I Survived Austin City Limits

I got my first real taste of the Austin music scene this weekend. Our first weekend in town was the date of the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival--a three day, eleven hours a day, nonstop music event on eight different stages (including one for just the kids). For someone as indecisive as I am, it's a real trial--there were so many acts I wanted to see and it always seemed that two (or more) of them were opposite one another. (The schedule for this year's festival is here: http://www.austincitylimits.com/schedule/day1.htm.)

All this was complicated by 90+ degree temperatures and my nine year acclimation to a more northerly climate. The first day was the worst (and I probably overestimated my ability to withstand the weather, as well) but things got progressively better during the weekend, comfort-wise. I think I paced myself better and sought the shade when I got too hot.

The Austin music crowd is as eclectic as they come and not just because a lot of people like a lot of different kinds of music. In Austin, a lot of people like all kinds of music. There were a lot of teenagers and 20-somethings at The Preservation Hall Jazz Band performance and a lot of older folks at Arcade Fire (I was one of them, but more on that later). The list of performers ran the gamut from folk to outlaw country to rap to Bjork (one of the headliners) to Reggae (not one, but two Marleys--Ziggy and Stephen) to Cajun to stuff that was really weird. In short, if at any time during the festival you couldn't find something appealing, you weren't trying very hard.

For me, the best thing about the concert was that I got to hear a lot of performers that I might not have been willing to pay to see by themselves, but whom it turned out I liked--sometimes a lot. I did get to see the Indigo Girls, Charlie Musselwhite, Asleep at the Wheel, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and, of course Bob Dylan and His Band--any of whom I would have paid to see. But I also got to see Heartless Bastards, Joss Stone, Raul Malo, Kaiser Chiefs, Kelly Willis, the Decemberists and Arcade Fire--any of which I'd pay to see now. All in all, I saw all or most of 24 acts over the three days.

My favorites were the Indigo Girls (who gave an unbelievable performance--they can really rock), Charlie Musselwhite (I love Blues harmonica), Raul Malo (great voice, a sort of Cuban/country/Salsa--in the program he was described as a blend of Sinatra, Orbison and Tito Puente.), Arcade Fire (I never saw so much energy on stage before--they blew me away. They--I'm still not sure how many of them there were; the program said seven, but the reviewer said 10 0r 11--played every instrument from a steel drum to a real pipe organ, including violins (two), french horns and trumpets. They were fabulous.), and Bob Dylan (I think I liked him more than most of the crowd. He was at his vocally impenetrable worst, but the music was sublime. His side men are some of the best in the world. Everybody complained that they couldn't understand what he was singing and to be fair a lot of it was hard to parse, but on the other hand, I could hardly understand anything that Arcade Fire sang, but that didn't keep me from appreciating the experience. People seem to have different standards for different groups. The performance was complicated by the fact that the two jumbotrons on either side of the stage showed nothing but wide shots of the band--no close-ups of Dylan or his band. It was so different from the other performances that I figure it had to be at his request. I loved the performance (I was able to cross something off my list of things to do before I die--see Dylan live) but it wasn't as satisfying as it could have been.

It was a good start to my Texas experience.It may take me a week or so to recuperate, but at least I didn't have to go to work this morning.