ACL Fest: Day 1

So here we are, recapping a crazy weekend of music. I'll do my best to hit the highs and lows, but for some of it I will rely on pictures, b/c we know how the old saying goes.

I was going to get there around 12:30 so I could catch Jesse Malin, but that did not happen. I stayed up too late partying the night before and just couldn't get up at a decent hour. I finally got out there around 3:30 just in time for...

Blonde Redhead

Theirs is a music better set in a dark club with moody lighting to catchy all of the subtlety and atmospherics of their performance. But considering the circumstances, I think they did a great job, playing more upbeat songs for most part and kept my attention for their entire set, but this comes from a pretty big fan, not a casual fan who would have preferred to see String Cheese Incident or something. You could tell the heat was really getting to Kazu, she looked tired and had circles under her eyes. She definitely seems like she's not used to doing festival gigs in scorching heat, but she pulled through like a champ rotating between bass and keyboard, the latter which looked like a giant black rocking horse! Her and the rest of the band romped through old and new songs alike, including "In Particular," "Equus," "Falling Man," and "The Dress." It was a great way to start my festival day.

Then came a period of wandering and sampling the various offerings. First we went to check out M.I.A. which I've listened to a couple of times and really dig it. Like a more world beat oriented Lady Sovereign or something. Well, the beats were steady and it was a grooving set, but she and her sidekick were ridiculous to watch on stage one was dressed in semi-traditional African gear but we garish colors and M.I.A. herself was in a neon pink jumpsuit. They looked like Star Search '88 contests jumping around the stage in those get ups. So the silliness of it overwhelmed me and my friends so we decided to cut out early to check out LCD Soundsystem. So I've listened to these guys in passing, and all I remember was a repetitive beat and the guy saying, "Daft Punk is playing at my house, MY HOUSE!" He did that for the whole song. They aren't good enough for using the trick of the band who they evoked. Unfortunately the vague recollection I had of this band proved to be about all they did. Some large ridiculous man was on stage shouting, not even singing, about not being British, and then had a song that was almost 10 minutes long where the only words were, "yeah yeah yeah!" It was sort of annoying and I wish I had stayed at M.I.A. and learned to ignore the wardrobe and groove to that, not this drivel. It reminds of the way people talked highly of the Happy Mondays, but it was really just some fat bastard yelling and mumbling about nothing. But the migration wasn't for naught, because then right behind me began...

Queens of the Stone Age

It was either seeing these guys or Spoon, and unlike the unsubstantiated logic of the stooges at NPR, it was a no-brainer for me. Spoon are wonderful and their new album is fantastic, but they are very hit and miss in concert, while Queens of the Stone Age are sure thing, full of hard rocking and thrashing grooves.

It was a great set full of well known songs and crowd pleasures, but material from Rated R was strangely absent, which is a shame, because I would have loved to hear "Monster in the Parasol" or "Lost Art of Keeping a Secret." Fortunately their set was comprised in large of songs from still their best work Songs for the Deaf. Here's a list of songs they played: "Go With The Flow," "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire," "Song for the Dead," "In My Head," "Burn The Witch," "No One Knows," and new songs "Turnin' On The Screw," "Mexicola," "3's and 7's," and personal favorite "I Wanna Make It Wit Chu."

It was very satisfying to see them, as always. They always put on a great show, Josh Homme is generally in a great mood and encouraging everyone to "get laid," and you can dance around to it in a head banging sort of way. What's not to like?

Afterwards we made the trek across the park to stake out a good spot for the main event...

Björk

Something to keep in mind here: she's one of my absolute favorites, and as such has been near the top of my "Must-See In Concert" list. With completing my goals of seeing Page/Plant, Radiohead, Tool, and others of my favorites, she was about the only one left, other than Nick Cave and David Bowie. So even though expectations were high, I was just very excited at the thought of seeing her at all.

She entered the stage wearing a bright gold leotard and dress with her forehead painted in bright neon colors, followed by her women's brass section dressed in matching neon and face paint. Then came the guys doing electronics which looked less like instruments or even drum beat machines and more like something you'd find aboard a ship in Lost In Space. There were crazy volume bars that changed with the touch of their fingers or electric looking flat board where circular objects were moved around to produce certain tones. It was very surreal.

She opened up with one of the most upbeat songs from her new album "Innocence" and it really started things off right, getting everyone jumping around feeling good. Why she didn't continue in a similar vein, I don't know. Instead she kept the set mostly atmospheric and languid, preferring to deliver slow-burning ballads and subdued versions of songs. There was the occasional upbeat song, and "Pluto" rocked really hard.

But regardless, it was hard to deny her pixie-like charming and soaring voice. One of the speakers even caught fire while she was backstage! She came back out and said, "Did you see that? Our speaker caught fire! But we don't care, we're going to play anyway." It was adorable.

So I did get to groove and jig around a little bit to her set, and was in awe the whole time, seeing one of the truly great musicians and performers of our generation. Thank you Björk, you've made this fan's dream come true.

Björk's set included:

Innocence
Hunter
Joga
Pagan Poetry
Hidden Place
Immature
5 Years
Cover Me
Anchor Song
I Miss You
Hyper Ballad
The Pleasure Is Mine
Army of Me
Pluto
Declare Independence

Björk - "Joga"


Björk - "Declare Independence"