popwreckoning

This Memorial Day Weekend (May 23-25, 2009) will again see Quincy, Washington’s beloved Sasquatch! Music Festival held at The Gorge. Tickets go on sale on Saturday, February 28th at 10AM (information below).

This year’s Sasquatch! line-up includes:
Jane’s Addiction (feat. all four original members), Kings of Leon, Nine Inch Nails, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Erykah Badu, The Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, TV On The Radio, Animal Collective, Silversun Pickups, Bon Iver, Santogold, Of Montreal, Explosions In The Sky, DeVotchKa, Peter Bjorn & John, Gogol Bordello, M. Ward, The Avett Brothers, Doves, Calexico, Grizzly Bear, M83, Girl Talk, The Gaslight Anthem, The Walkmen, Chromeo (dj set), Deadmau5, Mugison, Sun Kil Moon, Airborne Toxic Event, Blitzen Trapper, Shearwater, BLK JKS, The Wrens, Tobacco, Monotonix, King Khan & The Shrines, St. Vincent, Passion Pit, John Vanderslice, Bishop Allen, Blind Pilot, AA Bondy, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Ra Ra Riot, The Dodos, Beach House, The Submarines, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, The Dutchess & The Duke, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele, Fences, School of Seven Bells, Death Vessel, Horse Feathers, Hockey, The Pica Beats, Loch Lomond & more to come!

The festival’s comedy line-up includes Zach Galifiankas, Demetri Martin, Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job, Todd Barry, Jon Benjamin, God’s Pottery, People’s Republic of Komedy & more.

The festival, now in its eighth and most ambitious year yet, has evolved from a unique, homegrown & low key fest into a full blown three day extravaganza. A festival-goer’s dream, it comes complete with camp-outs, canyons, sunsets, three stages and new this year, an expanded comedy and dance music tent. The tent will feature performances from comedians throughout the day, and then come dusk, will spotlight electronic and dance music artists.

For the third year in a row, the Sasquatch! Music Festival teams up with Esurance and Sustainable Energy Partners to bring you a carbon neutral music festival. By increasing sustainable practices at the Gorge, including an expanded recycling program, eco-friendly signage, and energy efficient lighting (to name a few), we are able reduce our overall carbon footprint at the venue. The rest of the calculated carbon emissions – fuel consumption by all those who travel to the event and energy used during the festival – are then offset through investments in carbon reduction programs, such as methane capture projects in the Pacific Northwest.

Beginning February 28th (on sale weekend only):
A discounted 3 DAY FESTIVAL PASS is available for a very limited time / $154.50
Offer ends Sunday, March 1st at midnight.
Single tickets, per day / $56.50

Beginning March 2nd:
3 day pass / $199.50
Single tickets, per day / $66.50

Beginning May 11th:
3 day pass / $229.50
Single tickets, per day / $76.50

V.I.P. package tickets with special amenities also available.

Tickets go on sale Saturday February 28th at 10AM and can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com, sasquatchfestival.com, all Ticketmaster outlets, or charge by phone in Seattle (206) 628-0888, in Oregon (503) 224-4400, and in Eastern Washington (509) 735-0500

Camping is available for May 22, 23, 24, 25 and can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com. For more details, directions and further information on camping at The Gorge Amphitheatre go to sasquatchfestival.com.

Sasquatch! Music Festival: website

Joshua recently had the chance to interview one of PopWreckoning’s favorite singer/songwriters, Kevin Devine. The guys talked about everything from albums, Brand New and politics. Make sure you check out part I before moving on to part II here:

Joshua, PopWreckoning: I find that you get a large number of people that are drawn to each individual album because each album is so different. Like I know a lot of people that prefer Make the Clocks Move. I find the Brand New people are more drawn to the “Cotton Crush” album [Split the Country, Split the Streets] and it’s nice because the extreme differences between albums definitely has the ability to widen your fan-base which widens your draw and I think it works for you. I don’t think a lot of artists can do it because people cry out. You know this isn’t the sound you normally have, but you haven’t been typecast into a distinct sound.
Kevin Devine: I think it works for me as much in that I get to do what I want and there’s not really a conscious ‘let’s make a rock, let’s make a folk record.’ It’s more like ‘that song should sound like this. This song should sound like this.’ I also think it’s probably what makes the other people in my world’s jobs or lives harder–like the marketing people and A&R people or the press people or the booking agent because I can go on tour with Okkervil River. I can go on tour with Bright Eyes or Cursive. I can do stuff with AA Bondy or whatever. And I do stuff with KT Tunstall and Corinne Bailey Rae and [Rachael] Yamagata and the Hotel Café and with Brand New and Manchester [Orchestra] and whoever else is more in that world.

PW: You hit on a question right there. What audience do you find tends to be more difficult to play for?
KD: Because I don’t fit exactly with anybody, there are great things about it. I love getting in front of a Rachael Yamagata crowd of like 35 year old urban professional people that like Coldplay a lot. I like getting in front of that crowd and I feel like a punk rocker a little bit with some of the things I’m saying or the way I’m saying them.
I also know at those shows there will be a bunch of people that won’t get it and there will be a bunch of people that, well it seems to me that people articulate to me that they do know it’s different and it’s genuine and that’s very meaningful to me. And those crowds are usually respectful and receive music differently than the kids that come see the more emo bands, or whatever you want to call them, that I play with. I don’t think, by the way, I don’t think that whatever that word is, that’s not what I think about a band like Brand New or Manchester, I think there’s a community that’s Colour Revolt, Anathallo, us, Mewithoutyou, Brand New, Manchester, and a couple other people by extension that’s like this weird middle point between what’s happening at Pitchfork and what’s happening at AbsolutePunk.
I blame part of that… well I feel I don’t get 90 percent of what’s happening at either place. So it’s nice to feel something in the middle. Besides that, those kids are really passionate. And when they like you, they’re really passionate about what you do and the hipster people, well it’s rewarding to impress them because they’re hard to impress. So if you play in front of Okkervil’s crowd and they really love what you’re doing, to be fair, my musical taste probably lies closest to those people, but I can’t pick and choose my audience and I certainly wouldn’t want to. It makes things really interesting for me.
That being said, if I could pick my tour, my headlining tour, and you’ve seen this, I’d rather bring Bondy and Jealous Girlfriends and I’d rather bring Jennifer O’Connor and Pablo and I’d rather bring bands that I like whether those kids are going to get it or not. Or whether those people draw anything or not.
I don’t want to bring “name” bands. I don’t want to bring bands I don’t like just cause they’re going to bring out a bunch of people. Plus they won’t ever do it cause you might get your hands caught into doing it, but it’s not my preference.

PW: The thing I enjoyed the most about the shows with the Jealous Girlfriends and the bands you are personally friends with that you brought on, there was an extra level of comfort when you were there and y. You guys were all just interacting and it was very much like the Hotel Café tour where you guys were all getting along and it was a family setting. I really enjoyed that and I think more people should be exposed to that.
KD: Well, that’s what it’s like with Manchester and Brand New, too. Me and Jesse [Lacey] and Brian [Bonz] were on that tour this summer.
We stopped at Lollapalooza to play at the HOB with Brand New and Manchester and then play, watch Brand New at Lollapalooza, and I wound up playing the first two songs of Brand New’s set in front of like 30,000 people at Lollapalooza. I didn’t know that until an hour and a half before the show. That’s killer because not that it would do them any good, maybe like the 5,000 people that don’t like Brand New, but like me would be like,
“Oh, that’s really cool that Kevin played with Brand New,” but way more people are going to be like, “Who’s that dude that Brand New had play their first two songs with them?” And it’s sick that they do that stuff. With Manchester, too, everyone, Jon Corley is playing bass in our band because our bassist had to go home and he was like, “I’ll learn the songs, I’m here.”
I’m lucky as hell that I’m surrounded by people like that across genres. But I also know that it’s not normal and I’m psyched that I’m a part of it. The thing that I think is really special about what I get to do is that I left Brand New’s set and I walked across Grant Park to watch Okkervil and Travis saw me at the side of their stage. Their drummer, and he pulled me out for their last song “Westfall”, I think it’s called, and I sang and played percussion with them in front of 10,000 people all after I had played guitar with Brand New. Now, the critical consensus, Brand New and Okkervil River are two very different things. But they’re not that different actually if you want to talk about why they make music and where it comes from and what they listen to even, but that’s another story for another time, but I think that’s crazy. I’m not saying it because I’m so fucking cool, I’m saying it because that’s the opposite. I just got to play with these two bands just because they like me.

PW: It’s definitely nice to see bands taking care of other bands, too. I find that is something that has dwindled a great deal. I didn’t realize this until I started doing this music journalism thing, but you see a lot of bands that are not compassionate about anybody else and I picked up on that from you and Brand New that you guys do take care of each other and it makes me like the bands more because of that.
KD: Me, too. Not to belabor the point but with Brand New in specific, you’re talking about a band that could never bring a support group on tour ever and sell 2,000-3,000 tickets anywhere in the world. I’ve seen that band play at the Leeds festival opposite the Kings of Leon or something and 18,000 kids were in a tent singing every word to their songs in the middle of England. I’m getting chills just sitting and talking about it because I remember being like, they’re my friends. They’re just dudes that we go eat and we play video games or they come over and we go see a movie and then I go watch that and I go, “Oh my God.”
This is a group that they were fighting with all those things, the ego, the rock star impulse, the ascendancy where people are blowing a lot of smoke up your ass. People figure out all that bullshit when they’ve already gone down, but they figured it out here and went, “Well we have to figure out a way to make this meaningful to us because if we don’t, we’ll breakup, so we’re only going to bring bands we like on tour, we’re going to do everything we can to help them find an audience through our audience.” I can’t articulate to you how rare that mindset is for a band their position. I wish it weren’t, but I would say rare almost to the point of being exclusive. I don’t really know any other bands that are as popular as they are that do the things they do.

PW: I would definitely agree. And the thing that I have found probably the most difficult about the entire situation is that lyrically based I think that there are people that just naturally assume that Jesse is an asshole when really it is the complete opposite from my experiences with him.
KD: Your experiences with him are true and correct and he — well I’m biased — he’s one of those five people you call when somebody in your family dies. Like this is somebody I’d get hit in the street by a car for if I knew it would help him be OK in some way.
Beyond all the things we just talked about, he’s one of my most trusted friends in the world. When someone has the audacity to come up to me and say, “Jesse Lacey’s a dick. Is that true?” I have a temper. I’m Irish and I come from an Irish family so my whole life is about suppressing that Irish temper, but when someone comes up and says something like that I’m like, “Yo dude fuck you.”
Or when someone says, “Why are you friends with him?” Why are you friends with your friends? Because you met them and you like them. It’s not a fucking mystery. How did you become friends with Jesse Lacey? Well there was a dowry and I paid his family $50,000 to let them be friends with me. But anyway, I love them and I love what he does and it rubs off on all of us.
I learn a lot from how those guys do things. I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that I think it’s true in reverse. They learn a lot from the people they bring out. I’ll tell you this. I sell 10,000 records the sell 3-500,000 records. They don’t treat me like that and vice versa and that’s the coolest thing in the whole world.

PW: In “Another Bag of Bones” you managed to hit on world politics and religion all on one song. Where did the inspiration for this song stem from?
KD: These days I have a bit more acceptance and surrender in my life, but I spent most of my 20s, I turn 29 tomorrow..I spent most of my 20s being really angry about all those things and I still am worried. I don’t know how you could not be worried. I’ve come to realize that my politics, or whatever the fuck you want to say, are more radical than the conversation that happens in this country about politics and that’s okay.
That’s not to say that there’s not good stuff from liberalism and the Democratic party. There are a lot of things that are immediately more helpful to people if a Democrat is in power: minimum wage and access to certain social aide. Certainly things like reproductive rights and stuff like that, but there’s a whole lot of stuff that they don’t even address. It’s not even discussed. It’s not on the table. Maybe there’s a rhetorical addressing of it.
The whole song started with, “it’s a brush fire spreading, feeding as it moves.” I was in California. It was 2007 and the brush fires were happening — they happen every 8 months. It was happening then and it just wiped out all these homes. The notion of fire starting here and nature raging down a hill taking out all this stuff seemed like a really apt metaphor for me for how everything seems to be happening in the world right now.
When you have a globalized communication system, a globalized economic system, a globalized military system and everything’s shrunk and everything affects everything, it’s the butterfly effect or whatever it’s called. Hummingbird effect. It’s one of those two. That was it and the song just started and it was like, “a derrrrrrr.” It’s certainly not an uplifiting song and it’s hard for me. It’s weird. I feel personally centered more than I ever have as an adult, but abstractly speaking there’s a lot of hope in this country right now and that’s great.
There’s a bookstore that’s a socialist/anarchist/feminist, whatever store in New York called Blue Stockings and on the day after the Obama election in the window of the storefront it said, “Great, now let’s get mobile!” and that’s how I feel about it. That’s symbolically important for a lot of reasons. That’s what I’ve been suggesting for a year and a half. I think when you end a song with, “It’s closer than you realize and it’s time to burn,” it probably doesn’t mean that you think things are that great.
What I can do is live really well as best I can in a small way, talk to people, listen to people, teach people, remain hopeful, live the best life I can live in the way I can live it because everything else is fucking bigger than me. I can say what I think and that song is what I think. If people miss the whole point and think it is a great rock song or it’s loud or it sounds like hip hop, because that’s what some dude told me, then that’s great. That’s awesome because I’m also trying to write songs that people like or that I like. I don’t want to end the interview on a note that’s depressing, that’s to me, that song comes from being really afraid, but I still have to live. I don’t want to live in fear all the time, you know?

PW: What should we expect in the future of Kevin Devine?
KD: The record. I’ll take some classes. I’m going to take some time off and audit a class. A writing class at my college, and do some stuff. Maybe get some work at a coffee shop and do some work that’s normal for the next four or five months and then I’ll probably be on tour from May to 2010 or something for this record.
PW: You’re regular 300 days of the year.
KD: Yeah. I’m going to Japan in February. I’m doing SXSW, but outside of those two trips, I’ll have the next four, almost four months off. So a lot of reading and watching DVDs and seeing my family.
PW: That doesn’t seem like a bad life.
KD: No, it’s fucking awesome.
PW: I will definitely see you at SXSW then.
KD: I’ll be there. Sorry if I talked too much.

Kevin Devine: website | myspace | Put Your Ghost To Rest review | @ north star bar | @ the picador | @ the troc balcony | interview with pt. I

Photo #1: Emily Driskill
Other photos: Jessica McGinley

This year’s Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival will be held June 11th through 14th in Manchester, Tennessee. All general admission and VIP tickets go on sale this Saturday, February 7th at 12 ET.

LINE UP:
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Phish
Beastie Boys
Nine Inch Nails
David Byrne
Wilco
Al Green
Snoop Dogg
Elvis Costello
Erykah Badu
Paul Oakenfold
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Mars Volta
TV on the Radio
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Gov’t Mule
Andrew Bird
Band of Horses
Merle Haggard
MGMT
moe.
The Decemberists
Girl Talk
Bon Iver
Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Galactic
The Del McCoury Band
Of Montreal
Allen Toussaint
Coheed and Cambria
Booker T & the DBTs
David Grisman Quintet
Lucinda Williams
Animal Collective
Gomez
Neko Case
Down
Jenny Lewis
Santogold
Robert Earl Keen
Citizen Cope
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force
The Ting Tings
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Kaki King
Grizzly Bear
King Sunny Adé
Okkervil River
St. Vincent
Zac Brown Band
Raphael Saadiq
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Crystal Castles
Tift Merritt
Brett Dennen
Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue
Toubab Krewe
People Under the Stairs
Alejandro Escovedo
Vieux Farka Touré
Elvis Perkins In Dearland
Cherryholmes
Yeasayer
Todd Snider
Chairlift
Portugal, The Man
The SteelDrivers
Midnite
The Knux
The Low Anthem
The Delta Spirit
A.A. Bondy
The Lovell Sisters
Alberta Cross

Bonnaroo: website | tickets

Not long ago, a night of raucous folk country dominated the basement of the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. New York state’s The Felice Brothers came to town on their current fall tour to show Philadelphia how to party country style, along with sixth brother and tour mate AA Bondy.

Bondy, whom I’d gotten to see for the first time at this year’s Austin City Limits, played a beautiful set on his acoustic guitar, telling tales and conjuring early Dylan. He mumbled through his stage banter, amusing the crowd with anecdotes and telling them to call him “Gus.” He introduced “I Killed Myself When I Was Young” by telling the audience that “this is a children’s song” before springing the title on them. He flatpicked his acoustic guitar through a set of lovely and moving folk songs with soothing vocals that instantly put a listener at ease. I highly recommend getting to know AA Bondy.

The tireless Felice Brothers took the stage next to a full Church and were met with raucous cheers from the crowd. Simone Felice pounded the hell out of his drum kit, often standing for better leverage and at time jumping on top of the kit and reaching out to the crowd. Blood brother Farley frantically played the fiddle, occasionally putting it aside to scratch away at an actual washboard, an instrument not typical seen on the indie rock scene.

Another uncommon instrument, the accordion, was played by James Felice, who also took a seat at the keyboard on certain songs. Bass player and blood brother Christmas exhibited a cool demeanor, yet played with energy and passion, especially when AA Bondy came out for a few songs. The most hyperactive Felice brother on stage that night was front man Ian. He was jumping all over the place when not sweetly singing into the microphone.

The crowd ate up the band’s energy and fervently sang along on upbeat numbers such as “Whiskey In My Whiskey,” “Frankie’s Gun” and “Where’d You Get The Liquor.” I noticed several women in the crowd overcome with emotion during the band’s set and push their way up, hoping just to touch Simone Felice’s hand and making eyes at him. One older woman in particular passed her flask up to him on stage when he asked if anyone brought one while introducing “Where’d You Get The Liquor.” Shocked but eagerly accepting the flask, Simone asked if she’d bake him a cake with a file in it, were he sent to jail. The woman responded with an enthusiastic “yes!” and Simone told the audience, “That’s love.”

The Felice Brothers always put on a great show so be sure to visit their MySpace page to find a show near you. They’re touring through the end of November, so no excuses for missing a set.

AA Bondy: myspace
The Felice Brothers: website | myspace

AA Bondy

11:45-12:30 // AA Bondy // Dell Stage
Despite a burning desire to sleep till noon, I rolled out of bed at 9:30 (that’s early for a Sunday!) to make sure Josh and I were at Zilker in time to catch Alabama folk singer AA Bondy. He reminded me a great deal of Bob Dylan with a tinge of Rocky Votolato, although almost any modern folk singer with an acoustic guitar and harmonica reminds me of Votolato. Regardless of any comparisons, Bondy’s set was quite lovely, despite not being tight in the least.

Angela of Sybris

11:45-12:30 // Sybris // AT&T Blue Room Stage
Only knowing that I needed to see Bondy at 11:45, I hadn’t paid attention to anything else on the schedule, knowing I’d figure it out more or less when I arrived at the park…and had a chance to actually wake up. Initally I’d thought that Bondy was on the Austin Ventures stage, but as we neared, I could have sworn I heard the fantastic musical stylings of Ohio duo mr. Gnome. Discovering my mistake, I was delighted to find that the tunes actually belonged to the reverb-loving foursome from Chicago known as Sybris.

Though not playing to a sizable crowd (opening slot is tough), Sybris rocked out hard and most certainly drew a great performance. Those in attendance loved every second of the high energy shoegaze (oxymoron?) set. Once their set ended, Josh and I headed over to the AMD stage for Nicole Atkins and the Sea, happening upon a large spot of lawn covered in a mass of glitter. It had us thinking that Tilly and the Wall performed a secret set at ACL, and if that’s true, we’re not too happy about missing the memo on that one.

Nicole Atkins

12:30-1:30 // Nicole Atkins & the Sea // AMD Stage
As a member of local public radio station WXPN (which, if you’re a regular here, you know I pimp as often as poss.), I’d long heard of Nicole Atkins and the Sea, but this past weekend was my first chance at seeing the outfit perform live. Just the first few seconds of the set alone had me understanding why XPN loves this woman so much and I was blown away myself. Atkins has a rich and transfixing voice, intermittently punctuated with a squeal belonging to a rocker from the 50s a la Barrett Strong or even a James Brown.

Nicole Atkins and her sea swelled with great intensity as they produce poppy dance rock jams that had the crowd (most certainly me included) dancing along in the afternoon Austin heat. To do “as the Austinites do,” Atkins played a rather catchy country song she’d written as part of her set. Not a fan of country due to the twang in the vocals, I actually rather enjoyed Nicole’s rendition of a country song seeing as it lacked the twang and was just as hooky as every other song in the set. For sure an act I’ll catch in a more intimate setting, and not only because Atkins is beautiful, sassy, and I have a girl crush on her.

Day 3 was by far the hottest of the fest, so Josh and I made our way to the other side of the park to enjoy some Rock Band, football and air conditioning in the AT&T Oasis, and an oasis it was. On the way to the Oasis, we were treated to a bit of Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet‘s set, featuring legendary banjo player Bela Fleck. Man, that Bela wails on the banjo. Switching gears (and how!), as a long time fan of The Octopus Project, I mandated we leave the oasis and head to the Dell Stage as to not the Austin locals’ set.

1:30-2:30 // Octopus Project // Dell Stage
Arriving only a bit tardy, I was pleasantly surprised to find a middle school band on stage playing and dancing along with The Octopus Project. No other electronica pop band has ever had a more lush sound than The Octopus Project did on Sunday. I was delighted with the upbeat set, the band’s energy as they moved around and took turns playing the others’ instruments, and Yvonne Lambert‘s adorable sky blue dress. Lyrically, the band was slim, but they more than made up for it with huge electro-poppy melodies.

Later in the day, I briefly chatted up the band in the media area as they made the press rounds. They’re absolute dolls!

Pricilla Ahn

1:50-2:30 // Pricilla Ahn // Austin Ventures Stage
Sunday was the day of forming girl crushes, but honestly, you listen to Pricilla Ahn for five minutes and tell me you’re not in love. She has the sweetest voice and was simply enchanting in between songs as she bantered on the stage. Another cute dress noted, Ahn wore a flowy, yellow halter dress that made her shine even brighter.

1:30-2:30 // The Kills // AT&T Blue Room Stage
The Kills’ feminine half, Alison “VV” Mosshart looked just like Jack White as she took the stage, decked out in tight pants, a floppy hat and long dark hair in her face. Despite my initial judgement of her outfit (side note: I used to work for a fashion magazine, thus all the clothes talk), I was happy to find The Kills nailing an energetic performance chock full of fun rock songs.

2:30-3:30 // Gillian Welch // AMD Stage
Josh had been looking forward to checking out Gillian Welch all weekend so we swung by the AMD Stage on our way to land a spot for Stars while in search of friends of mine. As we happened by the stage Gillian played on, we heard her announce a special guest joining her on stage, so needless to say, we stopped dead in our tracks. Lucky for us we passed by at that time, because Alison Krauss joined Welch for a beautiful cover along with one of Gillian’s guitarists.

2:50-3:30 // Tristan Prettyman // Austin Ventures
Still on the way to catch Stars, we briefly walked past Tristan Prettyman’s performance and, man, what a beautiful voice. Girlfriend can sing it.

3:30-4:30 // Stars // AT&T Blue Room Stage
Never having seen Stars, I was ridiculously excited to catch them at ACL. They were absolutely amazing — which is really all I have to say about them — though I had the nagging feeling that they’d be much more enjoyable at an indoor venue. This thought was later confirmed when Josh told me that they’re better indoors. Solid.

Stars

What turned out to not be as regrettably as I’d initially assumed, Josh and I left Stars’ set early to chat with Sybris and Five Times August in the media area. Brad of Five Times August was lovely and Sybris was a wild ride. Following an interview in which Josh and I did shots with the band and they beat on each other, we hung out backstage with them, scored some free shoes, sat in on a video interview they had to give at their behest (I became the tambourine player and Josh, the bassist) and just had a hell of a time.

5:30-6:30 // Okkervil River // AT&T Blue Room Stage
Sybris had to take some things back to their bus, so the antics ended and Josh and I caught the last quarter of Okkervil River’s set. They put on a wildly energetic set that you should make your business to see.

Okkervil River

The Raconteurs, Photo: Nick Davis

6:30-7:45 // The Racounteurs // AMD Stage
Josh, and the rest of the world pretty much, could not shut up about how amazing The Raconteurs are live. Honestly, I was bored. Granted, by 6:30pm on the 3rd day of a music festival, maybe my tolerance for great music had hit an all time high or I was beginning to suffer from A.D.D. as a result of sleep deprivation. For whatever reason, I was totally bored out of my mind and just wanted to leave The Raconteurs set.

6:30-7:30 // Gnarls Barkley // AT&T Stage
Despite having lost the hype for Gnarls a while ago, I was excited to catch their set on the other side of the park since Jack [White] and Brendan [Benson] had only managed to bore me. Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse, I thought, were a more entertaining duo that day. They exceeded my expectations from the last time I saw them, but then again, I hadn’t just been blown away by The Roots. Following “Crazy,” Josh and I snuck back into the AT&T Oasis for a little R&R.

7:30-8:30 // Band of Horses // Dell Stage
Thousands of people flocked to the Dell Stage for Band of Horses late set. Josh and I scoped out a spot after leaving Gnarls a bit early, only to be told that I was going to get my throat stepped on by a Mets (boo fucking hoo, you should hate your life) fan because the Phillies clinched the division and I’m a Phillies fan (go Phils!). Fearing for my trachea, Josh and I stayed for only a few songs, including the hugely commericially popular “Is There A Ghost,” before heading back to the media area to listen to the set in piece and with way better accomodations than the dusty parkgrounds had to offer.

Band of Horses

8:30-10:00 // Foo Fighters // AT&T Stage
I’d seen the Foo Fighters for the very first time with photographer Ajay at this year’s Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore and was thrilled at the chance to catch them live again — had never seen them in my 23 years and then see them twice in the same summer, crazy. Dave Grohl is as dynamic a personality as they come and he is nothing but entertaining in every aspect of his stage show from hilarious and out there stage banter to just rocking the fuck out.
If you’ve never seen the Foo Fighters live, regardless of how much you like or dislike their music, I feel sorry for you that they’re going on hiatus. Foo Fighters definitely rival for a top spot in best shows I’ve seen this summer.

Dave Grohl on the JumboTron, Photo: Quiet Color

Taylor Hawkins on the JumboTron, Photo: Quiet Color

a prettier one, Photo: Ben Watts

10:00-2:00 // Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band w/ Jenny Lewis & M. Ward // La Zona Rosa
So much went on here that you’ll have to check back for another post! It was amazing.

Austin is an amazing city and Austin City Limits is one of the best festivals I’ve been to, hands down. Shout out to all the fantastic people I met and thank you to Sandee and Marcy for such a wonderful time! Here’s looking at ACL 2009.

Austin City Limits: website | day 1 | day 2