This years ACL has passed (a week ago, I know, I’ve been slow with this.) and it was a blast. We saw roughly around 19 bands and walked Zilker park side to side quite a few times. A play by play review including a Thursday show is after the jump, pictures on flickr…
Note: I’ve been sitting on this for a while and still didn’t go into as much detail as I would’ve liked
On Thursday we went to see Ratatat at Emos. We first discovered these guys during the summer of 2004 at a The Killers show at Stubbs Indoors (This is quite a small venue which is weird since around August The Killers blew up and the only thing you’d here on was “Somebody Told Me” or “Mr. Brightside”). They were one of the opening bands and we really liked their music, quickly after I got their first album and was saddened quickly by the lack of more of their music. Recently they released their new album “Classics” which met my expectations fully, it was more music that sounded exactly the same as the first album.
For this show we were expecting it to be mildly populated, not empty but not exactly busting at its seams and we also were expecting it to be kind of mellow since Ratatat is not exactly Rocking music. Well I am surprised to say that we were wrong at both counts, the show was actually really full and they actually rocked pretty hard. At the right moments during most of their songs they just went crazy and rocked the place. It was a great show and lots of fun. Pics on flickr
I just uploaded some ACL Pics on Flickr. Check them out.. I’m in the process of doing I write up, it might take me a bit.
This years ACL is coming up in 2 weeks (Sept 15-17), I did a google calendar of our schedule.
Yesterday, (Yes, I’m late with this for x or y reason) I went out with Phobos, fobos, or Babieca, whatever he calls himself this morning, to The Alternative Press Showcase at Emo’s Austin. The show was free and had a pretty good lineup, so we were really excited about it. Since it was free, our plan was to get there early, and deal with the fact that we would probably get really hungry during the 6 hours of not going out of the venue, which we would’ve remedied with beer. Probably not the best idea with our sobriety.
He drove over to my place at around 9:30ish and scouted out the venue on his way over. He didn’t see an outrageous line forming around the venue (the show started promptly at noon) so we chilled out at my place, I had a quick breakfast and we left to downtown.
We got there at around 10:30, we walked by one of the venues entrance and did not notice a line, we walked in and saw that the venue was still empty, just a bunch of people working on the preparations and some other guys just standing around. We were kinda shocked, since it was a free show, one would expect a line forming pretty heavily. It was only an hour and a half away from start time, and Free demands promptness.
Since we didn’t feel like being bored inside the venue, especially considering how there was NO line, we decided to go and walk around downtown for a bit. We walked out of the venue, started walking towards sixth street, and all of the sudden we see a HUGE line of middle and high school kids. We walked around it, and noticed the line started at the other entrance. We looked at each other, looked at the line, and noticed we effectively snook in to the venue earlier. We thought for a second, talked a bit, and decided to sneak back in. Screw this line!
We walked back into the venue without any problem at all. We decided to keep it low key, so we just sat at a set of bleachers for a while. Little by little, more people started walking in, so it was getting harder to notice that we did not belong. The people walking in, seemed more related to the bands that were playing, record labels and other VIP type stuff.
After a while, we noticed that some people had food. Phobos, Fobos, Babieca, (lets call him PhFB from now on) decided to scout out the venue and see how the food system works. As mentioned earlier, we did not have an optimal solution for our food issue, if we could stuff ourselves well enough before the show started, we could easily last the full 6 hours without either passing out because of hunger or passing out because we were drunk with beers on an empty stomach. When PhFB left to check out the food situation, some dude came by with Alternative Press gift bags for everyone who was sitting on the bleachers. The bags had shirts, headphones, laptop speakers, a watch, etc. It was awesome, I was given a gift, I am one of them, there was no way I did not belong, so I proceeded to the food area. I notice PhFB getting his breakfast from the buffet style line. He sees I too have a bag, and understands what just happened. I go get my food, some OJ and sat back and happily ate it.
A little later, we see the guys next to us getting free Bloody Mary’s, which was obviously a brilliant drink to give out, considering how most SXSWsters are probably hung over this time in the morning. We look at each other and start discussing the risks of getting free Bloody Mary’s for ourselves. We were given gifts, which means we belong, but maybe the bartender would notice we did not belong. Maybe he would ask for our IDs and notice we were local and find that strange. Maybe we would get kicked out of the venue and would have to go join the even longer line of middle and high-school kids who are currently getting wet at this point because it was pouring outside. This would really suck, we would get wet and loose our privileged status, was a drink worth the risk, the answer is usually, yes.
PhFB went scouting around to see how this free drink mechanism works. He was planning on checking out the line, doing some risk assessment, seeing how the bartender gave drinks out and deciding what the odds are. In the end he just went balls out and got us two bloody mary’s. There was nothing else that could go wrong, so we were just chilling out until the show started and enjoyed it a lot.
Yesterday was an awesome day, I wish there were more free shows like this one. It’s probably the best 0 dollars I’ve spent on a show ever.
This is probably the best way to sum up my birthday. Look at that cake and tell me it doesn’t rock! I had an awesome time yesterday with Cesar, Coraly and of course, Ana. We had a really nice dinner at Austin Land and Cattle and then just chilled out at my place for some drinks.
I made out pretty well on presents too! Highlights include some tech books (parents), some dvds (sister), a whiteboard!, which I was really happy to get and then noticed how much of a nerd I am (thanks babe!) and a bottle of belgian beer to share with my buddy Cesar.
Overall, Awesome!
I arrived yesterday to Palo Alto, I’m crashing with my buddy Will. Today we hit SF, walked around and raided a Google snack room. Good times.
Today I went to a friends place to have a semi Star Wars marathon. We saw Clone Wars, Episode 3, Best of Episode 4 and Episode 5. Snacked on chips, dip, salsa, and pizza. Good times.
It’s official, I’m going
Late halloween pic
