Austin City Limits 2010: Beats Antique and Edward Sharpe wow while Gayngs and the ladies go missing
October 8-10 at Zilker Park
By Kara Pound
Published: October 13th, 2010 | 12:00am
Day 1: Friday, October 8
“Thanks so much for starting your day here,” Sahara Smith told the audience gathered in front of the Austin Ventures stage. Cloudless skies and a downtown Austin cityscape filled the sky as hipsters, baby-boomer, and families started to cram into Zilker Park Friday morning marking the start of Austin City Limits 2010. Dressed in a red dress cinched with a big, brown leather belt, the 20-something belted out folksy blues tunes like the “The Real Thing” and “Angel.” An hour later, just as the temperature was on the rise, Tennessee-based garage rock quartet Those Darlins took to the stage. Jessi, Nikki, and Kelley Darlin joined their male counterpart, drummer Linwood Regensburg, for “Wild One” and a bunch of new songs off their yet-to-be-released second album. With lyrics like “You can prank call me anytime” and “Sittin’ in her castle on a giant throne,” lead singer Jessi worked the audience with her come-hither stare and rambunctious boot stompin’.
After filling up at the free filtered water station and hanging in front of the misting fans, we found relief at Carolyn Wonderland’s performance in the shaded Clear 4G tent. Wonderland, a hometown favorite and blues virtuoso, opened her set with a killer guitar solo and, after a few seconds of mic problems, she busted out “Still Alive and Well” with so much passion her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Flanked by Cole El-Saleh (keys, key-bass) and Rob Hooper (drums), Wonderland calmed the crowd with the country ballad “Wildflower.” We overheard people comparing her to Janis Joplin, and she certainly has the flowy, Woodstock-era style and amazing pipes.
After enjoying some grub, including a veggie burger from P. Terry’s and something called a Mighty Cone (deep fried avocado and chicken rolled in a tortilla with magical pink sauce drizzled all over it), we made our way back to the Austin Ventures stage to catch Australian brother-sister duo Angus & Julia Stone. The siblings offered a mellow midday break and proved their talent as multi-instrumentalists with Angus rocking the harmonica a la Bob Dylan and Julia performing a trumpet solo on the cabaret-funk tune “Private Lawns.”
ACL is three days, eight stages, and 130 bands, and Sarah Harmer, might be the most unpretentious of them all. The Canadian singer-songwriter and activist, dressed in a floral printed top and black jeans, wowed the crowd with her accessible, beautiful tunes. “It’s great to be a part of this awesome festival,” Harmer told the crowd before launching into “Silverado,” a haunting duet she recorded with Neko Case that features the lines, “Who made these promises to raise the hopes of dopes like us / We should know by now that when it comes to dreams we’re suckers still.”
Dusk started to fall rapidly and it was time to crank it up. The troubadours were put to bed as Vampire Weekend, Slightly Stoopid, and the Strokes took to the main stages. Sonic Youth parked at the Honda stage and did what they do best—make noise. Über-sexy frontlady Kim Gordon led the charge dressed in a gold lame top and denim micro mini as she jumped around the stage with. For a band formed in ’81, the same year I was born, these guys can still rock it. “Texas forever,” Thurston Moore screamed to the dense crowd, a perfect, turbulent end to an otherwise chill day.
Day 2: Saturday, October 9
Friday’s wide-open spaces and mellow vibe was squashed Saturday as thousands of drunken (and sometimes pushy) revelers looked for some weekend action. We started our day off with easygoing folk-rock singer Lissie at the Zync Card stage. Joined by Eric Sullivan on guitar and Lewis Keller on bass, Lissie played a bunch of tunes off her debut, Catching a Tiger (Fat Possum), released this summer. “This next song is about being in high school and being bored,” she said before a bubbly, high-energy performance of “Cuckoo.” After playing crowd favorites “Everywhere I Go” and “Little Lovin’,” the angelic songstress ended her set with a surprising cover of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness."
After a stroll through the art market where local vendors hawked everything from vintage dresses to sunscreen, we headed over to the Honda stage for a much-anticipated Pete Yorn show. “Thanks for turnin’ up,” Yorn told the crowd slowly trickling in from a nearby Grace Potter and the Nocturnals set. “I’ve been talking about this festival for nine months now. I told my agent, ‘You better get me on that bill.’” Chatty and obviously happy to be there, Yorn worked the crowd with niceties and tunes like “Precious Stone,” “Always,” and “Strange Condition.” “This is a song I think I wrote for you guys,” he told the audience before serenading them with “Rock Crowd.” “Rock crowd throw your arms around me, feel glad when you all surround me / It’s you, it’s you who grounds me.”
It was midday and the Austin sun was strong, so we took a break in the press tent to refuel on water and granola bars. It’s also the best place for a bathroom break considering it’s one of the few facilities with air conditioning or running water. Kim Schifino, aka Kim of Matt & Kim, was waiting in line behind me when her publicist told her they had to go to keep on schedule. “I’ve been holding it for 45 minutes,” she pleaded. So I did what any big music fan would do—I let her cut me and she couldn’t have been more appreciative or sweet. We love you, Kim!
The Jane Shermans, a Nashville-based alt-rock trio named after the former Rockettes dancer of, were up next. Donning a black dress with gold trim and pumps, chanteuse Eulene Sherman worked the BMI stage with tracks off their self-produced debut album, Popular Music Social Condition, including the popular “I Walk Alone.”
After a few songs, we headed over early to catch a good space of shade at the Clear 4G tent for Beats Antique. World music + electronica + bellydancing = awesome. The Oakland-based trio comprised of David Satori, Zoe Jakes, and Tommy “Sidecar” Cappel fuse roots music with orchestral gypsy and elements of hip-hop. Highlights of the set included a guest vocal appearance by Lynx and Jakes’ spectacular belly dancing skills in which she slithered her hips, shoulders, chest and stomach. For their first ACL, they killed it.
Zilker Park offers piss poor cell phone service (for AT&T at least), so people have resorted to a new kind of calling card: flags. Large wooden and metal poles wave everything from Mylar Hello Kitty balloons to a “Cold Beer” banner to a horse piñata. The designated flag bearer carries the pole around with them throughout the day, letting friends know where to find them and set up camp. It’s certainly innovative and adds an amazing visual while walking through the crowds. We used it as our own “Where’s Waldo?” a few times. (“I’m at the Rasta flag right after the Bar and before the art market.”)
Broken Bells—aka Danger Mouse and James Mercer of the Shins—took to the huge AMD stage just in time for the Manchester Orchestra crowd to head over. They played most of the tunes from their eponymous debut while a few hundred yards away, the Temper Trap, an alt-rock band from Melbourne, Australia, was up next and had a huge turnout. Lead singer Dougy Mandagi apologized after the first tune for some technical difficulties. After a sound check, organs brought us into “Fader” followed by “Fools.”
We stopped to eat at Freebirds World Burrito before heading to the Austin Ventures stage for supergroup Monsters of Folk. Jim James, Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and M. Ward appeared in matching suits and ties and launched into Oberst’s “Say Please.” Throughout their two-hour set (just one of three bands to have that long), James joked at the competing airspace, saying, “We hired bands to play at different sides of the park to provide a challenge.”
Sunday, Day 3
It’s been a long 48 hours, but we’re stoked to have about 12 more to go. The final day begins with Foals, an indie rock quintet from Oxford. While a gratifying breeze blows in from Lady Bird Lake, the pesky sun beats down from above, but we’re ready for it, having applied and reapplied sunscreen, set to finish the festival on a high note. Frontman Yannis Philippakis belts out cuts including “Red Socks Pugie” and “Electric Bloom.” Dressed in a black Bauhaus T-shirt, Philippakis gets the crowd going every way he can—beating on drums, slapping sticks together—and they love him.
Next, we wandered over to the Budweiser stage to catch Portugal. The Man. Dressed in a color-block hoodie (hood up), guitarist-vocalist John Gourley worked the crowd with his sexy slingback style on the cuts “The Sun” and “Guns and Dogs.” We left early to get ready for one of the biggest buzz bands of the weekend, Gayngs, only to learn of the biggest disappointment of the festival: their set was canceled. In an official statement from the band, they explained that the tour bus was mistakenly driven across the country, and unable to reach the driver of the bus, they reported the gear stolen early that morning. If we were talking about Matt & Kim, sure, you could borrow a set of drums and a keyboard, but considering Gayngs is a 23-piece outfit made up of members from Bon Iver, Doomtree, the Rosebuds, and more, it wasn’t feasible. The festival went to plan B, Lance Herbstrong, a downtempo electro outfit on hand from playing after-parties. They remixed everyone from Sade to Santigold to Sublime while a dirt bike and inflatable black Cheshire cat graced the stage as a dance party erupted on the lawn.
Across Zilker Park, Brooklyn’s experimental rockers Yeaysayer brought everyone back to reality. Well, their reality. “Madder Red” (yes, the video stars Kristen Bell), “Rome” and the melodic “Wait for the Summer” started off the set. Lead singer Chris Keating thanked the crowd for coming and asked, “Those are spaceships, right?” to two guys toward the front holding cardboard penis signs. Smoke machines, two enormous disco balls, and white stuff that looked like honeycomb adorned the stage. The guys performed “Tightrope” before we headed next door to the Zync Card stage for Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.
Yes, that may be one of the longest band names of all time, but they’re good. Real good. Edward Sharpe is a group of nearly a dozen hippies from L.A. who play folk rock tunes. They started promptly at 5 p.m. with lead vocalist Alex Ebert (of Ima Robot) dominating the stage, co-vocalist Jade Castrinos joining him for the anthem “Home.” A killer horn section played throughout the hour-long set and it proved to be the biggest hippie love fest of the weekend. It’s no wonder this band keeps winning over critics.
We had just enough time for another Mighty Cone stop before heading back to the Budweiser stage for Band of Horses, one of the biggest sets of the weekend. A tattooed Ben Bridwell serenaded the crowd with favorites including “Is There a Ghost” and “No One’s Gonna Love You.” When his sunglasses kept falling off, he joked with the crowd, “You guys got some Croakies a dude could borrow?” There’s nothing substantially entertaining about seeing Band of Horses live. They don’t have crazy flashing lights or smoke machines or belly dancers, but their music and lyrics are truly beautiful, and that’s what makes them a must-see.
Headliner Norah Jones was up next and we couldn’t think of a better way to end our Sunday, or our festival. With a cropped bob and bangs, red floral dress, and cowboy boots, Jones was radiant. The first few songs (“I Wouldn’t Need You,” “Even Though,” and “Young Blood”) found a funktified Jones trading in her piano for a keyboard before grabbing a guitar for the Johnny Cash tune “Cry, Cry, Cry” before playing some older favorites like “Come Away With Me” and “Creepin’ In.”
Sunday was limited as far as the females go, and unfortunately, the festival bunched most of the women together early Saturday morning, but we’re still stoked for ACL 2011 next September. We only ask one thing: More ladies, please.
Issue #44
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stephany sanderson (about 1 year)
Awesome article! I was at ACL and it really captured the essence of weekend.