Doug Van Pelt

ACL Fest Day 3 | For all those who stayed in the rain

Anathallo played one of the early sets on Sunday, which began to the accompaniment of a late September rain. It started soft and steadily increased, until it was flying almost sideways and soaking the band members pretty good. The stagehands madly started dashing around, covering all the wedges, pianos, and guitar amps with plastic. Whenever vocalist Matthew Joynt would clap his hands over his heads to prompt the audience to participate, large splashes of water would radiate from his palms. I have no idea how his electric guitar kept working -- much less his microphone! The various percussion instruments, of course, offered splashes of water in addition to thunderous sonic booms. It was great to see the giant video screens near most of the stages splash up the visuals of the band jamming out. Seeing the two percussionists in a line with the rest of the large troupe was cool. Joynt even mentioned how funny the bells sounded with the addition of water droplets. They plowed through their set, though, which was not small feat. They were very appreciative of the audience that hung in there with them.

Matisyahu brought his Reggae-splashed hip-hop to the large AT&T stage in the late afternoon, which was likened to "bringing church" to the crowd. While the ACL Fest is certainly not known as a progaganda tool for the fundamentalist/evangelical Christian church in America; like many, they do seem to have a deep appreciation for the music that is created out of and reflected of various spiritual streams and ethnic "neighborhoods." When this Hassidic Jew freestyles praise and worship with a free-flowing musical bed that's breaking down and "capturing" an emotional peak, it was a joyous time of being led into worship of our Creator God by this happy musician.

"We can make a place for the king in this world...
His Name is Elohim. He created everything.
I see Him right over there..." (and he'd fill in the blank, describing a guy with a cowboy hat over here, someone waving a British flag over there, and even "the guys dancing on top of porta potties in the back...").

I raised my hands in sweet praise, baptizing these dry cheeks with tears. This was so cool and ranks right up there with similar "church" experiences in unexpected places, like shows by U2, King's X, The Alarm. Good, rich stuff that brings more than an average show. At another moment in the show, Matisyahu danced in front of the stage with a bandmate, both jumping down and running through the gap/barricades in the crowd.

Ben Harper has long been known to cull from various religious musical heritages, most recently doing an album with the Blind Boys of Alabama. His Sunday evening sunset show (with The Innocent Criminals) started off with an electric jamming version of "Voodoo Child," with Ben Harper playing lap pedal steel guitar. He certainly conjured the vibe of Austin legend Stevie Ray Vaughan with that strong opening. He kept the energy level up and mixed things up tempo wise. Later he invited "three very special guests" for the last song -- Damian, Julie, and Stephen Marley (from Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley), an old Bob Marley standard "Get Up."

Shortly after Harper's enthusiastic set, the crowd just had to turn about 45 degrees to face the ATT&T Blue Room stage, which featured Muse. This Brit band simply ripped the night sky open with volume and intensity, completely bringing rock to an otherwise indie fest. Their metallic power was a sharp contrast to most any other band on the bill. It was amazing. "Knights Of Cydonia" (from their latest album) started things off, which was quickly followed by "Hysteria" (from Absolution). The falsetto pop of "Supermassive Black Hole" followed, and the pseudo dance/house vibe of "Map Of The Problematique" after that. Muse didn't slow down or pause until just before the fifth song's chugga-chugging intro to "Time Is Running Out." They simply killed. While their set was advertised as a good hour long, they stopped after 45 minutes with some lame excuse/joke about Tom Petty pulling the plug on them if they played any longer.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers indeed started at that point, kicking off the closing set with upwards of 60,000 people loudly singing along to his large quiver of hits. After about 4 or 5 songs, though, Petty announced that they'd take a short break to cover everything up (with plastic) and be right back with "a bunch more songs." The hole in the sky that Muse punched through with their loud bombastic music must've been the crack the weather needed, because it poured down for a good five or ten minutes, causing many to run for cover and others to dance in its wet mess. After a good 15-20 minutes to fix things, Petty and crew cranked it back up. After taking a perceived final bow to a good one-hour performance, he proceeded to flip the "never finish" switch and jam for another 15 to 20 minutes, giving the ACL faithful everything they could've wanted from the hitmaker.

Photos & Review by Doug Van Pelt & Charlotta Van Pelt
©2006 HM Magazine - All Rights Reserved

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at September 18, 2006 05:54 PM