ACL Festival News, TodayinAustin.com

Austin City Limits 2009 Festival:

2009-11-05T04:22:09Z

The 2009 Austin City Limits Music festival proved to be many things this go around.

It proved to be another top-flight lineup buoyed by excellent mid-level talent and scores of up-and-coming stars. On Friday, fans were treated to a short, albeit riviting performance from the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs and R&B sensationJohn Legend, Theivery Corporation and Kings of Leon. A highly anticipated performance by Raphael Saadiq delivered. When he came on stage sporting a black suit and tie, Saadiq shed his layers as fast as the sun made the day hot. Eddie Vedder teamed up with Kings of Leon and people were actually chilly when the sun went down. Can you believe it?

More on the music in a minute, because what makes the ACL Music Festival so special, is more than just the acts that play over the three day weekend. ACL nestles into the delicate and urban-situated Zilker Park. 48 acres of lush green grass - thanks to labor from the City of Austin and an agreement with C3 Productions - were rolled out this summer to improve the grounds. On Friday, it was on grand display. You've never seen 60,000 people smile so often, most of them walking in their bare tootsies. It was as if something funny was put in the water.

And speaking of water, Barton Springs Pool and its over-run step child the *spilloff,* never got over run. The sky was blue, the temperature was perfect. Someone flipped a switch in September and turned off the 100-degree temperatures Austin was forced to endure since the end of May. Everyone benefitted - from the thousand's of workers that spent over a week setting up the grounds, to the profiteers selling Wellies come Sunday morning. Now we're getting a little ahead of things.

On Saturday the skies opened up. Not like in 2006 during the festival's closing Sunday performance by Tom Petty. No, more like in big spurts and short stops, which would mark the uneveness of day two. There were Austin's own Ghosland Oberservatory who seem to rise to every occasion no matter how big the pressure (or how large the backing band!) And there was Mos Def, who took the stage nearly 25 minutes late and who had a large following of geeked up fans wandering off about 25 minutes later. The Dave Matthews Band, to many a trite headliner, proved the right ingredient for the evening's finale. The man simply makes hits and is still churning out fine numbers without coming off hackneyed or overused. Matthews brought the crowd up and down at the right times and sent everyone home soggy, but extremely happy.

This year's green effort, a $3 Fan Tag to offset one's carbon footprint, was an optional purchase. It proved popular and it continues ACL's ethos of environmental responsibility. It is heading in the right direction and far better than the plastic cup idea from a few years ago. Recycling locations seemed more visible and increased in numbers from the previous year - always a good thing. My biggest complaint was the full-color booklet that is personally handed out on day one and by day two, left unnoticed in boxes 100 located yards from the festival entrance. Although it's full of great information (and advertisements), I think efforts like the ACL iPhone application are the direction for the future. The book must cost tens of thousands to produce and seems a considerable effort of people power for all the writing, layout and printing, let alone the difficulty in getting them handed out. By the time people get to the festival grounds these days, they have already read through the endlessly available blogs and music sites (like this one) to help them research and determine the bands they are going to see. Besides that, organizers should work to mobilize and centralize the thousands of resources that are already out there to create a *Friends of ACL* web of information. Taking advantage of social networking is the way to go. ACL's website or application can remain the hub, but the work is already done for them - no need use up additional resources. That's being green, among other things.

So by Sunday things were definitely not green. Zilker Park turned into a scene right out of Woodstock, and the good vibrations were plenty. Fans were walking barefoot and many were diving into the mud-poo like pigs in heat! The fun wasn't nearly over.

Whether it was the thrashing of Clutch, or Preservation Hall Jazz Band playing ice cream man, or Pittsburgh's Greg Gill's mashup project Girl Talk and the scores of young fans absolutely loving every moment of it, nothing, absolutely nothing iced the mud-cake like Pearl Jam. The two hour set included the old and new, guest appearances from Ben Harper, Perry Farrell (closing acts are supposed to have on-stage guests dang it, yes!) and a Neil Young cover. And it had *Alive,* quite possibly the quintessential anthem of the survivors of 90's rock.

How does the ACL festival seem to get better every year? It has now faced two years of big name cancellations (Beastie Boys '09, Amy Winehouse '08) and its first mudbowl. We at Austin Music + Entertainment magazine can only say it's an uncompromising commitment to the most culturally and style-crossed talent - from the bottom to the top of the lineup, it is the most unique and cozy of settings in a city which prides itself in presenting outstanding live music entertainment. You put all that together, and the proof simply rises to the top.

~Jason Repko

ACL 2010

2009-10-13T15:37:41Z

Early Bird festival passes at $145.

Too late bud.

ACL 2010 Music Festival Passes: Going, Going, Going...

2009-10-13T15:33:22Z

Go here, and do it now.

With the 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival set for Octover 8-10, 2010, 3-Day passes are on sale now for $145.

We can almost guarantee that by the time you get this post (27 minutes after the email announcement) that the presale will be over and your chance to capitalize gone with it. But you never know.

So go, or you can't flip off festival organizers because they only gave you 30 minutes in the mid-morning on a Tuesday to cash in on the deal.
(Hint, if you reach the We've routed you to our holding Page this is bogus. Don't wait. It won't ever go anywhere. Just retry your purchase again).

Earlybird ACL 2010 tix go on sale Tuesday

2009-10-09T19:20:07Z

Let the Radiohead rumors begin! The $50 “souvenir” passes to ACL 2010 sold out in a jiff, but a limited number of $145 three-day passes go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. at www.frontgatetickets.com.

The price jumps to $165 for three-day passes in the spring and when they sell out the third and final tier will be $185. Next year’s ACL Fest will be held at Zilker Park Oct. 8- 10.

Buy tickets for ACL 2010 ... soon

2009-10-07T18:09:21Z

Since you’re all still buzzing from ACL (or at least cleaning your shoes) C3 Presents just announced they will, in the next few days, put on sale a limited number of $50 three-day passes for ACL 2010. Keep your eyes here for news.

If you miss those, know that early bird tickets are going on sale for $145 at 10 a.m. Oct. 13.

You can also bid on two autographed Pearl Jam posters here. Proceeds go to HAAM.

Next year’s ACL fest takes place Oct. 8-10, 2010.

ACL 2010: Oct. 8-10

2009-10-06T22:29:39Z

So much for fears of another rainy October. The ACL Fest Web site has already listed Oct. 8- 10, 2010 as the dates of new year’s festival.

After several years of record-breaking heat and dust, fans had begged C3 Presents to move the fest from September to October. But after the perfect day this past Friday, ACL was hit with an imperfect storm.

The University of Texas football team has a bye week during next year’s ACL. The Texas- Oklahoma game next year is Oct. 2, preceded by three weeks of home games in September, making the Oct. 8-10 weekend the first one available during the usual time frame.

ACL Recap, Zilker Park to Close

2009-10-06T13:25:51Z

Well, 2009's Austin City Limits festival was another smash hit. Thousands of locals and visitors descended upon Zilker Park to see bands such as Pearl Jam, the Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, John Legend, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (I took this photo at that amazing show!). The weather on Friday was perfect. However, not all went well.

Tickets were sold out, so the crowds were a overwhelming and it was difficult to access some of the shows. Despite rows and rows of porta-potties, the lines were extremely long (sometimes 15-people deep). Additionally, cell phone signals were very spotty due to the high concentration of people, so it was difficult to meet up with friends.

On Saturday, it rained throughout the day, leaving the recently renovated Zilker Park and (and its concertgoers) wet and muddy. While Sunday's weather was much better, the Zilker Park remained a muddy mess. The city announced that the park will be closed until the end of the month in order for them to clean it up.

What was your reaction to ACL this year? What were your favorite performances?

ACL Recap, Zilker Park to Close originally appeared on About.com Austin on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 13:25:51.

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Scene report: State Radio

2009-10-05T03:20:07Z

State Radio brought its brand of socially aware and politically active songs to the Austin Ventures stage during the Austin City Limits Music Festival Sunday.

Before their evening performance, the trio stopped by the press area to discuss their new record and get their human rights message out to those who haven’t heard it before.

The 6-year-old band was happy about being in Austin and happy about being at an open-air festival venue.

“We love Austin,” said lead singer and songwriter Chad Stokes. “And this festival has a good collection of bands. We like festivals; we do well at them. Audiences here are pretty liberal. The exposure is great and, musically, playing here opens the door to other things.”

State Radio just released a new record, “Let It Go,” produced by Dom Monks in 1970s live analog fashion. With socially conscious songs about Armenian genocide and a reggae tune about human rights with emphasis on women living in Sudanese refugee camps, Stokes said it is the band’s best album to date.

“It’s more optimistic than our previous album,” he said.

When asked what led to the band’s rosier outlook, he replied, “George Bush isn’t president any more.”

The dynamic trio — Stokes on guitar and lead vocals, Chuck Fay on bass and Mike Najarian on drums — is heading out on a West Coast tour to promote the new record and will continue working on projects with their social offshoot organization, Calling All Crows. Stokes said it is important for the group to take breathers between projects and albums to keep fresh and creative.

“It can get tricky balancing music and social reform,” he said. “We need to make sure we have enough practice time and enough free time to go off creatively into left field.”

C. Taylor Crothers photo

ACL Recaps: by day, with photos, and beer

2009-10-06T03:20:01Z

Over at Austin Post, we Real Time Reported on the whole fest–live updates throughout. Check out the new features, and my full-length article recaps:

And I will not lie, every single morning (lie: afternoon) I got dropped off at Barton Springs & Lamar, and every single early afternoon I walked past Uncle Billy’s and snagged a To-Go Beer. The Agave Wit was delicious and far more worth $5 than a LoneStar inside ACL.

I’d heard great things about Uncle Billy’s beer, but never stopped in. Until now. And I will be going back, as they brew a bunch of signatures from scratch AND offer cheap flights of their brews. At last weekend’s Great American Beer Festival, head brewer Brian Peters’ Uncle Billy’s “Hell In Keller” kellerbier bested 26 other entrants in the “Kellerbier/Zwickelbier” category to WIN! With nearly 500 breweries and 3,300-plus beers represented in 78 categories, The Great American Beer Festival Gold is quite the honor, and “Hell in Keller” was one of only four Texas beers to earn medals (2 golds) at the GABF.

Follow Uncle Billy’s on twitter.com/UncleBillys and be the first to learn about awesome things like To Go Beers during ACL.

More ACL Day Three Capsules: Rodriguez, White Dress, Dirty Projectors

2009-10-05T16:08:09Z

If Saturday was The Day It Rained At ACL, Sunday will surely be remembered for the mud. And the stench—upon arriving it was noted by more than a few fans that the park bore an overwhelming olfactory resemblance to an ill-kept petting zoo. The origin of the odor seems to have been the unholy combination of Dillo Dirt and straw used by festival organizers in a futile attempt to sop up some of the mud slop. Though the mud was deeper and more treacherous in some parts of the park than others, it pervaded; the distress suffered by the $2.5 million Great Lawn was heartbreaking, and it simply stood no chance against the cumulative total of 180,000 sets of feet stamping through it over the three-day festival. In the end, surely to the dismay of C3 and the City of Austin, it looked more like a giant half-melted tub of dark chocolate gelato than a carpet-tight fairway. Nevertheless, the condition underfoot didn’t deter most from cramming in as much value for their entertainment dollar as possible on Sunday.

We started day three with Rodriguez's set on the Dell stage. Backed by a sextet of musicians that looked to be 1/3 his age, the black-clad 67-year old, who has been enjoying his career’s third renaissance of late thanks to reissues of his two excellent early-70s albums Cold Fact and Coming From Reality, tottered up to the mic assisted by a stage hand. While the set initially suffered from minor sound problems, scattered feedback, and some highly suspect synth accompaniment, the strength of his songs helped both band and audience forget those niggling annoyances; we even forgave the ensemble for losing the plot completely on “I Think Of You,” which was a mess of poor timing that saw a rhythmically wayward Rodriguez strumming his guitar and singing along seemingly unaware that his band was in a different time signature. Despite those problems, the majority of his show was fantastic and loaded with material from Cold Fact. His brief between-song addresses to the audience, such as the introduction to his most famous number “Sugar Man” which was: “This is a descriptive, not a prescriptive song. Get your hugs, stay off drugs” only endeared him further to an already receptive crowd.

In our mad dash through the mud, we cruised past AMD just in time to catch an earful of The B-52s doing “Private Idaho” before parking it in front of the Austin Ventures stage for White Dress, a band heretofore unbeknownst to us. We’re chuffed that they’re now beknownst to us, as their set was an unexpected pleasure. White Dress is a trio of two guitarists—one of which does double-duty on keys—and a drummer, who are led by songwriter Arum Rae Valkonen. At their best, the band was reminiscent of PJ Harvey, doing plaintive, bluesy dirges that Valkonen absolutely wailed, a sound that must have carried far past the port-o-cans that were directly in her line of sight. The band alternated between these heavy, bewitching numbers and a few serviceable dance-rock numbers, while also sprinkling in a couple of unremarkable, sentimental 4/4 pop songs. The latter were difficult to wait out after witnessing the kind of power the trio was capable of, but ultimately we left excited about the band’s potential.

Finally, after a pit stop to scarf a veggie burger and an attempt (futile though it was) to free our ankles from the caked-on mud sarcophagi they were encased in, we scoped out a spot near the front of the Dell stage to see what turned out to be the best set we’ve seen Dirty Projectors play this year. It’s uncanny, but they seem to be getting sharper by the week (If you haven’t yet witnessed their live show, you owe it to yourself to see them at Antone’s later this month). With the sun at their backs, they launched into “Knotty Pine”, their contribution to this year’s Dark Was The Night compilation, and for the next 50 minutes we were treated to an incredible display of ingenious songwriting, precise musicianship, and a command of voice as instrument that simply doesn’t exist elsewhere in indie rock. It’s difficult to think of another recent band as virtuosic in their playing and arcane in their composition that can, somehow, create music that is much larger than the sum of its parts and still make an emotional connection with an audience - even, as it seemed in this case, an audience who was largely hearing the band for the first time. After nearly an hour of Dirty Projectors’ staccato blasts of avant punk, R&B, and Highlife, we couldn’t imagine seeing any of the bands left on the docket topping it. So, we didn’t, instead choosing to slog our way off into the sunset, which was for us a perfect way to wrap up ACL 2009.

Avett Brothers top Waterloo sales at ACL

2009-10-05T22:17:34Z

Here are the top sellers of the week at Waterloo, which includes sales onsite at ACL Fest. "AS" denotes acts which signed CDs at the Waterloo merchandise tent. This sales chart is a good indication of who killed at the fest. Last year's top seller was MGMT.

1. Avett Brothers AS 245
2. Phoenix AS 213
3. Black Joe Lewis AS 175
4. Flogging Molly AS 120
5. Bob Schneider 118
6. Pearl Jam 107
7. Mutemath AS 98
8. Raphael Saadiq AS 97
9. K'naan AS 93
10. Daniel Johnston AS 90
11. White Lies AS 90
12. Airborn Toxic Event AS 90
13. The Knux AS 81
14. Girl Talk AS 76
15. Sara Watkins AS 73
16. Los Amigos Invisibles AS 73
17. Bell X1 AS 70
18. Blitzen Trapper AS 69
19. Ghostland Observatory 65
20. Virgins AS 64
21. State Radio AS 60
22. Dead Weather 60
23. Heartless Bastards AS 60
24. Passion Pit Manners AS 60
25. Andrew Bird 59
26. !!! 59
27. Alberta Cross AS 59
28. Felice Brothers 58
29. Deer Tick AS 57
30. Parlor Mob AS 52
31. Ben Solee AS 52
32. Michael Franti AS 51
33. Arctic Monkeys 51
34. Passion Pit Chunk of Change AS 48
35. Bon Iver 47
36. Medeski, Martin & Wood AS 45
37. Kings of Leon 43
38. Mishka AS 43
39. Decemberists 42
40. Dr. Dog AS 39
41. Brett Dennen AS 39
42. Devotchka 38
43. Low Anthem AS 38
44. Sam Roberts 38
45. Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band 38
46. Thievery Corporation 38
47. Jonathan Tyler 34
48. Todd Snider 33
49. Blitzen Trapper Black River AS 32
50. Scabs Freebird 32

ACL Festival 2009

2009-10-05T15:50:07Z

3 days and two pairs of shoes later, I’m back at work! Another amazing ACL festival, rain and shine. Best surprise: Avett Brothers, worst surprise: a company that will remain nameless put hundreds of plastic bottles in the trash rather than recycling. I’ll let the pictures tell you my story….

The Love Burger from Love Shack (run by Tim Love of Top Chef and Fort Worth’s Lonesome Dove fame)

To see pictures from ACL:

The weekend was finally here!

On Friday, people were running around barefoot on this glorious grass

By Sunday, not so much!

First things first, hit up the food court

A wonderful Austin’s Pizza

Which went perfectly with my $8 24 ounce Lonestar. Had one of these in my hand the entire festival!

When you have a big group, it is so easy to lose people. My recommendation is that if no one in your group has a flag, pick someone else’s to use for a meeting place.

I took pics of every band I saw but since I was always so far back, Ghostland was one of the only shows I can recognize today. Amazing light show and their dancing never ceases to amaze me.

Saturday before the rain….

And after the rain. RIP my favorite Mexican dress.

While heading to the food court for dinner, I didn’t get an action shot but this young man created his own slip ‘n’ slide. face first back and forth through the mud. our own tiny woodstock.

The longest lines were always at Hudson’s and the Love Shack. Here’s to wishing the Love Shack opens in Austin. The Love Burger was maybe the best burger I have ever had. It’s basically a cheeseburger with pickles, special sauce, etc… but was cooked a perfect medium rare.

Here’s the basic cheeseburger

Sunday was beautiful weather

But wet. Yup, these shoes were thrown away before I even got to my car.

I had two smart friends who went to Academy and paid $20 for great rain shoes. Interesting choices ladies!

Jesse Woods played the first show Sunday at 11:15. We are sad he is leaving Austin for LA, but wish him much success

Chopped brisket sandwich from Salt Lick

Cold Pasta Salad from Restaurant Jezebel

When they ran out of Lonestar, Tecate it was then!

Torchy’s Damn Good Tacos

Loved the Dead Weather set. Alison Mosshart is amazing.

The best thing about having a press pass was the food and drinks in the press area. Everyday Sweat Leaf Tea Tito’s was available and a red bull vodka happy hour. Dinner was catered each night by a different restaurant, El Chile, Cannoli Joe’s, and La Condesa.

On Sunday, La Condesa whipped these up these ‘Enlightened Austin Martini.’ This won the Austin Cocktail Throwdown. I’m always a fan of anything with fresh watermelon.

The delicious La Condesa street corn

And tacos.

Pearl Jam, rocks just as hard as back in the day

Until next year!

ACL Day Three Capsules: B-52's, White Lies, Arctic Monkeys

2009-10-05T17:45:37Z

Image via Eric Uhlir.

As we walked from MoPac over to Zilker around noon on Sunday, it appeared that not too much damage had been done to the park's grass and soil. The muddy patches on the walk into the park seemed fairly mild, and the ground seemed reasonably dry. Our illusions were immediately shattered as we hit the West entrance to the festival, as it looked as though the entire festival grounds had turned into a barnyard or paddock. Festival organizers were throwing down hay (which worked...for about half an hour) to try and mitigate the mud pits, but it was obviously a drop in the bucket. Festivalgoers had two choices: get really dirty, or head back home.

Conditions aside, this was probably the best day musically to be at ACL, as the lineup was stacked from open to close with emerging and established talent. While we intended to start with The Dodos, the prospect of slogging through the entire field had us glad that local heroes Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears were playing right by our entrance. We wandered over to watch Lewis' soul revue run through their vintage-modern take on soul shouting and R-rated party jams like "Get Yo Shit." As when we last saw them in July, the band is tight, and had the audience in the palm of their hand. It made us grin to see how well the music translated to the big park, though some of the lyrics got lost in the sound mix. This might have been for the best given both the number of kids in the crowd and the singer's fondness for salty language, so it was hard to complain.

After a quick break for Hudson's Chicken Cones, Torchy's Green Chile Pork tacos, and a few songs from David Garza, we returned to AMD for the promise of a dance party with The B-52's. The band were shaky at the outset, as singer and ringleader Fred Schneider was coughing and looked a bit under the weather. Thankfully, the backing band did a great job of articulating both the camp and the craft in the B-52's tunes, and vocalists Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson were still largely able to carry the harmonies. Pierson, in particular, looked like the most youthful member of the group, despite the fact that she's actually 61! The beehive hairdos, silly dance poses, and general fun survived intact from the B's last early-90's comeback, though it was hard to see the band as anything but an oldies act at this point. That didn't prevent us from enjoying every second of "Roam", "Love Shack", "Private Idaho", and "Rock Lobster", though. The "Rock Lobster" surf guitar lines, in particular, seem destined to live forever, and as we exited, you could even see folks in the beer lines totally unable to help themselves from dancing.

One could see the logic in booking White Lies in one of the 'up and comer' spots Sunday afternoon: the band have spent much of the year opening for Coldplay and Kings Of Leon in arenas and stadiums around the world. The London group's opening notes even showed some promise - it sounded like Britrock mixed with some licks and keyboards from The Cars. Unfortunately, after that, it was all downhill. Each song sounded similar to the next, and the group's black backdrop, black outfits, and song titles like "To Lose My Life" and "Death" only helped to reinforce the sameness. Every song brought another band to mind: Interpol, Editors, Franz Ferdinand, Joy Division - only without the life. Only in the closing moments did White Lies manage to bring the crowd to life with fist pumping and singing, but by then, our decision to brand them as "just OK" was already made. It was a true disappointment during a weekend of great performances.

After the dispiriting hour from White Lies, it was a relief to know that some quality Britrock was in store from Arctic Monkeys. The band drew a large audience, and proceeded to try and blast them out of the park with a set front-loaded with louder, riff-heavy tunes like "Brianstorm" and "The View From The Afternoon." The group's most recent effort (2009's Humbug) was partially produced by Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age, and he's obviously rubbed off on them. While the Monkeys have never been a quiet group, Sunday's show was about getting loud and staying loud. The band finally have enough quality tunes to sustain a longer set, and new single "Crying Lightning" sounded great next to older ones like "This House Is A Circus." We didn't notice many people leaving, and the group continued to bond with Austin and increase our respect for what they're crafting.

Live review: Toadies

2009-10-05T18:23:40Z

Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN

When the sun broke through the clouds Sunday afternoon, the massive crowd gathered at the Livestrong stage stripped off their shirts and painted each other with the ubiquitous festival mud in some tribal ritual akin to applying war paint. The Toadies must have planned on playing in the predicted downpour, though, as they opened with “I Come From the Water.” The joke was on them. Since the band actually comes from Fort Worth, they are probably familiar with the temperamental Texas weather, so a blown weather forecast couldn’t have been too surprising.

The band ripped their set wide open with the venomous “Song I Hate” and the viscous riff rock of “No Deliverance” from last year’s post-reunion album of the same name (minus longtime bassist Lisa Umbarger). It was the band’s trip back to 1998’s “Rubberneck,” though, that elicited massive sing-alongs during the “we will wake up” parts of “Tyler” and the “so help me, Jesus” parts of “Possum Kingdom,” the band’s big hit. The overhead crane camera was up and running and the video screen images vacillated between shots of the band and shots of the massive crowd crushed together in the mid-day sun.

After 15 years singer Todd Lewis still has that angst-ridden straining quality in his voice, sounding as if he was pushing the envelope of his vocal range on songs like “Push the Hand” and “Got a Heart.” The band turned in a loud, swampy set of nearly note-perfect renditions of their best songs, waking the crowd from their heat-induced lethargy and inspiring them to dance and embrace the musical and literal grunge.

Zilker Park closed until the end of the month

2009-10-05T19:15:14Z

Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Zilker lawn conditions: Video | Photos

The city had a press conference today to expand on what happens next to clean up the mud generated by rain at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. The sludge will be hosed into “silt fences.” They also said there are no health dangers associated with Dillo Dirt, used in the recent $2.5 million improvements made to the lawn (paid for by fest promoters C3 Presents, who also will pay for any damages to the “Great Lawn”).

More details from today’s conference on our news site.

Festival-Affected Part of Zilker Off-Limits Through Rest of October

2009-10-05T20:30:25Z

"Austinist Artist Rendering" of Great Lawn, original aerial shot from Aerophoto.com. Not paintbrushed to scale.

With much of Zilker Park largely submerged under composted sewage sludge and yard trimmings, the city parks department has declared the Great Lawn off-limits through the rest of the month.

"The sod may be alive and well," was the message presented by officials at a press conference held outside the festival gate this morning, but officials will need at least a few weeks to "rehabilitate" the freshly-installed sod and clean things up. For now, festival vendors have been asked to only hand-carry their things out of the park to avoid further damage.

C3, which produces the annual music festival, footed the $2.5 million bill for renovating the Great Lawn at Zilker Park. Under its contract with the city, it will also be responsible for paying for the sod re-work.

ACL Day Three Capsules: B-52's, White Lies, Arctic Monkeys

2009-10-05T17:45:37Z

Image via Eric Uhlir.

Snapshots: ACL Sunday

2009-10-05T15:12:07Z

Photos courtesy Eric Uhlir and Chad Wadsworth.

If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.

Live review: Girl Talk

2009-10-05T02:51:58Z

Ricardo B. Brazziell AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Photos: Girl Talk at ACL Fest

Predictions were dire or delirious — depending on your point of view — for Girl Talk’s 7 p.m. set. The Xbox 360 stage was, by Sunday night, the muddiest venue at ACL, and Girl Talk, the mash-up project of Pittsburgh’s Gregg Gillis, was likely to be the festival’s biggest dance party. Whatever Dillo Dirt sludge that had managed to stay on the ground was likely to find its way into whatever hair and clothing had managed to stay free of it.

In fact, though, from where I stood (well to the right of the soundboard; getting any closer was pretty much impossible) the overwhelmingly young crowd was on its best behavior, though their parents might not have seen it that way: They pumped their fists, chanted along to the most profane raps, danced in place and smoked a lot of pot. (On the Jumbotron to stage left, Gillis aired footage of marijuana leaves, which was sort of redundant; no one needed any encouragement.) Some mud got kicked up, but it didn’t splash much higher than your knees.

The real insanity was onstage, where Gillis was joined by 100, maybe 200 fans, who danced and screamed while he triggered his storehouse of samples, pulled off his shirt and jumped on the table in front of him to goad the crowd on.

Though, again, the crowd didn’t need much encouragement. The fans screamed along to an impressive array of musical samples. One brief passage near the beginning of the set trotted out Bruce Springsteen (‘Dancing in the Dark’), GS Boyz (‘Stanky Legg’), Red Hot Chili Peppers (‘Under the Bridge’) and Nelly (‘Cut it Out’) in quick succession, and everybody seemed to catch every reference. When the teen-or-twentysomething girls around me sang along with gusto to Pilot’s ‘Magic,’ a bit of fluff from 1975 that I wouldn’t have thought stood the test of time, I asked Lauren Bungo, 22, how she knew the song. It was on a famous soundtrack, she thought. Maybe ‘Shrek’? (Actually, a quick Internet search reveals that it plays a prominent role in Adam Sandler’s ‘Happy Gilmore.’)

‘This is, like, all the music we listened to in junior high school and high school and college,’ Bungo’s friend Alyssa Davis, also 22, explained. ‘It’s our childhood.’

There were too many samples to list in their entirety, though it’s worth noting that Gillis drew on at least two songs associated with Michael Jackson — ‘ABC’ and ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’ — and flashed the words ‘RIP Michael’ on the Jumbotron.

Though most of the mud stayed more or less where it was, this was still a first rate dance party. Gillis is something of a wizard with his samples, not only making undeniable dance grooves out of unusual material (Cindy Lauper’s ‘Time After Time,’ Elton John’s ‘Tiny Dancer’) but drawing unexpected desires from at least one member of the crowd. Near the end of the night, Gillis started looping the piano intro to Journey’s deathless radio staple ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ and, Lord help me, after a minute or so I was desperate to hear Steve Perry sing.

Live review: Clutch

2009-10-05T03:30:13Z

Ricardo B. Brazziell AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Look, I’m a homer for rock of a certain age coming from Washington, D.C., and her vanilla suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.

Clutch are from around there - Germantown, Maryland, to be exact. And they’re homers, too. The band takes the stage to the sounds of D. C. go-go legend Chuck Brown’s “We Need Some Money,” something pretty much only a band from that area would do. (It’s also a good example of Clutch’s sense of humor, i.e. they’re playing a show because they need money.)

Neil Fallon, still sporting one of the best neck-beards in rock, gestured like a ranting homeless dude when he wasn’t playing second guitar. Opening with “50,000 Unstoppable Watts,” the single from their new album “Strange Cousins From the West,” and alternating between stomping blues-pound (“Electric Worry,” “Motherless Child”) and surreal hard rock (“The Mob Goes Wild,” Immortal”), Clutch delivered such a solid set of meat-and-potatoes thunder that it reminded you how little heavy music there is at ACL.

And I could listen to that guy rant all day. A few choice lines:

“Keep calm and carry on/ reefer madness quiets the falling bomb,” from “Struck Down.”

“Holy Diver, where you at?/ There’s a woman on the hill in a wide brimmed hat With a shotgun, .44,/ And a big blood hound in the back of a jacked up Ford.” from “Cypress”

“I’m gonna build a castle out of Goodyear tires/ Cinderblock and busted doors; that’s where I’ll retire” from “Let a Poor Man Be”

“Who rides the solar cycle with no hands ma?/ Who found the Ark inside Texarkana?” form “Immortal”

May he rant another 19 years.