ACL 2017: Second Saturday Quick Thoughts

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.
HomeAway	Ought: Post-punk monotone mumbling from Montreal

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

Honda	Missio:  Annoyingly hip electronic pop
Kiddie (12:30)	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.
Kiddie (12:30)	Kupira Marimba: more mega marimba action.
Tito’s	Parker Millsap: Well-crafted Americana from an OK boy
American Express	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.

4:00

Honda	Cody Jinks: Outlaw country guy from Denton
Kiddie (4:30)	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
Barton Springs	The Black Angels: psych rock crunchy-ness from Austin
BMI	Karen Elson: Model ex-wife of Jack White making lovely folky indie
HomeAway	Russ: More of that Drake-biting sing-song rap

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
HomeAway	Rufus Du Sol: Good dance house tunes from Sydney

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
Tito’s	Silent Disco:
American Express	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.