September 18, 2006
ACL Fest Day 2 | This one's for Tim Hallila
With the Texas heat bringing more of the same, the Austin City Limits Festival became like most others -- an endurance test. The only way to stay in the flow and keep going was, in essence, to throw yourself into the music and let it energize you. This has worked wonders for me at many a late evening encore at summer festivals when my body starts protesting the idea of standing up anymore. A Gospel band called The New Soul Invaders brought that kind of energy bright and early in the morning in their 11:30 am time slot. The Washington Mutual stage showcased a lot of good Gospel music throughout all three days of the festival.
We had ventured out this early after the previous late night because The Rocket Summer was playing. Young (but now young adult) prodigy Bryce Avary came out bursting with unbridled energy, with his between-song encouragement as upbeat or more so than even his songs. Though the Austin Ventures stage did suffer from some bleed-over sound from the close-by AT&T Blue Room stage, it wasn't that obvious except between songs or very long pauses in the tunes. The stark piano accompaniment of "Around The Clock" competed slightly with some of the heavier moments coming from Marah's music, but it wasn't detracting to this fast delivery of song after song. "Tell Me Something Good" came off a tad faster than the album, which translated well live. "Never Knew" could've easily been the last song of the set, as it peaked at just the right time.
Aimee Mann was a vocal treat on the Heineken stage, which we enjoyed on our way to get a good spot to watch one of 2006's upstart bands -- Jack White's (the) Raconteurs, who graced the largest of the fest's 8 stages (AT&T). It was great to hear their blues rock standards performed with the kind of nonchalant but attitude-filled energy. It's easy to imagine Zeppelin's early forays into metal with each blues-drenched riff. I was quite impressed to discover how little White's voice was necessary to carry the band's songs. His role was only prominent on maybe half the songs. Quite fun.
Iron & Wine put out a lot heavier sound that I anticipated. Their well-attended set was another example of the kind of appetizer-style "snacking" you can do by walking from stage to stage. Yes, there are unenviable choices to make from time to time, but the park isn't so large that one cannot sample a few songs of one set and migrate to another stage to take in another band.
Willie Nelson ended the night with a long set of star-studded jamming. While he went through several catalog hits and beloved songs, its apparent that he wants to have fun and share the spotlight with his talented friends and musical compatriots, with extended solos and jams.
Photos & Review by Doug Van Pelt & Charlotta Van Pelt
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