Holy smokes, man. These Astros games are going to kill me. I stayed up for last night's game and it was one of the most exciting baseball things I've ever watched. But now I'm about to straight up nod off at my desk... Coldplay - Kaleidoscope EP. I have a soft spot in me for Coldplay. I'm well aware that they left their cutesy indie rock world behind a long time ago and now make terrible garbage songs with the Chainsmokers, but I'd still give anything they put out the benefit of the doubt. This little EP has some good stuff that is kind of downbeat electronic stuff, and a track with Big Sean rapping (which surprisingly works OK), but also includes a live version of the shit Chainsmokers thing, so its a mixed bag here. This is fine, but I'd prefer a full length that did not include the shit Chainsmokers thing. The top track is the Big Sean thing, "Miracles (Someone Special)," with 18.5 million streams.
Go ahead, be the crabby ass guy who calls this cheesy, but I like it. Admiring people who came before us to make the world better and trying to inspire others to do the same. That is good. The Big Sean verse is pretty lightweight, but whatever. I won't keep this EP around, but looking forward to more from the band. RAC - EGO. There was a time when Spotify would let you use weird apps within the Spotify app to do things, like see lyrics or see playlists created by Rolling Stone or others. If they still allow that on the desktop version, I can't tell, but I liked it. Anyway, there is a guy named Keith Law who used to put out an annual best songs of the year list, and he pimped a tune by this band, called "Let It Go," that I still use on playlists because it is the freshest, happiest song there is. This group is apparently best known for remixing other people's tracks, which is what this whole album kind of sounds like, because each track just has someone else singing on it, like Rivers Cuomo from Weezer or Rostam from Vampire Weekend. That Rostam track is the most listened to on here, at 3.7 million streams, here is the underwhelming "This Song."
That video, and those multi-colored-painted-mouths, is foul. The best track on here is probably the Simon & Garfunkel channeling "Heavy," with Karl Kling, which is OK. I've tried this disc a few times now and nothing on here sticks. Benjamin Gibbard - Bandwagonesque. Gibbard is the lead singer for Death Cab for Cutie (which seems to have disappeared after a few really good albums), and this album is kind of a weird one, in that it is a song-for-song cover of the 1991 Teenage Fanclub album by the same name. I have a weird love for that album, I got it from the Austin Public Access TV guy Dave, over at the east Austin studio where he broadcast his midnight music video show, along with a Blur CD (Leisure, also a 1991 Brit classic), and I listened to them religiously for a while. So I know the source material really well here, and while this is kind of interesting and grin-worthy, the originals are just better. I always dug that they called the rockin' riff jam second track on the album "Satan." Honestly, if you've never heard of the original, you should just go check that one out. Here is the super-long album opener, "The Concept," clocking in at 181k streams and winning the contest for now.
At least try the first two minutes of that and then try out the original below, and you'll see why I say the original is better, mainly because even when the song kicks in for Gibbard, its still kind of lifeless, but for the Fanclub, it kicks in for real.
I'll keep listening to the original. I like the thought of Gibbard trying to make this happen, but nah. Kesha - Rainbow. I get it, that people are in love with this album because she is a strong woman who went through a really shitty legal mess and public support/shaming spiral that would have destroyed the will to live for almost every other human. That sucked. I feel sad that she had to go through that public beatdown. That being said, this album is not for me. This one goes between a country sound, or a party rock sound, or power balladry. Kesha has come onto my radar in the past when she has created top notch trash party pop, like "TikTok" or "Die Young." Nothing on here comes close to either of those. Maybe "Let 'Em Talk," or the other one with the Eagles of Death Metal called "Boogie Feet," but not really. Some of the lyrics are a little interesting, like the weird "Godzilla," but the tunes themselves are forgettable. The top track is called "Praying" and has 90 million streams. I'll give it to you, but I'm not condoning this.
Everyone in the comments is like "OMG KESHA IS A GODDESS, U R MY HEREO!!!" MMkay. Glad she makes you happy, commenter using an avatar of a cat wearing pink-lensed-sunglasses. I just read an article about her comeback from eating disorders and lawsuits with Dr. Luke, and it sounds awful, but I don't get this as a top album of the year contender.
Taylor Swift - Red. I have stupid, but still deep-seated shame, that I need to share with you here. One of the first things I reviewed, and it may have been the absolute first, as the e-mail I just found in my saved messages was dated 8/2/13, was Taylor Swift's Red. But I remember being reluctant to publish it, I think mentally I thought I'd be judged for loving it. By now, that is probably the least of my issues on this blog, so since I just found that review again, I'm baring my soul to the masses. Or at least the 6 people who will read this post.
Taylor Swift – Red.
I know, intrinsically, that I am supposed to dislike this music. Enjoying the pop hits and tabloid fodder
artists like Taylor Swift is supposed to be music snob death. However, despite all of that, this whole
thing is freaking great. It is so damn
well done, going from legit dance songs to really perfect little ballads and
love songs that made me feel like a better person. She can weave a great story that sounds so
very true, like something that might have happened to me when I was 16. A simple little example, from the end of the album song
called Begin Again: “And you throw your head back laughing, Like a little kid I think it's strange that you think I'm funny cause, He
never did” This just clicks with me – I can see it in my head and
feel that feeling, some 20 years after dealing with any kind of dating
emotional garbage. And then listen to
“22,” and see if it doesn’t make you want to just dance around and jump and
sing along. If it doesn’t, then
something may be broken inside of you. Or
I’m a 12 year old girl. One of those
two. Makes me wish I had taken the Bird to the big
Erwin Center show this spring [of 2013], instead of smugly smirking at all of the
Facebook pictures. It also makes me
realize how much I miss this kind of music.
I used to listen to such kinder, gentler, simple music – R.E.M., 10,000
Maniacs, U2, Bob Marley, etc. – before discovering rap and harder rock. I’m going to go out and buy this one and make
sure my kiddos get to hear it a few times.
God, I'm so glad to not be a teenager anymore, worried about love and connection and whether I'm going to get any of that back. That damn song made me want to cry all over again. Dammit. I'm gonna need to cleanse myself with a little Cannibal Corpse or something. Dirty Projectors - Dirty Projectors. I don't know what I thought this was going to be, maybe like New Pornographers, but this is super strange and kind of annoying. Kind of beat-based music, but with lots of angular weirdness and strange sounds tucked into the beats. It reminds me a little of some of the odd stuff that TV on the Radio has done. Kind of R&B, kind of indie rock, kind of hip hop - all layered with effects. Just odd. Another album where the first song is the most popular by a ways - here is "Keep Your Name," which has just over 4 million streams.
Nope. The rest of the album has some that appeal a little bit more, but still not my thing. I'm good. Dan Auerbach - Waiting on a Song. Give me more of this stuff all day long. The Black Keys are a great blues rock band with loads of legitimate hits, and while I'd rather that the boys just keep banging out those, I can dig a smooth side project done with cool Nashville dudes like John Prine. These tunes have some 70's and 80's pop stuff going on - back when pop was a groovy backing track and some bouncing guitar, not a dance-hall influenced electronic dance track like today. "Livin' in Sin" has an Eddie Rabbit "I Love a Rainy Night" shuffle to it. "Shine on Me" is like a latter day George Harrison tune, or even a Travelling Wilburys ditty. So good.
Interplanetary, inter species demolition derby! Just a good sunshiney track. "Cherry Bomb" has a little middle eastern flavor in its psychedelic groove. I don't know, I'm on board with just about every track on this album. Keep it up. Injury Reserve - Floss. I have no clue where this came from, but it is kinda bad ass. Unhinged, bouncy, funny sounding rap from dudes who remind me of Tribe Called Quest with Lil Jon on the payroll. "All This Money" sounds like a Lil Jon track, all wild and loud. I think you deserve more than one song to get this one in your system, so here is that one first. Just over a million views.
I love how the money they are showing throughout that video is all one dollar bills. If you turn on a Gucci Mane or Migos video, its all stacks of $100s (or at least $100s on the outside so that it looks like all benjamins), but these guys are just like nah, let's get $50 in dollar bills, that'll look just right. Any track that represents Beck and Mellow Gold, gimme more... "Oh Shit!!!" is a similarly loud tune of hollers and bouncing bass. The album also takes some detours into a different sound, like the almost gospel-backed bump of "Bad Boys 3." But how about this jazzy sounding, smooth track, "S on Ya Chest."
Yeah, that is the Tribe type stuff. I read up on these guys and they are actually a trio from Arizona, which is kind of odd. I wish I knew where the hell I found this, it bangs at times and is cleverly lyrical at other times, and its cool. I think the album weakens after about halfway through, but all of it is pretty good. I think I'll probably just save the top few tracks and then wait for the next album.
John Mayer - The Search for Everything. I have been thinking about this for a while, I need to do a guilty pleasures post that bares my soul and all of the terrible music I have loved over the years. I don't know that Mayer qualifies, but mentally, I feel like people give him much shit for being lame. Don't care, I very much enjoy his soft rock goodness and will ride for it regardless of the consequences. The album opener on this disc is a funky-ass falsetto-using jam that I really enjoy every time I hear it - it fully requires the white man overbite dance and some shoulder shrugs. Enjoy some "Still Feel Like Your Man."
Ah, that video now reminds me that I had previously reviewed the four song EP that first came out for this album. I dug it then and I dig it now. As I mentioned before, the third song on the album, "Helpless," is some 80's Eric Clapton homage perfection. So very good. Other tunes are also good, like "In the Blood" or "Roll it on Home," but the finest tunes are surely those from the first four songs on the album. I'm about to make my kids truly and fully sick of this album by asking Alexa to play it in the kitchen at all times. Random aside: there is a remix of the Beastie Boys song "Pass the Mic," available on Spotify and *googles the YouTubes* also on YouTube, which is the BOMB.
It's not as good as the "Root Down" remixes from back in the day, but that is some schmeary, loopy, screwed goodness right there. Man, I miss the Beasties. Future Islands - The Far Field. I forget why I listened to this album, maybe they were coming to weekend 2 of ACL or something? I do not enjoy this music. Honestly, I may need to just take a break from new music for a few weeks and just listen to nothing but albums I already love, just to reset my expectations from what I'm hearing. This sounds like I unearthed an album by a little known 80's band that deserves to remain little known. Literally like someone cribbed some New Order bass lines, Psychedelic Furs synth trills, INXS drums, and made a new song. Here, try "Time on Her Side."
The rest of the album is pretty similar. I think it is the basslines that really make this sound like old school 80's music. New Order or the Cure is what I hear in every song. Or its the synths. Whatever, I'm good. I'll just go actually listen to the 80's music. Mac Demarco - This Old Dog. The more I've listened to this album (which was right behind Chris Stapleton in my Q, so I've heard it like 20 times by now), the more I enjoy it. Canadian dude. Low key and lo-fi, it isn't exciting or inventive, just very relaxed and lyrical. The album opener speaks to me, as I too have been seeing a lot more of my old man in myself these days. Which is a weird thing to realize, but true. In some ways, I'm glad, because my pops has a lot I should emulate, but in other ways it freaks me out because I'm getting old and doing weird things like tearing up when realizing that my kids are all at ACL with me listening to a new band. I'M NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING! Anyhoo, if you are in for some chilled out, jammy indie rock, then this is your jam. The aforementioned "My Old Man" is the top listened to track on Spotify, with 10.4 million streams, but I'm going to give you a different track instead, this is "Still Beating," with 6.1 million streams.
Odd tuning on the guitar work, but I like the way it sounds. Don't make her cry, Mac. C'mon. And just because it is weird and kind of cool, here is a weird version with him walking around in a park and playing that song and the title track too.
Anyway, the whole album has that chilled out vibe and relaxed sound. I've enjoyed it for a while and will hold on to the disc. Japandroids - Near to the Wild Heart of Life. I know I've listened to their music before, but I couldn't name a song or repeat a chorus from a single one of their old songs. This stuff is relatively good indie rock that borders on an emo sound. Reminds me of Gaslight Anthem, who I liked a lot a few years ago. Very earnest sounding rock that never gets too fired up or groovy, so it never reaches what I really want to hear out of my rock, but I still am enjoying the album anyway. This is one of those albums, though, were the most listened to track is the first one, and you know my theories on that, so maybe a lot of people are not so sure about this one. Here is that tune, the title track and album opener, which has 3.0 million streams on Spotify.
I like the unhinged feeling at the start of the song, makes this feel earnest and desperate, like they just really need you to hear it. The verse kicks in and it sounds more like a Springsteen anthem to survival and staying true to your self. Its actually pretty great. "I left my home, and all I had. I used to be good, but now I'm bad." I really thought this review was going to be bad after my first few listens, but now I'm into this album. I like it.
Beck - Colors. I love Beck so very much. A quick aside, which will be explored more later. While waiting for Fleet Foxes to start the other night, the guy sitting next to me started talking about how he had tickets to go see Wilco and they were his favorite band. He then asked me what my favorite band was, and because it has been my automatic answer for decades, I said R.E.M. He looked quizzical and asked if I had one who still existed. And now I've been in an existential crisis ever since. WHO IS IT? One candidate is Beck, as I've loved just about everything he has done and would still love to see him play live again. I'm going to do a whole post about this sooner or later, but for now know that I love me some Beck. (also, Beck was just named to play both the Auckland City Limits and the Sydney City Limits festivals, AND HE BETTER COME BACK TO ACL NEXT YEAR OR I'M GONNA CRY). In case you don't remember the last album from Beck, it was the surprise Grammy winner Morning Phase, which was an elegant, lovely, quiet, meditative album of really beautiful songs. Very chill. I liked it, maybe not as much as Sea Change from a few years before, but still very good music to relax to. Well, this new album goes in a 180 degree direction from that sound, as it is all pop energy, hand claps, and danceable grooves. The first few singles are some top notch dance pop stuff. First, there was "Dreams," which goes hard on a guitar riff that explodes into a soaring dance party.
The second is called "Wow," and uses one of those weird slide whistle things (well, it probably used a keyboard or something, but it sounds like one of those slide whistles) and a downtempo beat, combined with an almost spot on match to the Nanananah's from Beck's "E-Pro" 8 bit remix from back in the day. The third then takes it back up to the pop stratosphere with "Up All Night," starting again with guitar riffage and then a hand-clap-powered kick.
Roller skate jam, baby! "Colors" adds in some pan flutes to the hand-clap dance party. Also, I can imagine the crowd at the next Beck show, during the chorus of "I'm So Free," and I'm almost giddy about the thought of jumping and bumping and screaming along. Giddy I tell you. Give me all of this and more for all time. I'll be listening to this album for a while. JAM! Chris Stapleton - From a Room: Vol. 1. While not quite so much as Beck, I'm also a pretty deep and hard lover of the Chris Stapleton thing. The guy can freaking wail, and keeps the flame of traditional country alive in a way that makes me still able to say that I like country music, despite all the absolute garbage that passes for country these days. The lovely balladry of something like "Either Way," or the rocking shake of "Second One to Know," or the great covers like "Last Thing I Needed, First Thing this Morning," all are so good. I'll give you the album opener, because it is the one that gets stuck in my head and won't leave. Here is "Broken Halos," which has 14.9 million streams.
Tuneful, pretty, soulful, and well-written, just sounds like a classic. I thought his last album was a classic as well. If you are in to Kenny Chesney or something, then I get that you wouldn't enjoy, but so long as you enjoy country (or even country leaning rock) then you should enjoy this album too. I dig it. Old 97's - Graveyard Whistling. Other than the odd grouping of songs in the middle that take Jesus to task for not being obviously around ("Jesus Loves You"), and then discuss God as a female ("Good with God"), this is a pretty straightforward Old 97's album. Jangly alt-country rock with multiple tunes about drinkin' or being trouble or pretty girls. I'm actually a little surprised at how few listens their older tunes have on Spotify. Other than the engagement-ode (which is honestly perfect) "Question," only one tune from their catalog has more than a million streams. Weird. I guess these guys are only big in my circle of college friends or something. Anyway, the top track from this album, per streaming, is that "Good With God" track, which gets an assist from Brandi Carlile.
451k streams, and another 134k views on YouTube. Classic jangly rock sound there for this band. I wonder if they are just trying to tweak the uptight religious community, or if the "God" in here is actually a woman and not the God? You can tell Carlile is playing the "God" role there, but from the lyrics I still can't tell whether she is the God or woman-scorned-acting-as-God. "You should be scared, I'm not so nice, many a man has paid the price, you're pretty thick so I'll tell you twice, I'm not so nice, I'm not so nice, I made you up and I'll break you down, I'll do it slow how does that sound, you're just a joke that's been going around." I don't know the answer, I know that I enjoyed the album, but if pushed, I'd prefer listening to Hitchhike to Rhome or Wreck Your Life again. Father John Misty - Pure Comedy. I generally like this album, but it feels really long. Each time I listen to it, I feel like I've been listening for 2 hours by the time the disc is over. At 1:14, it is relatively long, but nothing ridiculous. The best part of Misty are the lyrics - verbose take-downs and put-downs and funny observations about the garbage that we all live in every day. The music stays pretty relaxed, piano balladry with a little bit of pep here and there, but very little excitement. "Total Entertainment Forever" kicks off with a great couplet and then ends perfectly as well, with "Bedding Taylor Swift, every night in the Oculus Rift, after mister and missus finish dinner and the dishes." as the opener, and then the closing bit about "when the historians find us we'll be in our homes, plugged into our hubs, skin and bones, a frozen smile on every face, as the story's replayed, this must have been a wonderful place."
Holy shit that video is weird. I love the cynical view of our current media consumption. The other classic line that I love every time I hear it is from "Ballad of the Dying Man," where Misty sings: "Eventually the dying man takes his final breath, but first checks his news feed to see what he's got to miss, it occurs to him a little late in the game, we leave as clueless as we came..." I think that is my favorite song on the album. I generally like the album, but it is one of those where I honestly think reading the music, like poetry, would be more enjoyable to me than listening to the album. I just get mired down in the slow, lovely, orchestral stuff like the 13 minute long "Leaving L.A.," which has great lyrics, but just takes forever and is like listening to classical music. I think Misty is at his best when the music is snappy but the lyrics subversive. If the music is a bummer, then I'm just less likely to want to go back to the music frequently. I literally think I'll print out the lyrics of this album and read them...
I'm seriously blown away by just how amazingly good the Stapleton ACL taping was. I can't get the music out of my mind all last night or this morning. Other than the Paul Simon one, I'm pretty sure I've never been to an ACL taping that affected me more. It helped that I was in good seats and with three people who were likewise having a blast, but the music and performance was top notch.
(holy damn, that video is the saddest shit I've ever seen. WTF. Why am I tearing up right now?) His voice is just something else. He can go from the most tender ballad (like the absolutely stunning "Whiskey and You" that he did last night, or the excellent "Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore," that he sadly didn't include in his set) to a soulful jam like "Broken Halos" or "Traveller" to the most raucous barnburning rocker like "Nobody to Blame" or "Might as Well Get Stoned." He can do a fine falsetto, a powerful, soulful tenor, and drop it down into baritone when needed. I just feel like all the emotions are packed right into that voice. I must have shown my wife the goosebumps on my arms 5 times last night. Surprisingly, his guitar work is damn good as well. At one point, one of his solos got me to thinking about Stevie Ray Vaughan. I mean, his playing on the albums is fine, but damn, when you watch him peeling notes from the strings with all the love and soulful soft touch in the world, I mean, he can jam. And shred as well, they got into a jam circle at one point that was pretty legit. He literally switched guitars between every single tune, and one of the friends I had brought with me was geeking out in a major way, talking about how rare it was to see a Jazzmaster being played like that, or how it was rare for a Telecaster to have a black head, or OMG a hollowbody (something-or-other, I dunno, he got real excited). The band was super basic, just drums, bass, and Stapleton handling lead vocals and guitar, but they were strong as hell. He also had his wife up there singing the harmonies with him, and she was just endearing as can be, watching him do his thing and joining in to accent the vocals. So lovely (I just wish her mike had been turned up a touch higher). My only other beef with the entire show was how businesslike Stapleton was. Other than saying "Thanks" or "Maybe I should move to Austin," he pretty much said nothing. Never introduced his band or his wife. Never mentioned that he has a new album coming out soon. He did respond to a big woohoo! that came from the upper decks at one point, but generally, he just charged forward into the next track and then said thanks. Which, on one hand, I respect because some bands can talk too damn much from the stage. But on the other hand, a little bit of banter and humanization is very cool at the ACL tapings. I'm really wishing, right about now, that I had scored tickets for his show out at the Circuit of the Americas on Thursday night. I'd totally go back and see him do it all over again. If you get a chance to see him, you should do it.
I'm pretty damn seriously bummed about Tom Petty passing on. More so than Prince. More so than Guy Clark. More so than just about any artist I can think of right now. I think a lot of us grew up on Petty. I know my older siblings loved him as much or more than me, and yet when I was school, Petty soundtracked a long stretch of that time from junior high through college.
(look at that amazing video! Mad Max meets Tom Petty! I remember being entranced by the thought of finding that many TVs and a free slot machine. But they just leave almost all of it behind! As a kid who was busily designing complicated mansion blueprints that contained at least one room full of TVs, this seemed highly suspect to me.) I started out with Petty through the classic rock station in Austin, the usual suspects like "Refugee" or "You Got Lucky" or "American Girl." I found my brother's copy of Damn the Torpedoes and made a bootleg tape of it in my bedroom. It had Huey Lewis & the News' Sports on the other side of the tape. I played that sucker a bunch, I love "Even the Losers" more than anything else on that album. But like most other great music at the time, it just hovered around the periphery of my fandom, because I was fully immersed in the garbage pop rock of the time, whatever K-98 would play, with forays into the cool older sibling music few and far between. I do remember making another bootleg tape of a Tom Petty album, Let Me Up I've Had Enough, which I checked out from the Austin Public Library. This is not his best album... The only other one of the classic TP albums that I really know is Southern Accents. And the reason is a weird one. When I bought a VW Jetta post college (bad ass diesel car, standard transmission, quick and tight little car, still kind of miss it), it had a tape deck and no disc player. So the next day, I rolled over to Half Price Books in Dallas to raid their tape section (which were dirt cheap because tapes were on the way out). I scored Born in the USA, Tupelo Honey, Synchronicity, and Southern Accents, and those became the sounds of my hour-long commute each morning and afternoon. "Southern Accents" is a beautiful song. But prior to that post-college Jetta, it was the Travelling Wilburys that opened up Petty to me more fully than any of the classic albums with the Heartbreakers.
My friend Jordan's mom has always been a trip, just a woman of her own design. Not only was she just about the only adult I knew growing up who cussed without reservation (I can still clearly hear her saying "Goddammit, Jack, stop calling me ma'am! Fuck!" when I was like 13 and trying to be all respectful and proper), she also played kick ass music while we were in the car. She introduced me to Paul Simon's Graceland, the Travelling Wilburys, and the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, among other items. I used to get to go along with them on road trips and ski trips and whatnot, and so the first time I recall feeling like I truly loved Tom Petty, not just heard him on the radio and could care less, was through the Traveling Wilburys. She let me take the liner notes and read through them as we drove and so I tried to figure out which musician was doing which part. I'm sure to most people, he was the low man on the fame totem pole, behind Dylan, Harrison, Orbison, and maybe ahead of Lynne, but Petty seemed like the star to me until I learned more about music. Listen to that track again, does Roy Orbison have the most beautiful voice ever, or what? Fast forward to Full Moon Fever in 1989. Like everyone else in the world, the radio brought "Free Fallin'," "Runnin Down a Dream," and "I Won't Back Down" into constant rotation, but I love the whole album. I remember thinking it so clever when he has the interlude to let CD listeners know that the record or cassette folks are going to have to pause to flip over their copy of the album, but asking those of us listening on CD to pause for a moment in fairness. Always struck me as funny. This was Petty's first solo album without the Heartbreakers, and while I don't know that I can tell an appreciable difference without his band, this was his best album without any doubt in my mind. The amazing thing is that when I just put it back on, I still know all of the words to deep cuts like "The Apartment Song," when I probably haven't heard this album in a decade. I love the lyrics to "Yer So Bad," for some reason as a teenager, hearing the stuff about the sister's ex-husband who can't get no lovin' and walks around dog-faced and hurt, was perfect. "now he's got nothing, head in the oven, I can't decide which is worse." Burn City. I also remember listening to this album with my older sister Susan (she might have even given me my copy of the CD), because she is a TP superfan and she loved it. Such a good disc, I never should have gotten away from it.
(ahhh, back when "yuppie" was like a curse word, like "Yankee" or "Millennial." One thing you cannot say about TP is that his videos were normal or boring...) Then just two years later, the next classic came out, Into the Great Wide Open, with the Heartbreakers back on board. This album reminds me of a few very deep seated, special memories. The first that came to mind was a childhood trip to Lake Powell in Utah. Jordan and Andy, two of my best friends growing up, brought me along on their families' road trip up to the lake, and we all rented a huge houseboat for a week of cruising the lake and cliff diving and sleeping out and board games and swimming and general excellent fun. If you've never been, I highly recommend it. And this album was the soundtrack (along with, to my shame, Van Halen's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge) in my headphones and sometimes through the boat's speakers. I have a particular memory of the blaring guitar reverb from "Makin' Some Noise," played through the boat and echoing off the rock of a huge overhang where we had tossed down anchor to eat and then sleep for the night. The kids would sleep on the roof of the houseboat, out under a million stars, it was rad. "Into the Great Wide Open" and "Learning to Fly" are excellent songs, but my personal favorite has always been "Two Gunslingers." If you've read my stuff in the past, then you know I'm a sucker for the good storytelling stuff, and the imagery of these two gunslingers deciding that they needed to take control of their lives and stop fighting for no reason, is just <Itialian chef kissing his fingers sound>. This album was also excellent. "All the Wrong Reasons" is classic - Tom Petty's lyricism is just rock solid. I love this album.
By the time Wildflowers and She's The One came out, I was in college, and we were still listening to Full Moon Fever and Into the Great Wide Open, along with a personally new foray into country like Jerry Jeff and Robert Earl, sitting on rotting couches on the front porch of garbage houses in Sherman. I bought Wildflowers at the jenky used CD store by Cici's Pizza that was close to campus, and my freshman roommate and I used to listen while getting ready to go out on the town. But the most clear memory of that album I have is how one night as a freshman I was driving some older guys out to the one bar in town, listening to that album, and they complimented me on my music. Now, 20+ years later, when I should care less about those dudes or what they think about my tastes, that still sticks with me that Tom Petty made me feel like I had gotten "in" with cool dudes. More likely I was in with them because I had a big car and would drive their drunk asses to a bar. Whatever. She's the One reminds me of one old girlfriend - I used to have to travel down to San Marcos to visit her, and I remember She's the One and Beck's Odelay being my frequent flier choices for those drives.
I never loved his later albums nearly so much as I loved Full Moon Fever, Into the Great Wide Open, and Wildflowers. Highway Companion was fine. Echo was pretty good. The Last DJ had a song or three. Mojo was forgettable. Hypnotic Eye was actually better than I remember now that I try it again. I had entirely forgotten about Nobody's Children even existing. But nothing from those had the classic sound that made Petty indelible in my brain. There are very few artists or bands that have stuck with me as long and as well as Tom Petty. Right now, I'm so damn sad that I didn't make it a priority to go to that last show in May at the Erwin Center. I should have gone. Never got to see him play live. I'll also always have good memories from ACL 2017 about Petty, because there were many tributes. The coolest, in no particular order:
Josh Klinghofer from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, coming out on to the stage all by himself and strumming his way through a spare version of "Face in the Crowd," from Full Moon Fever. It was beautiful, and more so to me because the majority of people around me had no clue what he was playing, thought it was a new solo song or something, but I knew and it felt special to be in on it.
The Killers opening with "American Girl."
The Revivalists' version of "Refugee," which was perfection.
The massive all-park singalong to "Free Fallin'," soundtracked by a 2006 video of Petty's performance at ACL, where all the video screens in the park simultaneously played that video and then skydivers jumped out of an airplane and spiraled down to earth shooting sparks. Cool feeling to sing along with the world like that.
I know many tributes have already been written and digested, so I'm not adding anything special to the world of journalism here, but now that the ACL crush is over with and I can think about other things, I just wanted to make sure that I saved my own memories of how Petty has been a touchstone in my life. RIP.
As an aside that might be interesting only to me, the final click results of this year's ACL previews are in, and the big one that caught a lot of interest was Friday, with over 1,100 views of that schedule matrix. I think, for next year, I'm going to try to include band genre in the matrix as well, so that people really get a good idea of what the music is (instead of my snarky comment One Liner). Now we are back to the old Quick Hits. Enjoy this one, full of four albums I don't want to hear again. Catch the fever! Cornershop - When I Was Born for the 7th Time. Huh, these are the guys who do that weird song played on alt-rock radio a ton back in the mid-90's that sounds like it says "a brim full of ashes on the 45" and "everybody needs a bosom for a pillow."
I reviewed one of their newer albums recently and was surprised to find out they had one that was a big success back in the day, well that is this album. Although that song is pretty straight-forward indie rock, the album as a whole is an odd mish-mash of sounds, like Brit pop meets traditional Indian music meets dance rock, but I like it. "Butter the Soul" is a good instrumental jam. I was kind of excited for the Beatles cover "Norwegian Wood," until I realized it was all in a non-English dialect. Still kind of interesting. Overall, a weird album, with the pastiche of different sounds and grooves based in traditional Indian music, but still pretty good. I don't think I'll keep it around any longer, but I'm actually glad to have heard the whole album a few times. Jain - Zanaka. French gal who I saw at SXSW this last March (can you tell I'm finally cleaning out all the stuff in my new music queue that I've been avoiding while listening to new ACL music?). Her live show was actually really high energy and pretty fun, but as I recall she did the majority of it in French. Most of this is English, although honestly sometimes the accent is so strong that I can't tell. However, although this is pretty snappy dance rock, I can do without this album. Top track is the opening song, "Come," with 46.8 million streams (which, damn, that is a lot of streams).
Another 69 million YouTube views. That is pretty damn popular. Pretty catchy, I can't lie, but it doesn't mean I'd keep the whole album around. Although sometimes it sounds like MIA, who I like, I'm good. Mastodon - Emperor of Sand. I always want to like a Mastodon album more than I actually do. If you don't know these guys, this is hard rock/metal/sludge rock stuff that always has some weird, complex lyrics, but just never seems to get into a groove with me. According to something I just read, those complex lyrics in this one involve an album concept of a curse placed on a nomad by the ruler of a desert, which is apparently supposed to correlate to cancer. Here is the top track, with 5.4 million streams, called "Show Yourself."
Now that is a really weird video. I don't know why it doesn't click for me, as normally I'd like me some sludgy rock and roll stuff, but I think it might be the lack of a good heavy back end. The bass and kick drums don't seem to do as much work as the guitar and the vocals, and I want more thump and groove. Although, here and there, stuff like the groove in the middle of "Jaguar God" makes me stop what I'm doing to listen and see what is up. I'll still let this one go though. Incubus - 8. I don't fault bands for trying to stay in the spotlight and keep making music, but there are some bands where I just want to remember their best days and not hear constant dilution of their memory. Make Yourself and Morning View were very good albums, they soundtracked a certain post-college period in my life where the world was very into this brand of alt-metal/ rap-metal. But this one is just tired sounding. No songs from this album crack their top ten most popular tracks on Spotify (which is not a good sign), but the most listened to track is "Glitterbomb."
VIC-TAAAM. It feels like they are riiiight there, just about to launch into something, and then it fizzles out and its just more plain chugga-chugga and a slightly larger voice for the chorus. Doesn't quite get there for me. I think my favorite is the slinky "Love in a Time of Surveillance." Not a bad album, I'd just rather hear Morning View right now. I'll let this one go.
Well, I ended up back at the Fest for a bunch of Weekend Two. I had fully planned to go for Saturday with the family, but then I got a hook up on extra tickets for Sunday, so off I went again to see it all over again. And while I'm not nearly as bodily sore today as I was last Monday, the level of gunk in my eyes and nose and throat is at a whole new level. The grass in the park is absolutely dead as can be. Everywhere you went yesterday, you saw people with bandanas tied over their faces, and you could see bits and pieces of the lawn floating about in the air before your eyes at any given time. Brutal. I wish I had some good idea for how to fix that, but I just don't think grass can ever survive that much usage...
SATURDAY.
Saturday was stinkin' hot. We parked and walked down with the kids, arriving just after the first bands started at 11:30. We went straight to the food court area and picked some vittles - the wife got a rice bowl from Kababeque that was legitimately awesome. Really flavorful and spicy and filling. I did the Burro grilled cheese (good), while the kids kept it boring and did pizza and burger. After eating in the shade, we went to the Tito's tent and watched about half of Paul Cauthen's set, he was really very good. Classic country sound, lots of electric guitar, left him straddling the outlaw country line in a good way. The kids seemed unimpressed, but the wife and I had fun.
We then walked over to see Grace Vanderwaal, who was fantastic. The crowd was pumped up for her, chanting her name and screaming for her, and when she came out, she just looked so very pleased, just innocently and humbly overjoyed to be there, that you couldn't help but root for her. She had a band - electric guitar, keyboards, and drums - there for some support and oomf, and she really sounded good. A few songs of her with the uke, a few songs with the full band going after it, and throughout she just danced around the stage and smiled and looked to be having the time of her life. A funny moment to me was when she tried to get super serious (for a 14 year old) and talk about how the Vegas shooter tried to make music festivals scary, but she was here to bring love and happiness back to the people! It wasn't cheesy, and you could tell she was being sincere, it was just funny to me, coming from a teenager. As an extra special surprise, a friend was able to get us up on the side of the stage for the second half of Grace's show, and the kids were loving it. Both of my girls claim that Grace waved at them (and one has video proof that she is very proud of), and they sang along and really had fun. That one bit made the whole day worth it, to get them to the fest and spend the money, just to see them really have fun at a show that they loved. (although now I'm likely on the hook for tickets for all of eternity for my kids, so maybe not the best plan...)
I negotiated a break from the kids at this point, so that I could go watch A$AP Ferg and not feel bad about the language issues. Of course, the kids went in to Kiddie Limits (which they said was lame, BTW) and could hear every single word that Ferg yelled from the AmEx stage that was located right next door. Which led to a kind of funny exchange of my middle kid giving me side eye and asking if I really liked that guy. When I said yes, she responded that I was inappropriate. So very true, love, you don't even know. Anyway, Ferg put on an OK show, most of the young folks around me seemed to enjoy it very much. A few funny anecdotes: (1) he said he was from New York, and how nice it was to come out to the "country" in Austin; and (2) he told the fans to make the biggest mosh pit ever, clearing out a big circle up near the stage, and told everyone to go crazy in there when the music dropped, but when the beat dropped, like 1 person kind of danced through the pit and a few other people wandered around the edge. They need pit lessons from the master! But more than the funny stuff, the set was marred by technical difficulties as the heat apparently messed up the laptop being used by his DJ to make the music, and so it kept glitching out and stopping. Ferg left the stage a few times to let them get it right, and after the last one I just decided to leave. Which, of course, led to him playing his two biggest hits "New Level" and "Shabba" once I had found my family and could only whisper rap my favorite parts. But I did get to impress them with my knowledge of the parts about gold rings, bad bitches, and gold teeth. And MASTER BRUCE!
About now, a friend of my wife spotted her and she and her husband hooked us up with some passes to go to the HomeAway lounge next to that stage, which was pretty cool. Free drinks and snacks and the kids got to sit for a little bit while we watched Dreamcar on the screen. We tried to go sidestage for that one, but the crowd was too big for the kids to see. I don't much care for the music, so we recharged for a bit and then moved on. I can't say it was bad music, but I didn't like the lead singer's sound and was just kind of bored by the 80's derivative sound. We walked from there over to see Benjamin Booker for a few songs, which I loved, but the kids were starting to unwind a little, especially the 7 year old. Booker sounds much better than he did a few years ago, much more polished, really smooth guitar work and good vocals. With the kids feeling tired, we made a deal with them that Mommy would get to see two songs of Live, and then we'd leave. Funny thing is that the younger two still didn't want to leave - they were loving staring at all the people. So, we heard three Live tracks (really good, yet again, super tight for a band I had given up for dead long ago) and bailed out. About 5 hours in the park with kids, and it worked out really well. Of course, now the kids are spoiled and think we get backstage for every show, but they'll learn soon enough that we are front-of-the-stage type people.
SUNDAY
Like last Sunday, I showed up at the park somewhat late, as I had a little kid soccer game and birthday drop off to attend to, but still made it in time to hear about half of the Rainbow Kitten Surprise set. I really like those guys, and the cold front that had blown in overnight made it so that they were able to rock out without sweating straight through their clothes. I'll keep this band around in my albums to keep listening to, I'm glad that I found them through the festival. There were a LOT more people there for this show last week than this week, which is weird, since the cooler temps should have brought the people out in droves, but I was able to get pretty close with no issue.
By the end of that set, I was starting to get a little hungry, so I went and got a Shake Shack burger, which was absolutely awesome. I recall being unimpressed when I got one at the store months ago, but that sucker hit the spot in the park yesterday. I met up with a friend then and went to watch a few songs of the Whitney show. They sounded really good again, but after a few tracks we both started to feel a little sleepy from the gentle tunes - my friend hit it on the head by saying that Whitney is the type of music that is great for chilling at the house or in the car, but not so much the thing to do when standing in a dusty field with a warming beer in your hand.
Although I did not give Milky Chance much of a vote of confidence last week, nothing else in that hour was appealing so I decided to give them a more complete chance. I'm glad I did, I thought they put on a good show. The crowd was huge, and folks around me knew a lot of the lyrics. My recollection of listening to their recorded music was that it was much more electronics driven than the live show that they presented to us yesterday. Much better in a instrument focused performance.
At the next hour, I knew that I wasn't much interested in anything, so I kind of thought I'd do First Aid Kit, but after grabbing another drink and walking to that HomeAway stage, the sound there was just awful. I don't know if they were having trouble with the speakers, but you couldn't hear them at all. Screw that. So we walked over to the BMI stage to catch a band I'd never heard of before, and it was a good find. White Reaper is the kind of ridiculous rock and roll band that makes me love rock all over again. This is that pure rock and stupid roll, fat riffs and basic low end and buzzy singing that isn't quite punk but could be right there. Their album is apparently named The World's Best American Band, which is kind of funny in its own way, and while their crowd wasn't that big, the people who were there knew the words and were in to it. Oh, and LOUD. So very loud. The keyboard player was cracking me up, kicking at the sky and holding his little keyboard up over his head and headbanging and generally rocking out. He even grabbed a pair of sunglasses out of the air, tossed up by someone in the crowd, and stuck them on his face without missing a beat. I don't know, there was something purely skuzzy and awesome about these dudes. I'll go hunt down their tunes and try them some more.
After White Reaper, well, I guess I haven't gotten enough Run the Jewels because I went back for my third show in a week (after seeing the ACL taping last night). It was good again, although I got an invite to go into the important people section, instead of among the crowd, and wish that I would have gone into the masses again. The show was still fun (although I'm pretty sure that there was zero song variance between any of the three shows I've seen) but that type of music just made me want to jump and yell and bump in to people, and the important people section was way more reserved. I got some appreciative raised eyebrows by knowing when to yell "we all dead, fuck it!" and "RTJ! RTJ! RTJ!" but I think the people grinding in the front were getting the better experience. A few observations from the show:
El P gave an interesting Dad speech in the middle of the show, about helping people out of the crowd if they needed help or fell down or whatever, and about beating up anyone who made an unwanted advance at a lady in the crowd. Killer Mike's response was to support the bit about murdering anyone who touched a lady without permission, but then he pretty much told El P to take the stick out of his ass. It was a weird exchange.
They literally forgot to include Danny Brown in "Bumaye." They song ended right as Brown walked out with mike in hand. El P was like oh yeah! Hey, let's do that song again, and the beat then dropped right into a random moment just before Brown's verse, and then restarted the chorus chant against to get everyone into it for Brown's guest verse - awkward!
They do some slow/depressing songs at the end of their set, which I think is weird. They should get the crowd going, slow it down (if they need to), and then ramp it back up to leave everyone on a high. Instead they do the depressing ass sounding "2100" featuring BOOTS, "A Report to the Shareholders," and then the ode to those who have left us before they should have, "Thursday in the Danger Room." I think they should end with something hype like "Banana Clipper" or "Lie, Cheat, Steal" to get the crowd pumped up again, not let the air out of our balloon with a slow whimper...
Anyway, it was a good show again, they just pummel the hell out of you with bass and fast lyrical twists. Fun stuff. Glad that they didn't try to bring on someone from the crowd to rap for them again.
I wanted so badly for Portugal. The Man. to be a great show. After last week went poorly, I was hopeful that this week would be better, but again not good. The sound at the HomeAway stage was complete garbage. The band started the show in a super fun way, rolling out covers of Metallica (instrumental jam, I think from "For Whom the Bell Tolls") and Pink Floyd ("Another Brick in the Wall"), before tearing right into "Purple Yellow Red and Blue." But the sound at the stage was like going to a concert where the band was going to play in a submarine and you had to stand on the shore and see what you could hear through the waves. The conversations around me were much louder than the band. Such a bummer. Several people around me were talking about it, and finally I just decided to roll out and get closer for Gorillaz.
Gorillaz. Man, that was a weird damn show. I was waiting for them to start, and chatting up the folks standing around me. I was for sure the oldest in my little area. One guy said he had seen them three times before, but all more than ten years ago. That guy offered me weed. One guy had a huge cat head on his head and a tank top on that said You're Freaking Meowt. The two girls in front of me wanted to hear about the Killers last week, and mentioned that the new Killers album was "fire." When I asked them what they thought about the new Gorillaz, they said they loved it. One called it an "experience" and the other said it was real art that you needed to immerse yourself in. I have no clue what to do with that statement. But they also offered me weed.
I actually liked starting up the show with the Gorillaz (the album) track "M1A1," as the crowd got pretty hyped up yelling the nonsensical chorus. They had 13 people on stage by my count, including a choir of 4 or 5 people, which was pretty cool. The choir made it seem like the crowd was singing along more than they really were. And SO LOUD. I know I'm starting to sound like a grampa, but it was making my chest vibrate, and if you looked at the screens on the edges of the stage, the images were actually shaking. Crazy. Also, the super fan next to me needed to scream "wooooooooo" after every song at 129 decibels, and I wanted to die.
Mentally, I thought that the vast majority of the songs were from Plastic Beach (the lame 2010 album) and the new one (which I think is hot garbage). I was generally right (song count after some research this morning: Gorillaz: 4; Demon Days: 3; Plastic Beach: 4; Humanz: 7), but they did do 7 songs off of the older (better) albums. But even with those older songs, I was a little disappointed that we missed out on some of the older hit songs in favor of so much of the new album. No "19-2000," or "Dirty Harry," or "Kids With Guns," instead it felt like he tried to keep it very downbeat and chill feeling. I think Demon Days is the best album, and yet it got the least number of tracks. Weak. One thing that Gorillaz does really well are the cartoon videos, and those played in the background for several songs, and I thought that was pretty cool.
They also had a ton of guest rappers come out and take the stage to do their verses, which was cool, but for some reason DRAM didn't even come out when he had played that same stage a few hours earlier. Strange. They also played the big hit from the new album via an appearance from Popcaan on the big screen, not live. But they had De La Soul and Del tha Funky Homosapien come out for their hits, which was awesome. The weirdest of the night was for "Sex Murder Party," from the new album, which involved a scary looking rapper and a tall singer dude (apparently Jamie Principle and Zebra Katz) who screamed and moaned and yelled about sex and murder and party and it was awful. Damon Albarn just sat there and looked unimpressed and kind of depressed while these two freaked out on stage and the choir sang about murder and then started growling. It was seriously offputting. In my notes, I said "sex murder party holy shit scary and bad choir singing in devil voice about murder albarn looks depressed." This made me feel like I should have taken those people up on their weed, as watching this stuff sober was not cool.
But, if that was the low of the show, then "Super Fast Jellyfish," "Feel Good, Inc.," and "Clint Eastwood" were all really good stuff. So, I'm not entirely sure that I actually liked the show, but I guess I'm glad I went to witness it. Some truly great tunes, and then a bunch that I could have done without.
One final observation before I put ACL 2017 away for a year - while walking out of the park, the Killers were playing "Mr. Brightside," and the crowd was amazingly belting out every word, so loud that from the street outside the venue it overpowered the music, which sounded really cool. Another great year of fun stuff in the books.
I didn't go through the entire lineup for second weekend Saturday in the same meticulous way as I did for the first weekend, but now it ends up I'll be going with the wife and kiddos so we can see Grace Vanderwaal, so I'm going to at least listen to the most popular few tracks from the replacement bands and update my matrix below. Enjoy! Playlist!
11:30
Miller Lite
Tomar & the FCs: Solid sounding soul redux tunes.
Barton Springs
Xavier Omar: Straight sexy-time soul, baby. Well, bordering on rap too. But from SA!
Tito’s (11:15)
Bells of Joy: Gospel harmonies from a group of guys.
BMI
Blackfoot Gypsies: Psych rock fuzziness. Actually really good.
Of these, the one I'd like to see the most is the Blackfoot Gypsies, although with the family in tow I might choose Tomar. We'll see what I can swing... 12:15
Barton Hills Choir: The elementary school choir from the campus closest
to Zilker Park.
Tito’s
Paul Cauthen: Classic country sound.
American Express
Billy Raffoul: Soulful lite rock guy from Canada who apparently likes
cars
None of these are lighting my world on fire, and no way I'd take the kids to Missio to learn about putting their middle fingers in the air, so I think I'd choose Paul Cauthen, who has that Waylon thing going on.
1:00
Miller Lite
Pumarosa: Indie rock that, at its best reminds me of the good Radiohead, but can also annoy with affected vocals.
Barton Springs
Mondo Cozmo: Sweeping rock and roll with that huge arena jam that sounds like Dylan
Tito’s (1:15)
Allan Rayman: Honestly hard to categorize, kind of an indie electro rap type guy?
BMI
Striking Matches: Oh, man. That first tune is like some Allison Krauss beauty. Really nice.
HomeAway
Grace Vanderwaal: YouTube star and America's Got Talent winner who seems genuinely good
Vanderwaal. For sure. But if you aren't into it, Mondo Cozmo was really good last weekend. And the ability to yell along, with a huge crowd, to "Let 'em get hiiiiiiigh! Let 'em get stoooooooned!" in the voice of Dylan, is highly appealing. Also, out of nowhere, Striking Matches is actually a pretty good country rock thing with a singer who sounds like Allison Krauss. I like it.
2:00
Honda
Car Seat Headrest: Solo-ish guy dropped the DIY and now makes the best kind of confessional rock and roll.
A$AP Ferg: Real deal gangster rap with a ton of pretty good guest verses
This is the first hour where everything is pretty damn good. Ferg's best tracks are some hard hitting coolness of brawny, braggadocio rap. Makes me need to flex and act extremely tough. I’d enjoy seeing Ferg or Millsap, but Car Seat Headrest is one of the bands I’m most excited about seeing for the whole weekend, so they trump just about anything else. Even if their band name is pretty dumb. So I saw Car Seat Headrest last weekend, and loved the show. Really good stuff. But I'm not entirely sure which of these I should do with the kids. Well, no, I can't take them to Ferg, the side-eye from the wife as an avalanche of curse words enveloped us all would be a death sentence. Maybe I'll let them try both Millsap and Car Seat and see what they like more.
3:00
Miller Lite
Benjamin Booker: Raw New Orleans blues guitar shredding has morphed into a more subdued bluesy rock
Barton Springs
Tash Sultana: Vaguely reggae-ish guitar pop? Not on board.
BMI
DREAMERS: Pretty catchy indie rock. I like it. "Drugs" is good stuff.
HomeAway
Dreamcar: I'm stuck in a rut of 80's music on the poster. "Supergroup" of sorts with No Doubt and AFI members combining for maximum 80's homage.
I had honestly forgotten about Dreamcar entirely as a band who was coming to ACL. I still would rather see Benjamin Booker over them, but it had fully slipped from my mind that we were going to get a No Doubt-based supergroup. That still makes me grin. The band from No Doubt is apparently considered the band portion of a supergroup. Right. I'll take the kids to Booker if they are still up for tunes.
Pointed Man Band: Their top song uses the tune from Death Cab for Cutie's "I Will Follow You Into the Dark." Simple indie tunes.
Tito’s
Nick Hakim: Weird soul/R&B stuff? His top song is much more normal than some things deeper in the catalog.
American Express
Live: Holy crap, this is really that band, the Live from the mid-90's that was one of my favorites ever.
Cody Jinks is surprisingly good, but nothing is keeping me from reprising my 90’s alt rock love affair with Live. I'm hopeful the kids will still want to be there by then so that I can go back for another round and show them the pure power of rock and roll. We shall see.
5:00
Miller Lite
Angel Olsen: Torchy indie folk tunes that wear out their welcome quickly
Eh. This may be the perfect time to go load up on Poor Qui Buns and Bahn Mi tacos, because none of this is very exciting. Of these four, the Black Angels are the best band, but I recently saw them and their live show is a little much for puny humans. Russ is freaking terrible. Olsen is good for a few songs, but I get very tired of her very quickly. Elson is pretty solid, and maybe the best fit for me to take my kids to. Weird that they put Elson against Olsen.
6:00
Honda
Glass Animals: Oh, man, its that "Gooey" song. I really hate that song. This is synth pop electronica stuff.
Tito’s
Getter: EDM bangers
American Express
Ice Cube: My favorite rapper of all time. The GOAT.
Cube is easily the best and most fun of these three. His show last weekend ruled. But I can't realistically take my three kids to see that show. I do not enjoy Glass Animals. Getter might be kind of fun to take the kids to, just so they could see a crowd of people high and jumping out of their skin to an EDM beats guy. Sadly, I suspect this is the time of night when they will run out of steam (if they haven't three hours before) and we'll head out.
7:00
Miller Lite
Spoon: Somehow, I apparently failed to actually review Spoon for this year. Weird, I crossed them off my list and everything. Here is my 2014 review and my review of their new album, which is good enough. I love them though!
Barton Springs
Tove Lo: That "Stay High All The Time" electropop girl
Easy choice here for me to go see Spoon. I really like them and their new album is greatness. On top of that, Tove Lo might be my least favorite thing coming to the Festival all weekend. Rufus Du Sol is better than expected, for electronic stuff...
8:00
Honda
Chance the Rapper: One of the best young rappers, making mostly exuberant, positive rap
Red Hot Chili Peppers: One of the greatest rock bands ever (IMO), and boast the prime time funk of Flea.
I won't say this one is an easy choice, as I would love to see Chance do his thing in support of Coloring Book, but the Chili Peppers might be my favorite band of all time, so I have to go see them. If you want to check out the potential setlists for the Chilis, see my thoughts here. Personally, for second weekend, it ends up I won't be staying late for this show, as I scored tickets to go to the ACL show taping for Run the Jewels, so I'll probably leave out before any of these 8pm bands start.
This night is going to be absolutely fantastic - if you weren't there last weekend and you vibe on my level, go do Live, then Cube, and then the Chilis. It was fantastic.
