A Moment For Music is just a quick break from politics that I hope you will find interesting.
We try to go to the Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas every year. The festival was held on October 10, 11 & 12. We always have a few folks that come from out of town so we had 12 enthusiastic music lovers in our entourage this year. It's been about two weeks since the festival but the music and fun are still with me so I wanted to share.
The headliners are always great but I tend to focus on the smaller, hungrier, energetic bands, especially bands that I've never seen. There were over 120 bands spread out over three, 11 hour days on eight stages, so it's a marathon not a sprint. We typically walk an average of 5-6 miles a day including walking in and out of the 46 acre venue.
This year my favorite bands from the first day were Esperanza Spalding, The Afghan Whigs, Trampled by Turtles and Umphrey's Mcgee. Some of the bigger bands this day were also fantastic, namely Weezer, Florence and The Machine and The Black Keys. I could mention many more just from Day One but I would probably never get this diary finished.
Esperanza Spalding from Portland, Oregon is a fantastic jazz bass player who I hadn't heard before. I got up pretty close to the stage and was able to get several great shots. However, this video from the festival beats my stills. I watched her perform this song from about 30 feet away. Where's Waldo?
The Afghan Whigs are a band from Cinncinati, Ohio. I had never seen these guys before and they have a good, edgy, rock sound and played a great set. I bought the Gentlemen album at the festival which, while researching this diary turns out to have been recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis TN. My birth town and a studio with which I am familiar. Small world.
Trampled By Turtles is a folksy bluegrass band out of Duluth, Minnesota that was very enjoyable. They played on one of the smaller stages at the festival which makes it a bit more intimate. There are several videos uploaded to youtube from that day but none where the audio is acceptable. They played Wait So Long in their set which is a decent representation of their style. I've included the band's video of that song below.
Jump over the orange sound wave for my last musical submission from Day One.
I didn't know anything about Umphey's Mcgee, but I should have. They originally hail from South Bend, Indiana. They are a combination of jazz, metal and progressive rock but also bits and pieces from many genres. I'm sort of a mutt when it comes to musical tastes and this band hits all the right buttons. They blew me away so I had to buy some of their music. Here's the studio version of Plunger which they played Friday night...again the available videos from the festival lack good sound quality.
Seen any music lately that you want to share?
Let me know if you enjoy the diary...I have two more festival days that I'd be happy to review. The festival is always really good. Weezer alone was worth the price of the days ticket.