyone at ACL. Yes, he shows off -- he ended the blues ballad "Sloe Gin" with a note-bouncing 15-bar scale-a-thon that, while intense and impressive, was just too much of a good thing -- but that's balanced somewhat by a affable stage personality and some tasteful blues pop somgwriting. Honorable mentions: Band of Horses (classy Southern rock pop, when it wasn't drowned out by Foo Fighters starting its set early), Heartless Bastards (Cincinnati trio with an earthy female singer that sounds like Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes fame) and White Denim (yet another Austin buzz band, but this one's different; slightly nerdy and jazzy in a Rush-meets-Man Man kind of way) |
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