Austin City Limits Music Festival 2008 - Friday in Review

Friday, September 26 kicked off the 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival, and Eggs and Cereal were there to take in the sights and sounds. Along with some tasty food, they took in sets from artists such as Yeasayer, Vampire Weekend, Jamie Lidell, Hot Chip, David Byrne, N*E*R*D, The Swell Season, The Mars Volta, Donavon Frankenreiter and Manu Chao.

Read more about the day and watch videos from ACL after the jump

We ran into a few traffic issues on the way to Austin, so we didn't arrive at the festival quite as early as we'd planned. During our walk to ACL's main gates, we heard experimental quartet Yeasayer's song "Wait for the Summer" gradually growing louder, and we quickened our step to catch the end of their set on the Dell stage. We made it in time to hear about six more songs, including two of our favorites, "2080" and the set-ending "Sunrise." The end of their show found most of the audience eagerly scampering over to the AMD stage for a performance from uber buzz band Vampire Weekend.

The audience gathered for Vampire Weekend's show was one of the largest we saw all weekend for a daytime set. They opened their show with some teases from "Mansard Roof," pausing to banter with the crowd before diving into the song. During their hour-long set, the band played every song from their eponymous full-length debut, plus they treated the crowd to new tracks "Boston" and "Little Giant." They encouraged crowd participation during "One (Blake's Got a New Face)" and received enthusiastic responses from the sun-drenched audience. During the second half of the set, VW invited the world famous Austin-based Tosca String Quartet onstage for an orchestral take on "M79." The band finished their set strong with popular crowd-pleasers "Oxford Comma" and "Walcott." There are doubtlessly more than a few haters out there who attended this set primarily so they can feel qualified to bash it later, but we sincerely felt that they were better than expected live and put on a great festival-friendly show.

After Vampire Weekend's set ended, we headed over to catch funny-pantsed funk man Jamie Lidell doing his soul thing on the Dell stage. We had stumbled across Lidell's set during the Voodoo Music Experience in 2006 and were instantly made fans. We hadn't had the opportunity to see him live since, so his ACL set came highly anticipated. He didn't let us down: we walked up during a solid performance of "Little Bit of Feel Good," a standout track from his most recent studio effort Jim, and the rest of his show was equally strong. The set was heavy on new material (as expected) and it translated very well to the festival stage (as expected). What we didn't expect, however, was the complete re-working of his best-known song, "Multiply." The beginning of this set-closing sequence found Lidell and his band gathered closely near the front of the stage. Accompanied by sparse instrumentation (i.e. a tambourine, bari-sax, and a bass), he showcased his soulful, bluesy vocals while the crowd clapped along. About halfway through the song, he led the audience in a chant, then the band broke into a sped-up, funked-out full instrumentation frenzy to close the set.

After Jamie Lidell's set ended, we wandered over to see what kind of antics gypsy punks Gogol Bordello were up to on the AT&T stage. The band's theatrical stage show was in full effect; though the spectacle looked intriguing, we only stayed for a few songs because we wanted to snag a prime spot for Hot Chip. We hope to catch Gogol Bordello in a smaller, more intimate setting soon - judging from the bit we caught at ACL, they'd be phenomenally entertaining in an indoor club. Or in the Establishment tent at Rothbury - that would pretty much kick ass.

British electropop quintet Hot Chip had been on our must-see list for quite awhile, so their ACL set ranked #1 among our musical priorities for Friday. The band got things started with "One Pure Thought," one of the singles from their latest full-length Made in the Dark. Only a minute in, most of the audience (at least around us) was already in an ass-shaking groove that lasted the entire length of the set. Hot Chip make intergalactic dance funk designed to keep you moving, and they certainly did the damn thing at ACL. With new favorites like "Shake a Fist," "Bendable Poseable," and "Ready for the Floor," as well as classics like "Over and Over" and "Boy from School," the set contained something for every level of fan. Even those not previously familiar with the band heard a song they undoubtedly recognized - for their finale, they covered the Prince-written, Sinead O'Connor-popularized "Nothing Compares 2 U," before transitioning into the set-ending "In the Privacy of Our Love." Our feelings about the set can be summarized in four words: Go see Hot Chip.

Up next on the AT&T stage was Talking Heads main man David Byrne, so after Hot Chip's energetic set ended, we made our way to the other end of the festival grounds. When we arrived, Byrne was busy hosting his own kind of party, featuring a slew of white-clad back-up dancers moving oddly to the Talking Heads' "I Zimbra." While we have not had the chance to absorb Byrne's new record with Brian Eno, the next two songs "One Fine Day" and "Help Me Somebody" served as a perfect introduction. Soon came the hits that the vast majority of the crowd was anticipating; "Crosseyed & Painless," Once In A Lifetime" and "Life During Wartime" even made the chair people get up and dance. While it was nice to hear the new material, it was those hits that made this set one our favorites of the weekend.

We left near the end of David Byrne's set to head across the park and catch the last bit of N*E*R*D's show. As we approached, we began to hear their 2004 hit "She Wants to Move" pulsating through the speakers. Perhaps this was a bit cliche for any hardcore N*E*R*D fans present, but our knowledge of their catalog isn't terribly deep, so we were ecstatic to catch the song that we know best. When they launched into a cover of the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" immediately afterwards, it was icing on the cake. Satisfied, we meandered over to the adjacent AT&T Blue Room stage to set up shop before The Swell Season's set.

We, like much of the music world, first took notice of The Swell Season after their starring turn in the 2007 film Once. We're sure we're not the only ones, then, who were thrilled to hear "When Your Mind's Made Up," "Falling Slowly," and "Leave," three songs that were included on that film's soundtrack. The band began experiencing some sound difficulties during "Falling Slowly," but Hansard managed to flip the situation, churning out an emotional cover of Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks" that quickly became a set highlight for us. Hansard may not jump around the stage or engage in silly antics, but the pure feeling that's visible in his face while he's performing makes him a powerful, arresting presence onstage.

Many of our friends - including Toast and Pancakes - are huge fans of prog-rockers The Mars Volta, and we've heard effusive praise of their energetic shows, but we'd never seen them live before. We decided that we needed to see what all the buzz was about, so we joined one of our Infobury friends and headed over. The band is known for its loudness and intensity, two aspects of their performance that are immediately noticeable. Their improvisational skills are impressive, but the vocals sounded a bit harsh to our ears. Call us hippies if you will, but we tend to prefer happier-sounding music. We stayed through opener "Goliath," then made our way to the food court to chomp down on some oh-so-delicious avo cones from Hudson's on the Bend. We need their recipe for spicy cole slaw. Mmmmmm.

While chomping down on our crunchy cones, we wandered over to check out what Donavon Frankenreiter was up to on the smaller BMI stage. We hadn't planned on making it a point to catch Frankenreiter's set, but we were soon glad to find ourselves there. A tightly packed crowd was watching the singer/songwriter and his band with rapt attention when we arrived about midway through the set. His laid-back surf rock is always easy on the ears and made for a feel-good nighttime show. Near the end of the set, Frankenreiter's friend G. Love appeared onstage to enthusiastic screams from (girls in) the crowd. He sat in on harmonica for their tune "What'cha Know About", and the very memorable "It Don't Matter." After hosting an audience singalong, Frankenreiter hopped off the stage and into the crowd, tapping fans to sing into the microphone. He stumbled across one dude who had a surprisingly decent voice and opted to leave the mic (and vocal duties) with him while he returned to the stage. The audience was loving it, and an unforgettable festival moment was cemented.

Our musical night ended with the shirtless master of world music, Manu Chao. There were throngs of people raging in front of the stage, but we were content to listen and watch the action from further back. Chao took his hour-and-a-half set-time to enact a peaceful revolution in Zilker Park. Between each song, Chao sent praises in Spanish to the many Latin members of the audience who were glued to the performance. His music is a fusion of Afro-beat, reggae, dub, and dancehall with many more noteable rock and world influences thrown in. It was such a difference from the cerebral donkey-punch of Mars Volta, and the ACL-goers seemed evenly split between the two sets. Though it was a good way to end the night, we're not sure if either "headliner" was really big enough to fill those slots.

We debated heading downtown to check out Voxtrot and The Cool Kids, or the G. Love aftershow that some of our friends were already planning on attending. Knowing that Saturday would be our longest day, with two aftershows planned following the festival, we decided to exchange a night of drunken debauchery for a much needed good night's sleep.

Check out our other ACL 2008 reviews:
Saturday
Sunday

-Cereal & Eggs