Austin City Limits 2009

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You know, treated sewage is not that bad. I don't even mind the word "sewage." It's just "wage," which is good, with a "se" in front of it. Se-wage. When you consider the other choices, sewage is actually pretty refreshing.

And so it was for the 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival. For three days, Zilker Park became the ideal place to determine which bands you like, which bands you love, and which bands you would trudge through ankle-deep poo to experience.

Brandi and I arrived at the park at about 6:00 on Friday, thanks to our friends Courtney and Thad, who were nice enough to let us park near their house and then dropped us off by the park. Upon entering the park, we immediately noticed that the money they've spent on a new lawn had really paid off.  It was a perfect shade of green and felt great to walk through, a huge contrast from the brittle, brown grass of years past.

The first act we saw was John Legend, the conspicuously-named son of George and Rita Legend. He started out among the audience doing a very good cover of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" before gradually making his way up to the stage. He also covered Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time" and the Beatles' "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" in addition to doing his own songs. After grabbing a burger for dinner, we went to see Kings of Leon. The Beastie Boys unfortunately had to cancel, so we were left with the Kings of Leon and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Neither one of them is a favorite for either of us, but I was definitely more excited to see Kings of Leon, so we started there. They were okay, but I'm still placing them in the category of Bands That I'm Really Supposed to Like But I Just Don't. So we watched them for a little over half an hour before checking out the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs should really consider changing their name to the Huh Huh Huhs. I don't get it. I won't say too much about the music and the enormous response it gets out of a lot of people because I don't want to be like one of those old people who goes to an art museum and says, "My kid could draw that." But it was really cool seeing the singer perform a song with a blanket over her head. (Possibly another Michael Jackson tribute---not too sure either way.)

On Saturday we arrived at the park in mid-afternoon, just about half an hour after a light rain was starting to fall.  We caught the end of Flogging Molly, an Irish punk-folk band that was extremely entertaining.  They were a great example about what makes ACL so amazing: you see a band name that you recognize and think might be interesting, and then you wander over the stage only to get blown away.  Well done.

The grounds were still pretty good, though they were getting wet, and some mud was starting to pop up in heavily-trafficked places.  For instance, the food court, where we went next, was pretty nasty, but the most popular vendors still had lines 40 yards long.  After eating, Brandi went to Mos Def, where she ran into a group of friends, and I went to see Levon Helm Band.  Mr. Helm was on doctor-ordered vocal rest, so I didn't get to hear any of the Band classics that I was hoping to hear.  But it was a very good folk band with a lot of moving parts.

The next band, The Decemberists, was the biggest one for me.  I waited to meet up with Brandi in between the Beatles: Rock Band tent and a tent showing the A&M/Arkansas game.  Being at a music festival and within view of Aggie football and The Beatles: Rock Band is about as ideal a situation as you can get, but it wasn't to be for very long as Brandi found me and we headed to watch The Decemberists.  In terms of viewing the concert, this one was pretty tough.  The rain was still coming down, and there were a lot of umbrellas blocking our view of both the video screen and the stage.  The frustrating part for me was seeing people who were wearing hooded jackets and were still determined to keep their umbrellas up, blocking the views of the group of people behind them.  The Decemberists ended up playing their entire Hazards of Love album, which was very theatrical and interesting.  This was my first time seeing them, so I missed out on seeing a lot of songs that I would have liked them to play, but seeing their latest album performed in toto gave me a much greater appreciation of an album that, up to this point, wasn't my favorite.

The final act of the night was Dave Matthews Band.  We trudged through a lot of mud to find a reasonable seat, and the crowd for this one was pretty ridiculous.  This was my first time seeing Dave Matthews perform---I was definitely a pretty big fan in the 90's, but the set list was definitely skewed toward more recent songs.  That was cool, but I could have done okay with one or two (or ten) fewer 10-minute jam sessions to close each song.

On Sunday we arrived in time to see the B-52s, and the new-look Zilker park.  The mud was a decent amount worse than it was the night before, plus it was much more visible.  And the smell.  We found out that the dirt that was an inch or two deep all across the park was Dillo Dirt, a City of Austin creation made of composted yard clippings and treated sewage.  Which raises an interesting dilemma for the green set that make up the ACL attendance: you push for a carbon-neutral world, but how do you feel when the consequences of that world get dumped on your music festival?  A lot of people were repulsed by the mud, but as soon as I found out where it came from, I actually thought it was pretty cool.

Anyway, the B-52s had a decidedly party feel, as if their lone purpose was to get people to dance around and have fun.  They consist of three vocalists plus a backing band who exude campiness, almost to the point of it being an affectation.  The crowd, for their part, appears to enjoy their brand of happiness and good times packaged in a thinly veiled musical veneer.  In fact, one tune in particular, the one bearing the moniker "Love Shack," appeared to be the exemplar of the band/fan cabal of sunshine.  The band used their mantra of "Love Shack," often appended with a superfluous but nonetheless welcomed "Baby!" to remind the audience of a simpler time, the 1980s, a time when, in fact, the same B-52s band were even then trying to remind their audience of another, though possibly less simple time, the 1960s; the audience gladly stepped into this double time machine for the five minutes plus that it took to get from an oversized Chrysler to a tin roof that, from the sounds of it, seems to be in some state of disrepair.  The party people, as it were, their desire for nostalgia quenched, then dispersed, though methinks many of them would have been delighted to hear the tale of a misapprehended lobster, with which the band regaled a much smaller subset of the human population.*

Next, we grabbed some popcorn and tried to see Brett Dennen.  Unfortunately, Mr. Dennen decided to play his set in a rather muddy section of the park.  I don't want to say he played to the La Brea Tar Pits, but there were a couple wooly mammoths that crawled up to request "Ain't No Reason."  So we watched from a distance.  And then we left the park to have lunch at Chuy's, which was a great idea.  We really enjoyed the good food and clean bathrooms.  Then we headed back to the park to catch Ben Harper.  Ben Harper is an ACL regular who this time around showed up with the Relentless 7, and he was very good.  He definitely knows how to talk up the city we call home.  After Ben Harper, we turned 45 degrees to the right to enjoy Girl Talk.

Despite the video screen entreatments to the contrary, Girl Talk is a DJ.  He does mashups of some very popular songs from the last 40 years, and Brandi was very excited to see him.  She enjoyed dancing all over the place, despite moving gingerly all day to avoid getting muddy feet.  I asked a question that I felt needed to be asked: If these are all pre-mixed songs that are playing on tape, did he even need to show up?  My question was sort of answered when random messages started getting typed on the video screen.  So that made me think that maybe he was actually doing something live.  Then I thought, the only really good way to prove that you are typing it right now is to type up all of today's NFL scores.  Then I thought, I really wish he would type up all of today's NFL scores.

Pearl Jam was the big act of the weekend, and we were very tired at the end of the day, but we wanted to be able to say that we've been to a Pearl Jam concert.  Which we now can.  If you call staying for one song and being half a mile away from the stage being at a Pearl Jam concert.

The 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival taught us many things, not the least of which was that the B-52s have still got it...if by "it" you mean a very flamboyant leading man who speaks kind of like a three year old telling a story to a nearly-deaf grandparent.  Also, be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it.  Especially if what you ask for is a lush, green lawn and beautiful weather, followed by a two-day slog through a caca/compost combo.

*We've thought that it would be best to put a disclaimer on this paragraph.  Since the B-52s are pretty universally known, I decided to dispense with the trite descriptions and describe them as a truly foreign observer (like someone from a different era or possibly an alien from Mars) would.