ACL 2016: Lineup Announcement

Happy Lineup Announcement Day!  Christmas in May!  Except that is it freaking 5:55 as I start to write this, which is unacceptable time to be writing a blog post...  Before I get to that, how cool was the release of five bands yesterday?  I love the idea of the sign spinners revealing the first five - I wish they would have released the entire lineup that way all day.  Anyway, Here is the link, now let's get down to thoughts and some minor bragging:

Headliners:
The top line is legit.  I'm excited about 3 of the 4 on there and understand why they added the fourth.

Radiohead: Called it.  I'm excited to have them headline the weekend.  Since they refuse to have their albums on Spotify, I'll have to go old school and use my CDs to listen through their catalog for the post on them, but at least I own most of them and can do that.  I'd have to say that I hope they play their old stuff more than the new stuff, but I'll enjoy this one either way.

Mumford: Called it.  And woohoo!  Finally, I'll get to see these guys.  I know that a lot of people are down on them because their third album wasn't up to the standard as their first two, but I don't care.  I think they are great and would enjoy seeing them play.

Kendrick Lamar:  Called it.  Damn right.  This is a great get for the festival, I think he's excellent and if he does his show like a few years ago, it will be high energy and awesome.

LCD Soundsystem: Called it.  I mean, a blind monkey could have called this one, since the "retired" band is playing any festival not nailed down.  Are we going to find out later that this guy owes the IRS 50 million dollars and that is why he came out to play 365 shows in 2016?  Not that excited about them, but I am going to go back and re-listen to this stuff and see if I can get there.

Major Lazer:  Called it.  Even though I'm not terribly excited about seeing this, I'll give it another shot to see if it got better since the last time they played ACL.

Willie (but only weekend Two): Fail.  I had a thought a few days ago, that ACL should be required to book Willie Nelson for the rest of his life.  We just lost Haggard and won't get to see him play again, and they annually book Asleep at the Wheel to play every year.  So they need to have Willie playing every year, both weekends, in a respectful lineup slot like 3pm at the rock island stage.  Can we get a petition going for this?  Not doing this is Anti-American, and having him only play weekend Two is similarly bad.

Chris Stapleton (Weekend One): Called it.  Super psyched about this one.  Also glad he'll get a big stage and major slot.

Kygo:  Fail.  But, being that I have no clue who this is, I think that is fair.  I just pulled it up, and it is EDM stuff with HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of listens on Spotify, so I guess this guy is huge.

Chainsmokers: Called it.  I also could care less to see them live, and am curious how they could be considered bigger than anything on this lineup (PETE YORN IS IN SMALL TYPE!!!) but whatever.

Flume: Called it.  I don't know what Flume is.  But I somehow put together data to say its name previously.  I wish this was the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

I missed on four of my TOP NINE headliner predictions: Chili Peppers, Lana Del Rey, Ellie Goulding, Wilco, but then again I predicted everyone in the top nine except for one (Kygo) and one of the weekend Two only people (Willie).  I feel like (kind of) eight out of nine is pretty good. Right? Do I get free tickets to all ACL shows for life?  I also got nothing out of the four (Coldplay, Sabbath, Tool, Jane's) that I thought might sneak up in the lineup.  Which is too bad, because I would have liked to have seen them play.

Non-Headliners:
On the rest of the lineup, I got some of those right as well (I'll figure out a number later, its early sand I need to walk the dog - my final slate), but the things I am excited about:  Kasey Musgraves, Cage the Elephant, Haim, Local Natives, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, Schoolboy Q, LL Cool J, Band of Horses, Catfish and the Bottlemen (based on that recent single), Margo Price, Pete Yorn.

But, up yours, C3, for having the Struts be only Weekend Two!  Same with Margaret Glaspy.  Thank you for Aubrie Sellers, but THE STRUTS!!!  Dammit.

Now, time for Jack to get to work!  I've got a bunch of new tunes to fire into my Q and start spinning during my every waking hour!  Let's do this!