I got to see them on Friday night at the aftershow, so I skipped the Saturday morning show to see Benjamin Booker. But other than Pearl Jam, I think Spanish Gold might have been the best thing I saw all weekend. Sadly for you, this means a 12:30 start time to your day in the sun. But you should do it. Go to Spotify right now and listen to their album and just realize that it is greatness. Spanish Gold.
Instead of Spanish Gold, I went and saw Benjamin Booker, who was raw as raw can be. He bounced between a kind of rockabilly swagger and punk rock jams, with an odd bluesy interlude in the middle where his fiddle/bass guy (Casey Affleck, swear on a stack of bibles!) and drum/mandolin guy broke it down and Booker put down his axe to kick around the stage and sing some blues. I liked Booker, but he was kind of all over the place - guitar parts were not quite on, his voice devolved into guttural growls, and while I love the raw rock and roll-ness, he could use a little bit of polish for his live show.
2:00: Falls. This was excellent. They had lovely little Aussie accents in between songs, and their music is just dang pretty. Jason and I sat down and then ended up laying down on the grass and just letting them do their thing. Perfect afternoon band at the little Austin Ventures stage. Threw down a Heart of Gold cover for all the old people to sing along to and all the young folks to mumble along with and everything.
We didn't stay for the whole show but walked over to just check out what Trombone Shorty had going on. It was absolutely a blast. He can freaking jam, both with his 'bone and with a trumpet. He also had five UT band kids come up and jam out with him for a few songs, and when they weren't playing, the goofy, happy, blissed out look on their faces as they bounced back and forth to the funk was really cool. You could tell they had a blast with it. His backing band plays pretty dang hard rock and roll, and he just funks right all over it. Really fun and glad I went to check it out.
Stupid Kodaline. I was super excited to see them, and they bailed on the weekend. http://www.thestar.ie/star/kodaline-cancel-gigs-after-silly-accident-53611/. What the heck kind of silly accident kept you from me? Irish jerkfaces. With godawful hair. Go click on that link and seriously. Seriously.
So, with nothing to see at the 3:30 slot, we went to check out Tune-Yards. Who suck a fat one. I swear they made a bet before the show to see who could make the worst, weirdest noises and yet keep the crowd there. Super experimental and out there. On top of them being freaky, there was a super weird dude in the crowd wearing masks and chewing on dog toys, who had a little kid with him who could dance really well, so they were freaking me out even more than the twiggy little gloop bloops from the band. I swear, I took no drugs, but this part of the day was an issue for my well-being.
Next, we got nice and close for Head & the Heart. Awesome music. Feels wrong they are from Seattle, I feel like they ought to be from North Carolina or Vermont. I cannot defend this, it is a gut feeling. But they make me want to move to the woods and mash my own cider and rot my own cheese and grow a terrific beard full of yesterday's quinoa. Loved that show. Oh, and cherry scented e-smoke is actually kind of lovely.
In trying to walk across the park to get to the next show, we ran into the ridiculous 87 car pileup that was Iggy Azelea. They put her at one of the middle stages, but she had a crowd as big as damn Outkast. It was a mess. And after listening to three songs, she also was a mess. Years ago, I would have just enjoyed the beat and been happy with her music, but if you pay any sort of remote attention to what she is saying and doing, it is just so damn dumb. #Vanilliggy indeed.
Once we escaped the idiotic morass at Iggy, we made it really close to the stage for Avett Brothers. They are so very fantastic live. All of the guys and girl on stage seem to just love jamming out together, and they put on a hell of a fun, foot-stomping, singalong show.
Oh, Eminem. Before I begin my internet-fueled diatribe and conspiracy theory, let me just say that the show was really fun. He stalks the stage like a crotch-grabbing, scowling, white panther. If I could have just relaxed and gotten into the show, I think I would have had a blast. He tripped through old classics and got the crowd going for the new Rhianna songs - everyone really had fun.
However, right near the beginning, Jason pointed out to me that he kept lowering his mic before he was finished saying his lyrics. It happened multiple times, where the last word or two of his line could be heard in full voice, even though his mic was swinging away from his face. Which made me also notice that he never sounded winded, no matter how much he bounced around or moved. He had a hype man up there with him who would yell stuff to get the crowd excited ("whats up Austiiiiiiiin???"), but Em never varied his songs in the slightest. Which made me think that he was just lip syncing and I got all whiny in my head about it and had trouble just enjoying the fun spectacle of his show.
Afterwards, I found multiple stories out there of people noticing on SNL, Coachella, and elsewhere that Eminem appears to lip sync his songs.
- Spin's article ("words they were hearing were not coming live from Eminem's mouth")
- LA weekly ("His lip-syncing was especially obvious because he's so animated, constantly gesticulating in a way that pulls the mic away from his mouth, mid-lyric.")
- and many others, including TMZ and Perez Hilton, which I just can't link here without being sad for the news and the general state of America
Honestly, I wish I hadn't noticed it at all so that I could just bounce around with the teenagers all around me and enjoy the show instead of trying to analyze his every move for signs of cheating. In the end, this was a fun show, and his raps really are something to behold, whether they are really live or not.
After all of that, off to Taco C for some late night sustenance and then the sweet siren call of my son's twin bed. Two nights down, one to go.
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