(note: from 16 years ago, with Dave Grohl, and there was no moshing noticed at last night's show)
Give me all the rock and roll. Just pour a little saline in there and mix it around with your finger and suck it up in a syringe and flick it thrice before you inject it straight into my eardrum. This show checked all the boxes I needed to fully enjoy myself. I took a QOTSA newby with me to the show, and was very pleased by how much he enjoyed the show. Josh Homme is a swaggering bad ass, comfortable at a full throated bellow or turned up into a sexy falsetto. I had a moment during the show when I was thinking how it is a bummer that the music world is so fractured these days, because everyone deserves to have their face melted by real deal rock and roll. But I doubt the show was anywhere near capacity. We posted up in the GA Pit area, about 30 yards from the stage, direct in the center, and had plenty of room around us to move and groove. The setlist was perfect - maybe two songs I didn't know (meaning they are likely from Lullabies to Paralyze or were covers) - but a good mix of the old and new. I thought I might fly away when they dropped into the groove after the breaks in "Evil Has Landed" and "Song for the Dead." I took a crappy video of that last one and rewatching it right now just gave me goose bumps all over again. I want to kick the world into the sun when that tune kicks in. See the video up above. On the other hand, I was bummed at Wolf Alice, the opening band, who didn't play my favorite tune "Bros." They sounded excellent on "Moaning Lisa Smile" and "Giant Peach," so I'll forgive them, but I sure would have liked to have seen my favorite tune in person. Very little banter in between songs - a little bit of inspirational speechifying, a mention of playing Emo's 20 years ago, and noting that his tequila buzz had finally kicked in. But even without a lot of talk, Homme's stage persona is so smooth. I'd go see that show all over again right now.
In my final prediction set, I brought up a new theory I have been rolling around in my head. I said:
Recent Radio Uptick:I may be the only one who gets this tickle in my brain, but I feel like the radio starts to overplay certain bands at random, as though they have been given a preview of the ACL lineup (very possible), and told to get people hyped up for bands by playing deep cut music repeatedly. This makes sense to me - if ACL wants the people to feel hyped when the lineup releases, priming the pump by having people remember that they like The Killers would be a good idea.
I first had this thought a few weeks ago when it felt like I had heard the Talking Heads more than usual when driving my kids to school in the morning. Maybe they have been playing "Burning Down the House" and "Once in a Lifetime" all the time, and I'm only just now thinking of it because I'm writing this blog. Or maybe David Byrne's tasty new album caused some music directors to dust off Remain in Light and give it another spin. I dunno. But it feels suspicious.
At the time, I mentioned Talking Heads, the Cure, and Florence and the Machine as my suspects for this. I don't actually think they are coming to ACL, but I ran through them as potential possibilities based on this new theory of prediction. But then moments later I heard three people I'd predicted to be at ACL this year playing on the radio: an old Franz Ferdinand cut, a recent War on Drugs song, and a deep cut from the National (from that Dead tribute they did a few years back). That seems very suspicious to me. I have no clue how to research this, but I'm going to give it a shot right now and then think about it some more for the future.
Let's look at The National as an example. I'm pretty certain they will be at ACL. Today, KUTX has played the National three times:
12:43 pm - "Morning Dew"
9:24 am - "Mistaken for Strangers"
6:42 am - "Fake Empire"
Of note, none of those are from a new release, or even from last year's Sleep Well Beast, they are from 2007's Boxer or that 2016 Day of the Dead tribute album.
Meanwhile, if you search the KUTX archives (which are sadly flawed and may not really be working properly), the last time they heavily played The National was in March 2014, just prior to a three night run at the Moody Theater in April 2014, when KUTX had a run of playing a National song or two almost every single day. After that 2014 show, they don't play The National for an entire year, until June 2015. Telling. And then, unfortunately, the KUTX archives searching function shows that no National song has been played since July 9, 2015 (which is obviously untrue since today's playlist shows three plays).
Now, several things could be causing this uptick in plays for this particular band.
I'm right. C3 gave KUTX the lineup and has asked that KUTX shuffle through some of the big bands on there to whet the people's collective appetites.
I'm sorta right. C3 gave the lineup to KUTX but didn't ask for anything, and KUTX has taken it on themselves to pimp the chosen bands.
I'm sorta right, but also totally wrong. The fine people at KUTX can also read the internet and make guesses about who might show up at ACL, and maybe they have likewise predicted The National, so they're digging back into the crates on their own to spread the gospel so they can be like "we've been playing them a ton! We're hip!"
Random chance. It's not like The National are out of character for the indie/hippie/Austin vibe on KUTX. Maybe a full copy of the archive would show that they always get 3 plays every 6 hours and are the official band of KUTX? Seems unlikely, but could be.
Also, KUTX just played, as I am writing this, a cover version of the Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House." I swear to God, Matt Reilly, if you are somehow trolling me, I will come stick check your hip into an assisted living facility. I doubt you even know this blog exists, but I know where you live, man.
Meanwhile, I also just checked the playlist for Sun Radio. Guess what they have been playing today? 58 minutes ago, The National's "The System Only Dreams in Darkness." Their playlist only goes back two hours, so I can't see what else they have been up to today, or compare it to historical information, but that sure smells fishy. I have tweeted KUTX to see if they can fix their archives (you can't say I'm not committed to my nerdy quest here), and in the interim, I plan to search for other ways of telling how radio plays change over time in the Austin market. If their archives show me everything, then I ought to be able to go back and look at April 2017 and see how that looks in reference to the announced lineup in early May. Hold tight, more to come.
I think I'm just about done with my predictions. I'm actually going to be on vacation out of the country on May 5, so if they release the lineup as usual, I'll probably miss it, which is jenky. I thought about doing a few other angles to figure out predictions, but I'm running out of time (and ready to go on vacation!). I got an e-mail yesterday or the day before saying to expect the lineup "soon," which seems to me that it should be quicker than two whole weeks, but we'll see.
If you want a run-down of the prediction posts I have already made this year, go to the 2018 page link tab thing up above. I'll run through some of those prior predictions to update them with new information, and also run through a few odd thoughts I have had recently. Recent Radio Uptick: I may be the only one who gets this tickle in my brain, but I feel like the radio starts to overplay certain bands at random, as though they have been given a preview of the ACL lineup (very possible), and told to get people hyped up for bands by playing deep cut music repeatedly. This makes sense to me - if ACL wants the people to feel hyped when the lineup releases, priming the pump by having people remember that they like The Killers would be a good idea. I first had this thought a few weeks ago when it felt like I had heard the Talking Heads more than usual when driving my kids to school in the morning. Maybe they have been playing "Burning Down the House" and "Once in a Lifetime" all the time, and I'm only just now thinking of it because I'm writing this blog. Or maybe David Byrne's tasty new album caused some music directors to dust off Remain in Light and give it another spin. I dunno. But it feels suspicious. A few bands fall into this category so I'm gonna look into them real quick.
The Talking Heads. In this recent interview, Byrne says he isn't interested in a nostalgia trip reunion of the old band. He doesn't say it would never happen, or that the band members all hate each other, he just intimates that it wouldn't appeal to him. But he's also currently on the road to pimp his own new album, so it would seem to be an odd way to perform on this tour, a one-off reunion show just for Austin. Also, I don't know what Byrne would get from TH that he can't get from his own band. Despite the recent (perceived) uptick in their songs, I'm going to say no.
The Cure. I literally had conversations with two of my children, on different recent occasions, trying to explain how and why Robert Smith would have such a roller coaster of emotions that always peaked on Friday. My son found that song to be hilarious. But on several different radio stations, with different songs, I've noticed more Cure tunes being played than I feel like was historically normal. Then, Twitter serves up a string of posts about how The Cure is apparently making new music and having a festival for 40th anniversary. Festivals. New music. Huh. Their website says "currently no show announced!" Which is interesting wording, right? We know Robert Smith is playing the Meltdown (a festival he is curating and hosting) and a big "one-off" show in London in July. Interesting choice of words on the poster for that show - "Only European Show of 2018." Leaves open the possibility of shows in America. Could they be playing Austin? I see no other credible evidence online, so what does my gut tell me? I think no. When they played in 2013, I was about 5 people back from the stage, and the show was highly fun for me (because I grew up on those songs), but I didn't get the sense that the entire crowd was super into it. Nor did I honestly get the feeling that the band was super into it. But that show felt like a once-in-a-lifetime type experience, of The Cure deciding to show up for a major American festival, not like something they planned to do again. I could be wrong. Just doesn't feel like it would happen. (although as I proof-read this before publishing, I'm feeling like this could be a big "get" for the festival to add some well-known star power to the lineup).
Florence & the Machine. Another with a recent uptick in radio play (in my mind at least), although in this instance it could very well just be because a new album is on the way and a new single was recently released. Maybe nothing smoking here. They are playing a handful of festivals all around the world - no major Fests - and are done in early September, leaving plenty of time to show up in Austin. Their set a few years ago blew my damn mind, so I'd be fully on board with another shot at them. I guess I wouldn't be surprised, but I also won't predict it. No.
[EDIT] - literally 30 minutes after I posted this, I drove for a little bit and heard a 2004 Franz Ferdinand song, followed directly by a new War on Drugs song, and then on my way back from my errand I heard on of the National's Grateful Dead covers. I'm telling you, this is a thing. I need to figure out a way to research this stuff - can anyone out there build me an app that scrapes radio playlists and then runs studies on changes over time?
Prior predictions that I no longer believe:
U2. U2 is a no - playing in Europe during both weekends of ACL. That makes me sad.
Queens of the Stone Age. I'm seeing them tomorrow night at the Austin 360 amphitheater and am PUMPED. An April show would allow them to come back in the fall, and they were named to play Shaky Knees as well as a bunch of other festivals all summer, but not playing Lolla makes me feel like this prediction is a miss. Their tour is done in July, so they could be able to make it back to Austin, but I'm just not feeling it anymore.
Arcade Fire. I want them to be here. Very much so. But I see no indications that would lead me to think they'll add Austin to the tour. Their tour right now plays a few small festivals and then is done in mid-August. I'd love to see them again, but I just don't see any evidence. The strongest thing I can come up with is that they played Lolla last year but not ACL, so maybe they owe it to the C3 folks? Please make me wrong on this one.
Kanye West. I originally made this pick simply because I figured they needed a big rap star for the fest. Do you remember how amazing the rap lineup was for last year? Jay Z, Chance, Cube, and Run the Jewels? Plus smaller guys like A$AP Ferg? So good. West has begun tweeting again (which is terrible, don't go read his tweets) and is talking up several new albums that are coming out soon. So, theoretically, he could come out in support of those new albums and tour. His website still just shows his 2016 tour, so no news about touring except for old articles that likely aren't up to date today. NO reason to think he'd come to Austin as of now, going with no.
Lorde. Only playing European festivals this summer, and although she has a big gap where she could play ACL, I don't see much excitement or a reason.
Eminem. His tour only goes through July, no Lolla, and if he is on the poster I am going to cry tears of sadness and boredom, so I'm going no.
Other ones I kind of predicted but I viewed as more joking than real, but they aren't coming.
Coldplay (no longer touring, album is old)
Garth Brooks (playing one upcoming show, see no reason to think he'd show up in Austin)
George Strait (playing Austin in June, see no reason he'd show up at ACL (although it would be amazing))
The Eagles (they are playing shows in the NE both weekends of ACL)
Justin Timberlake. Was sort of half way being funny about predicting him, but he'll be in Canada at the time. So no.
The Big Headliners:
Beck. This one has been a solid guess for me since day one. Perfect headliner. Totally kick ass, fun, exciting new album that crosses over into dance and rock at the same time. He hasn't been to ACL in a few years, but he feels like the ethos of the Fest. He's also doing the Aussie and NZ ACLs. His tour goes all over the place but no dates in Texas (unless they already happened, but none happened in Austin) and ends on September 28. Perfect timing. I feel good about this.
Jack White. He's playing in Austin at the start of May, but I know now that isn't a big deal for ACL. Touring in support of a new album (that is too weird for my personal tastes), and showing at Lolla Chicago. Tour is over Sept. 22, so perfect time to go handle two weekends in Austin. Feel strongly about this one. I just wish he would do all White Stripes...
Arctic Monkeys. I've talked about them for a while, out there to support a new album and playing Lolla already. Their tour goes all over the world, but no Texas dates, and ends on September 28, in perfect time for two dates in Austin. Sticking with my guns.
David Byrne. As I mentioned before, he is not only touring on the back of a good new album, but his tour shows Dallas on October 6, which is the Saturday night of the first weekend of ACL, leaving his ready to be in Austin for both Fridays of the Fest. Feeling it.
The National. #6 atop the Lolla lineup, playing Shaky Knees (also C3 booked), and playing Red Rocks in Colorado on October 9 (directly in the middle of the ACL weekends). Count it.
Metallica. Interesting stuff with their touring calendar - they have a fat, random break from Sept. 15 to Oct. 16, and then their tour's only Texas stops are Lubbock (?!?) and El Paso, in 2019. Weird choices for Texas cities, although metal love knows no boundaries. I've been hoping/predicting these guys for ACL for years, and after looking at the five I've predicted up above, I feel like we need some transcendent star power added to the bill. What the hell, let's say yes.
The Weeknd. He last played ACL in 2015 (same year as he last played Lolla), and now he's on the bill for Coachella, Panorama, Lolla, and Outside Lands. He has no conflicts with October, and is pimping a new terrible album/EP. I'd be very happy to be wrong on this one.
Odesza. I don't even know that these guys play, but they'll be at Lolla, have time in their schedule, and we need some bleepy bloop electro people for the children to smoke drugs to.
Travis Scott. I'm generally repeating myself from the Lolla post, but I wanted to get all the odd nuances back into this post. I very much dislike Travis Scott. His website, very annoyingly, lists only one single date in the middle of a page for his tour. As though the only thing he is doing is Governor's Ball in June. But he is playing loads of other things, such as Lolla Chicago and Lolla Paris and Rolling Loud in Miami in May. This "leaked" schedule on reddit shows him playing Zilker Park in October, although it might be entirely fake because it has his Rolling Loud date wrong. This listing has some other dates on it that don't include that potentially fake one, but it also has him in Paris during the weekend of Lolla, when he is obviously going to be in Chicago. Man, the Internet will mess you up on this stuff. What is real? I guess my instinct on this one is to believe he will be here. Yes. (although I'd rather have better rap as the rap headliner, please)
That is a top nine. I have some others who might be bigger bands than those, and therefore maybe should have gained a top spot in the top nine, but I couldn't decide the order, so they'll be below here. Honestly, I think I'm wrong about at least a few of those, just because I think we need another major artist. I know The Weeknd and Metallica are large and have big fan bases, but nothing on here is in the Jay-Z/ Radiohead stratosphere where people will be like "oh shit, they got xxxxxx!" My guess is there is someone else whe is not even on my radar that will be exciting.
Had this conversation with a friend the other day about who would be the truly gigantic people to get on the bill. Springsteen. Rolling Stones. Dylan. McCartney. Stevie Wonder. The Who. Taylor Swift or Beyonce. Fleetwood Mac. (of course sick stuff like a Zeppelin reunion or Pink Floyd reunion, if those could ever happen). U2. Madonna. George Strait. Maybe the Eagles. None of those smell especially likely.
Also, I may be seriously missing some of the electronic and rap things that could be here. In the electro world, I'm just not into it at all, so I have no clue if everyone else is sure that The Chainsmokers are about to release a new album with DaftMau5 and come blow minds. And Travis Scott being the top rap artist is weird, I don't feel like that can be right, but I also don't know who it would be instead.
Others I think will show up. If you need reasoning, go find my older posts about this stuff:
Avett Brothers.
The last time I wrote about them potentially coming, I said that
their tour ended in late August.
Well, new dates have been released that go right on up to September
29. And none of their dates are in
Texas. Yeah, and anyway, don’t
these guys need to be at ACL every other year in order to function or
something?
Franz Ferdinand. Playing to support a new-ish album, playing Emo's (C3 booked) in May, and on the Lolla poster.
Vampire Weekend.
Khalid
Paramore
Phoenix
SZA
St. Vincent (something called Grandoozy, in Denver in mid-September, has both St. Vincent and Phoenix, and the web says it is created by the same people as Bonnaroo. HOly shit. They have Kendrick, Florence, and Stevie f'ing Wonder (and Sturgill). That is a salty top three, man.)
Vince Staples
Perfume Genius. Touring with David Byrne, tour over in August.
King Krule. Playing Emo's in April.
Big Thief. Touring w/ The National. Gap in shows between Sept. 24 and Oct. 17.
Father John Misty. The whole of October is open on his touring calendar. Reportedly has a new album on the way...
Manchester Orchestra. Playing every festival.
The War on Drugs
Tyler the Creator
Greta Van Fleet. Stubbs in May. Lolla in summer.
Dua Lipa.
Chvrches. I was, quite frankly, actually sad to see that they have a full concert calendar in October that does not include Austin, but then I looked more carefully at the calendar, and it has wide open gaps for both weekends, with shows in Wisconsin the Thus. before weekend one, then Alabama the Monday after weekend one, then in New Orleans the Thursday before weekend two, and The Ryman Theater on the Monday after Weekend Two. So they are perfectly set up to come jam on one of the nights and then watch the rest of the weekend from the side stages. I'm so happy to see that possibility.
Superorganism.
Asleep at the Wheel 😉
OOOOH! I just got an e-mail saying the announcement will come on May 1. That is a few days early AND I'LL STILL BE IN AMERICA! Super excited about the announcement. I'm hoping they come up with another fun way of leaking out some of the bands - like the spinning signs or bottle caps from years past. I saw some instagram posts about Lolla leaks (through weird emojis) although I was never sure if they were real, but that would be fun. Happy week until we know the lineup for real!!!
Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic. 1974 album, so I know this is ancient news to some of you, but Rolling Stone did a chart the other day showing the best Steely Dan albums and I thought I'd try it out. I've always thought "Peg" and "Hey Nineteen" are goofy classics, but those aren't even on this album that RS called the best of the group. The best part of Steely Dan is the funkiness of the tunes. At times, that funk bleeds into cheesy 70's tropes, but it also creates cool spaces for good music to sneak through in unexpected ways. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" is the song on here that I knew before, and definitely wins for streaming count at 12.3 million. But I want you to hear the Grateful Dead-esque "Any Major Dude Will Tell You," instead. Second most streamed at 4.7 million, and I dig the feathery guitar trills.
One of the dudes in this band passed away a year or two ago, and I recall reading people talking about he was a musical genius at piecing together cool sounds. Well, I don't know who stole this sound from the other, but the little breakdowns after each verse are classic Dead stuff. This album is kind of dad rock (the kind of stuff people would probably call yacht rock these days, but that moniker makes me want to die, so I'm going to avoid it). But the tunefulness, the amount of melody, it is way higher and more robust than you get in modern rock. I like that. On the other hand, I think the heavy use of horns and organ/synth is what makes it feel cornball and turns me off, even though those parts of the instrumentation are what make this unique. Interesting foray into old music I didn't know. I'll let this go, but I'm glad I tried it out. Steely Dan - Aja. And the second best album on the RS list, 1977's Aja, takes the funk up another notch. A few of these tracks are instantly recognizable because they've been used as samples in rap songs - revealing that others can sense the funkiness. "Black Cow" was used in "Deja Vu," by Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz, "Peg" was sampled by De La Soul in "Eye Know" ("I know I love you betta!"), and I swear I've heard the opening of "Deacon Blues" in a rap song, even though I can't figure out where from the internet. Quick aside - My favorite rap sample from Steely Dan though is Ice Cube's "Don't Trust 'Em," which pulls a nugget from "Green Earrings" (which is not on this album, so I should stop talking about it right now). "Peg" is the star of this album, although "Deacon Blues" is close in the number of streams, 13.2 million vs. 11.7 million. These songs remind me so much of my time working at the Adult Contemporary radio station here in Austin. Smooooooooth.
Also, YouTube is amazing. There is an 8 minute long making-of video for Peg. I know this is deeply nerdy, but it kind of rules.
Love the bassist who is sneak slapping behind their back. And then the complete analness in trying to find the exact right guitar sound for the solos - lets try out eight different dudes, pick them to pieces, and then agree that one of the eight that sounds pretty wild is the right one. And Michael McDonald has such a cool voice. Anyway, interesting stuff. "Josie" is a good track as well. I won't keep the album around but cool dive back into history. And I still think "Hey Nineteen" is my favorite SD tune. Rainbow Kitten Surprise - How to: Friend, Love, Freefall. Well, I had previously put them in the running for the worst band name of all time, but now I see that their absolutely awful naming skills also bleed over to the naming of the albums. What the freaking hell is what supposed to mean? it's like the lyrics to a Migos song, just stream of consciousness silliness jammed together. You might recall these guys after I pimped them mercilessly last year before ACL because their indie rock action is so very good and tasty - like old school Kings of Leon brought into modern times. I ended up seeing them both weekends and it was super fun stuff (although the poor guys got so sweaty during the weekend one show I thought they might shrivel up and die right there on stage). If I'm being perfectly honest, this album isn't as good as their prior albums. I want to keep loving it, because I genuinely liked the concerts and their old music, but I've made my way through the album a good number of times and I'd say there are some good bits, but not an excellent whole offering. You can tell that by looking at stream count - most of the songs are under a million streams, but the best one has 2.3 million. Here is "Fever Pitch."
First off, that video is great. Something very cool about the cowboys getting funky. Second, the funkiness of that tune is fine, as is the bit when he says to "simmer dooooown." The other most popular song is "Holy War," with just over 1.1 million streams - but I don't love it nearly as much, more of a plodding sound that reminds me more of something Blue October would release (and if you know me that is not a compliment). "It's Called: Freefall" reminds me of something else, maybe Modest Mouse. I dunno, but its actually been growing on me. The whole album actually has - my original review I wrote (before another 4 or 5 streams of the disc) was much less complimentary of the album. "Hide" sounds like the classic RKS that I like, old King of Leon tunes. I'm not saying the album is bad, because its not, but many of the songs just ease on by like two warm innings of at bats in a 14-2 summertime baseball game. When you try to remember them later, you know you were at a game, but you don't recall those individual tries. But the more I've been through it the more I want to go back and do it some more. Maimouna Youssef - Vintage Babies. I heard her for the first time the other day during the August Greene Tiny Desk concert, where she throws down a bad ass verse. Damn. So I thought I'd fire up this 2017 album and see if she goes the same route in her normal tunes. Not so much. These tunes aren't bad, but they are more Erykah Badu (or Beyonce) and less Kamaiyah, and I'd rather hear more rapping and knowledge dropping, and less pretty singing over gentle, lovely tunes. You get that in "Never Bring Me Down," which contains the lyrics I loved in the first place from the August Greene concert. "Sometimes bein' a woman's like bein' black twice, I gotta scream fire instead of rape and you tell me to act nice, stay pretty, look slim, don't talk loud, don't think, don't feel, don't act proud." Over some sustained organ blasts and a creeping beat. I dig that one. The tune includes some Michelle Obama speech clips at the end, but it also comes after a skit that (I think) is more Michelle Obama talking about Trump's Access Hollywood tape, and then goes into a clip from the movie A Color Purple. None of these songs have more than 10k streams on Spotify, although she does have a song ("I Got a Man") from a 2011 album with almost 300k streams. This one is not her most popular, or my favorite, but I couldn't find either of those available on YouTube, so you get "Shine Your Light," with 4,147 streams.
Meh. Always good to go out there and try out something new, but too much sermonizing over generically smooth beats. I'll let it go.
Dude. The poster for Float Fest, held in San Marcos in July, is pretty freaking awesome. For a small time festival, I'd like to see more than half of the bands on the poster. Tame Impala? Hell yes! Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Run the Jewels, and Bun B? Holy shit! Toadies and White Denim and Modest Mouse? Really solid lineup.
Palm - Rock Island. Pretty sure I was lied to about this band. I recall Rolling Stone saying something about it being rad enough for me to check it out despite never having heard of the band, but this is highly annoying music. Not on board with this version of "math rock."
That one is called "Composite," and is the current most popular one on Spotify. 154k streams. Something about it grates my nerves. The day after I wrote the above discussion, I came back in to my office and just hit play again with this album - and just literally said, out loud, to no one but my computer screen: "dammit, I can't take this shit!" Not my favorite album.
The Breeders - All Nerve. Remember the Breeders? "Cannonball" was a good piece of the 90's alt rock landscape. Always dug that track, especially the Submarine-Diving-Warning-Horn-Sung-By-Several-Women-in-Unison at the start. From looking at their Spotify offerings, it looks like they have still been putting out albums (albeit sporadically) with 2002 and 2008 discs popping up after the 1993 hit album Last Splash. A few days ago, this album came up after listening to some other stuff, and I remember being pleasantly surprised by it sounding really good. After a few more intense listens, not so sure this is that great. It has a good chugging classic alt rock sound, but nothing on her really stands out as vital new music. "Wait in the Car" is the hit so far, with 814k streams.
You know, that kind of jams. But I think when taken as a whole, the album isn't that interesting. They definitely recapture the old sound - when you hear this album, it feels like you could be listening to something written 10 minutes after Last Splash finished. "MetaGoth" and "Spacewoman" sound cool in their own way, but nothing on here is so instantly poppy and memorable that you'll still be humming it an hour later.
Caitlyn Smith - Starfire. Holy hannah, her voice crushes it. Amazingly, her bio says that she is one of Nashville's most celebrated songwriters (with hits recorded by folks like Meghan Trainor, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Lady Antebellum, James Bay), but with a voice like this, I find it hard to believe that she should have been relegated to the songwriting cubes on Music Row. The songs are heavy on the "Let's add strings here to show the depth of the emotion" style, but they're pretty solid nonetheless. Sometimes I hear Jewel ("Don't Give Up on My Love," for example) and other times I hear Sheryl Crow, and on her best song, she evokes Allison Krauss ("This Town is Killing Me"). That song is soft, but she's at her best when she is just cranking it out. The two tunes named after towns are also pretty solid ("St. Paul" and "Tacoma") and the writing on "Scenes from a Corner Booth at Closing Time on a Tuesday" is very fine. Speaking of Sheryl Crow, this is reminiscent of "All I Wanna Do." "lipstick is guilty red" is a good one. But the top song for streams is the title track, where she belts it out for us. "Starfire" has like 8.3 million streams (taking the streams from two combined versions on Spotify).
Not a real big fan of the sexy-style looks she is throwing off there in the video, would rather she just sing the song than look off to the side and toss her hair around as she jams. But whatever, her voice is the excitement in an otherwise pretty generic rock tune. The better tune is definitely "This Town is Killing Me," an ode to the pains of survival in the Nashville music factory, sung with a sweet tone and loving vocal caress. This album is good.
Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy. To be perfectly honest, I thought this album was going to suck. "Bodak Yellow," her first single and included on this album, was a pretty solid hit, but felt like a one hit wonder type of thing after hearing her do guest verses on some other albums since then. Also, she is engaged to one of the Migos, which makes me think that she probably also has no clue how to write a rhyme. Instead, this is littered with solid beats and a couple good turns of phrase that catch the imagination. Of course, she has a track with the stupid Migos, but it actually works out pretty well when their role is just to interject dumb words and then (OF COURSE) contribute a bad verse that says "THOT THOT." Such crappy rappers. I hate them so much. But she does better with collaborations from Chance the Rapper or 21 Savage.
But "Bodak Yellow" is the obvious hit on here, with over 310 million streams.
That ominous, dark, spacey beat. Those stout brags and good references. Terrible video though. And sometimes her rap style turns grating to me - she stops flowing and starts barking, like the way Meek Mill sounds at all times, and it bugs. But that is rare enough to not be a big deal. Some tracks on here are kind of clever for the references she digs down to find, like "Bickenhead," which bites pretty heavily from Project Pat's "Chickenhead," which is a classic. Or the classic "I Like it Like That" song, all Cuban swagger and party time, used to good effect in "I Like It." I'm fully surprised to enjoy this album so much, but it is legitimately enjoyable. I could do without the now ubiquitous half rap/half R&B tracks like "Ring (feat, Kehlani)" but the real rap tracks are surprisingly good.
The Vaccines - Combat Sports. Not sure how these guys came across my radar, I have no recollection of their old albums or how I got this album into the Q, but its actually very fun music. Brit indie rock like a less hard version of the Hives or a less dance-centric version of Franz Ferdinand, which in the end is just very tuneful and fun to jam out. I mentioned "Surfing in the Sky" the other day because it was an early single that is super good times, but that isn't the top single these days on Spotify, that honor belongs to "I Can't Quit."
Prime singalong stuff right there - jangly guitar and woohooooooo wooohhooooo!-type chorus material is prime for good times. Nothing on this is going to solve world hunger or our President's stupidity, but it'll sure make it more enjoyable to wallow in that misery. Dig it. Czarface - Every Hero Needs a Villain. Found this group the other day and reviewed their most recent album, a full collaboration with MF Doom. This album features one track with a Doom guest verse, but it is more concentrated on Inspectah Deck and the two underground rapper guys (7L and Esoteric). It kind of rules. Grimy, sample-laden tracks like old Wu Tang, along with odd weirdness and asides, also like old Wu. I can't get over how much one of the dudes sounds like Jay Z. According to the Internet, which agrees with me about him sounding like a Blueprint-era Jay, that is Esoteric. I dig that shit. And they get a guest verse from GZA on "When Gods Go Mad," that track is super cool - crazy cool beat and good flow from each of the guys. But the top track on the album, by a pretty wide margin, is the one featuring Method Man. "Nightcrawler" with 1.7 million streams.
Fuck yes. That beat, those vocal samples, and the bass/snare/organs - this is prime Wu Tang sounding stuff. Smooth. "Escape from Czarkham Asylum" is too long, at 8:19, but its almost like 4 different songs among all the different beat changes and shifts. But the Esoteric vocals over an ominous organ sample and boom bap beat is freaking sweet, and the later change at about 6:15 is also cool. This definitely sounds like an underground rap project - nothing on here is shiny enough for radio or popular music - but it sounds good to me. Shannon and the Clams - Onion. Remember the other day when I said I need to just listen to everything that Dan Auerbach produces and I'd probably be pretty satisfied by the world? This is some odd 60's steeped rock/pop stuff from a group of Californians hell-bent on an old school sound. Auerbach does his usual studio magic and makes the songs sound both timeless and fresh, so that you end up with groovy, kinda funky, very soulful pop rock - kind of like a less great Alabama Shakes. The top song is "The Boy," with 351k streams.
Wait, that is a dude singing that song? I knew both the guy and girl joined up for the chorus, but I didn't expect that the guy was singing the verses. PLOT TWIST! Rolling Stone talked about these guys, and how they were bummed about their stupid sounding band name. Always cracks me up, a band who comes up with a name they don't even like, but then get stuck with once they take off. I was thinking about this the other day after reading a bad Blink 182 joke on Twitter - how did those dudes get that name? According to Wikipedia: "Blink-182 was initially known as Blink until an Irish band of the same name threatened legal action; in response, the band appended the meaningless number "-182"." I refuse to believe that "182" is totally meaningless. I know I'm going down a rabbit trail here, but another website says: "Some fans believe the band choose it because it's the number of times Al Pacino says "fuck" in Scarface, while others claim it was Hoppus's locker number in high school. The band have always joked about the number, suggesting that it's an insignificant and random choice." DAMMIT. Whatever. Anyway, this band, which is not Blink 182, is pretty fun, however, I'll probably let the album go. It's fun in spurts and then a little draggy ("Did You Love Me," among others) at other times. MGMT - Little Dark Age. Based on the album opener, I might think that this one is pretty good. "She Works Out Too Much," which is actually about that exact subject, is pretty funny. And on top of the funny lyrics, the semi-jenky keyboard chords and bass and freakout sax are kind of clever/charming as well. But, the album never really rises above that - kind of clever/funny, pretty weird instrumentally - and so I can't recommend it. By the way, their big hits have nine freaking figures of streams - "Kids" at 216M, "Electric Feel" at 183M, and "Time to Pretend" at 124M. Damn. The top track is the album title track, "Little Dark Age," a synth nerd's dream with unhappy lyrics.
Holy Cure hair. I had figured that the oddly Asian-sounding "When You Die" would be the top track from the album, as that is the one I've heard on the radio a few times, but it is only in 2nd place at 7.7 million streams. It definitely contains my favorite couple lines on the album, sung in a happy sing-song: "Go fuck yourself, you heard me right, don't call me nice, again! Don't you have somewhere to be, at 7:30?" The lyrics are "sung" in a monotone that bugs. But despite the cleverness that pops up here and there, this album doesn't do it for me.
Yo! Y'all know I love the Tiny Desks. My little brother sent me a link to this Tiny Desk from a new "super" group that features Common. IT IS DOPE. Sometime Common tires me out - every song is so deep and packed with lyrics and meaning that I just long for some fun now and again. I need a banger in the midst of the wokeness. Because I'm shallow. But, even though I'm not incorporating this into my usual Quick Hits posts, I just wanted to throw this one up here and make sure you saw it.
The opener, "Black Kennedy" was what my brother told me I needed to hear, but all of them are pretty solid. That track is good, dude. I just wish that Common could pair his deep thoughts with rugged beats or something to bounce to instead it always being NPR-ready jazzhands beats. That second song, the lady’s verse is damn good. I love Tiny Desk concerts. I’d pay at least $5 to get to go to all of them. And the lyrics are excellent. I’m bummed that no one has fully annotated the lyrics yet – Genius gets rap nerds who want to give backstory and details about lyrics, which I think would be cool on this one. https://genius.com/August-greene-black-kennedy-lyrics. For example, “Dihann Carroll-like,” in reference to his grandmother who liked sequins. What is that about? There are some annotations on this, but very little yet. (had to go look it up, she was an actress on Dynasty, who was the first elegant, strong black woman on TV. “More than three decades later the feisty Deveraux still pops up in Internet memes, bedecked in sequins, her masterful side-eye lending silent commentary to current events.” Cool track. Check it out.
Yes. I have talked about how annoyingly long rap albums are right now, and Rolling Stone backed it up with a blurb a few weeks ago. Chris Brown with a 2:38 long album? 45 freaking songs? GTFOH with that shit. Everyone is just going to put out every song they could think of now and grab the gold albums while the algorithms are jacked up and reward this garbage. The Sword - Used Future. The Sword is an Austin band, and yet somehow I've never caught one of their shows. I feel like a bad fan. This album stays true to their usual sound - epic metal/hard rock that sounds like it is a concept album because of the underlying sounds that thread throughout. Pretty solid stuff. The top tune is the second track, but it only has 235k streams, so I guess the rest of the world isn't ready for these guys to melt their faces just yet. "Deadly Nightshade."
Sweet Mad Max mobile on the cover there, brah. Pretty straight-forward rock and roll crunch on there, not too hard, not too fantasy-laden, just right. I've had this album in the rotation for a few weeks now and have probably been through it 15 times by now. I enjoy it and will hold on to it for a while. Sunflower Bean - Twentytwo in Blue. I LOVED their last album. Like I couldn't get enough and was more into it than was comfortable for even myself. So I was pretty pumped when this one came out. Sadly, only to be disappointed. The last album was much more experimental-sounding, psych rock and shimmering cool, while this one seems more straight-forward and like plain indie rock stuff that I've heard a lot before. Here is the top track, "I Was a Fool," with 897k streams.
It isn't bad or anything, its just underwhelming. Her vocals sound like The Sundays, and his just sound murky and boring. And her vamping for the camera is too much. I don't know, I guess I'm just bummed about the change in sound so I'm finding loads of flaws even when I generally like the tunes. I think I'll let this one go. The Weeknd - My Dear Melancholy,. (yes, there really is a random comma at the end of that album title. This is why I want to die). The freaking Weeknd, man. What to do with this guy? At his best, he is a Michael-Jackson-level pop master (see, "Can't Feel My Face"), but at his worst (see, his first three albums and this one) he is a depressing, boring, meandering guy with a golden voice who smears around over boring electronic R&B tunes. This disc is not good - there is nothing that would even begin to sniff the best stuff in Weeknd's catalog. The top track is the opener, yawn-o-ramathon "Call Out My Name," which feels like a track rejected for the 50 Shades of Gray soundtrack. 23 million streams.
Seriously, doesn't that one sound very similar to the "Worth It" (maybe not the name of that song, but I'm refusing to look it up) track from the 50 Shades soundtrack? Luckily for you and me, the album is only six songs long, so the suffering is short and contained. Negatory good buddy. Czarface vs. MF DOOM - Czarface Meets Metal Face. I know, right now, you are wondering what the hell I am talking about. I had a co-worker stop by my office the other day, asking what the bass was sneaking through my office door, and it was this album. This co-worker, a relatively legit rap head (except that he loves Post Malone, so his bona fides are in question), had no clue about any of these rappers, so I got to be the cool guy in the know. MF DOOM is rad, I've been on board with him since the Madvillain album back in the early oughts. Kind of a lax cross between Ghostface Killah and Nas - very New York. I'd never heard of Czarface (and was in fact hoping that this was Scarface or Ghostface just using a pseudonym, no such luck). According to Wikipedia, "Czarface (/ˈzɑːrfeɪs/) is an American hip hop supergroup formed in 2013 by underground hip hop duo 7L & Esoteric and Wu-Tang Clan member Inspectah Deck." Which is ....... uh, I think we can sometimes disagree on the definition of "supergroup," but I think when you are talking about unknown underground artists mixing it up with the 7th best-known member of a 10 member rap group, then maybe "super" is a little much... That being said, Deck ends up having the best raps on this album, in my opinion. Anyway, this album is cool, regardless of who all is doing the vocals. The beats are pretty basic, sort of like Wu Tang beats, but even more sparse. But they have that classic sound of old school samples and loops from real rap, you aren't having any Marshmallo or Skrillex collabos on this. One of the guys on this reminds me of old Jay-Z, both in vocal tone and the weak rhymes. No clue which underground rapper that is. Probably the best song on here is "Phantoms," with Open Mike Eagle, but the top track is the first single, "Nautical Depth," with 286k streams.
For some reason, the line that keeps poking out in my face is something about "Beyonce's twins." So weird, I literally had to google Beyonce's twins to figure out if she really had twins or if this was some reference to her boobs. Who knew, Queen Bey has a set of twins in addition to Blue Ivy? True news. The MF Doom verse on that track is pretty solid too, especially the first four lines. Also, "Bomb Thrown" is pretty solid. I don't know, it is funny that this came out in 2018 - I suspect its low streaming numbers are due to how old school it sounds. None of the crap rappers of the day sound like this, so they aren't getting press, but I enjoy it.
(btw, I'm really pulling for Chvrches to be included on the lineup this year. I have no clue what it is about their tunes, because if you asked me to try out an electronic synth pop band from Scotland, I'd likely say hell to the naw. But their tunes kind of rule.
Last year, I dug down deep into the one of the great mysteries of ACL. I'm sure you remember, it changed the course of humanity. For all time, people had been wondering the deepest possible question. It had consumed their souls. Entire religions had been formed, confused, and destroyed in pursuit of this deep philosophical mystery. You don't remember? You are not a super deep scholar like me, apparently. The question, the single question to end all questions, what this: Can Chance the Rapper really come back and play ACL again when he just played here two years ago? And the answer?
42.
No, the answer was yes. ACL has repeatedly invited an artist to come back with only a one year gap. No big deal. And because I figured that information out, I was able to correctly guess that Chance would be joining us in the Fall. My intelligence is unsurpassed by all mortals.
So, this year I was thinking about another age-old assumption that I have made. When I am looking at someone's concert calendar, I generally dump them from consideration if they have a show in Austin from May through September. This rule makes sense to me, especially in cases where the early shows aren't sold out. Why would the people be clamoring to see Logic in October if he couldn't even sell out a show at the Austin 360 in July? But even when the concerts are sold out prior to ACL, is there a desire to get a band back to Austin 2 months after they already came through town and sold out a show? Obviously, my instinct was to say no, this makes no sense. As an unrepentant data nerd, LET'S GO TO THE NUMBERS!
There is not a simple way to see old concert schedules in Austin. Well, if you know of one, I'm all ears. So I just used setlist.fm, filtered for Austin and a particular year, and then clicked eight billion times to run through everything that played in town prior to ACL. Not the highest and best use of my time, but sometimes a man just needs to find the end of a string.
2017: Seven of the top nine headliners had nothing in Austin in 2017 prior to ACL: Jay-Z, Chili Peppers, The Killers, Gorillaz, Martin Garrix, Ice Cube, and Ryan Adams. OK, makes sense. But that means that two did: Chance the Rapper (May 6 at JMBLYA) and The XX (May 10 and 11 at the Moody). Huh. OK, but those just barely crept into May. Still seems like this is proving my hypothesis. NOT SO FAST, JACK.
Alex G (15th line) played the Parish on June 10.
A$AP Ferg (line 5) played Austin 360 on June 23.
Angel Olsen (line 7) played the Moody Theater on July 25.
Deap Vally (15th line) played the Moody on August 11.
So maybe the rule could be that the headliner-level artist won't play after mid-May, but a few lower level folks can break the rules. 2016 looks surprisingly similar, with the exception of Willie Nelson, who can't be contained by rules.
2016: None of the headliners really had Austin shows after March (when the Chainsmokers sucked it up at a SXSW event). Willie Nelson played his Fourth of July picnic and like 420 other shows that year in and around Austin, but I don't think that counts. But none of the other top nine had anything in Austin before ACL in 2016. However, when you cruise down the poster, you get a bunch of bands playing earlier shows before they come back to town for ACL. Break Science, M83, Nathaniel Rateliff, Israel Nash, the Front Bottoms, and Foals all played shows in April in Austin. The Strumbellas, Jazz Cartier, Tory Lanez, and Blue October played in May. Lewis Del Mar played in June, Margo Price played in July, Blue October played again in August and then also September, and Corrine Bailey Rae played Austin 360 the weekend before ACL's first weekend. However, even though the number of duplicates is higher, you still only have 4 in June or after.
I lost the will to do all of this for 2015, but I can tell you at least that none of the top nine had a pre-ACL Austin show in 2015 (except for the Weeknd, who played a SXSW show in March).
WHAT HAVE WE SOLVED? NOTHING!
I guess we can say that none of the top bands would play a show in Austin prior to the Festival (except Willie, who can do whatever he damn well pleases). But then once you get down the poster a bit, that rule is less strict and some of those folks might sneak in. Bummer. I would have liked a hard and fast rule I could apply in the future. But it totally makes sense that a band on line 15 of the poster could play a July show and it not be a big deal. 98% of the people with ACL tickets never even heard of Deap Vally anyway, so how would they be annoyed about a quick turnaround? I'll incorporate this research into my proprietary algorithms.
This is one of my favorite posts of the year. Well, it usually is, but the lineup at Lolla leaves me a little less than enthused about the possibilities of matching up to ACL. The Weeknd saps my soul, man. But still, I love this post. I love the guessing game and murder mystery sleuthing that comes with trying to figure things out. This is a fun game for me.
As usual, in my opinion, the Lolla lineup is always the closest indicator of who is coming to ACL in any given year. Both Festivals are booked by C3, and there is always a relationship between the two lineups. In some years, that relationship is conjoined-twin-level close between the headliner-type acts in the two shows. But in some recent years, it isn't that close (especially last year).
The closest were 2012 and 2014, with 7/9 matching at the top of the bills:
2012:
Red Hot Chili Peppers
yes
Black Keys
yes
Black Sabbath
no
Jack White
yes
Florence & the Machine
yes
At the Drive In
no
Bassnectar
yes
Avicii
yes
The Shins
yes
2014:
Eminem
yes
Outkast
yes
Kings of Leon
no
Arctic Monkeys
no
Skrillex
yes
Calvin Harris
yes
Lorde
yes
The Avett Brothers
yes
Foster the People
yes
Third place was 2015, a 6 of 9 year, where we missed out on McCartney, Metallica, and Sam Smith.
Paul McCartney
no
Metallica
no
Florence & the Machine
yes
Sam Smith
no
Bassnectar
yes
The Weeknd
yes
Alt-J
yes
Alabama Shakes
yes
Of Monsters and Men
yes
Then 2011 and 2013 show that maybe the relationship isn't as strong as I thought, with only 4 out of 9 matches:
2011:
Eminem
no
Foo Fighters
no
Coldplay
yes
Muse
no
My Morning Jacket
yes
Deadmau5
no
A Perfect Circle
no
Cee Lo Green
yes
Damian Marley & Nas
yes
2013:
The Cure
yes
Mumford & Sons
no
the Killers
no
Nine Inch Nails
no
Phoenix
yes
the Postal Service
no
Vampire Weekend
yes
New Order
no
Queens of the Stone Age
yes
2016 was a little stronger than those two years, but it is kind of an apples to oranges comparison, because Lolla went to four nights last year in order to celebrate an anniversary. But you still get a 5 of 9 matchup (if you ask me), which is still a close link but not that strong:
Radiohead
yes
Mumford & Sons
no
Kendrick Lamar
no
LCD Soundsystem
yes
Major Lazer
yes
Kygo
no
Chris Stapleton
yes
The Chainsmokers
no
Flume
yes
And then last year, 2017, had the weakest link ever, with only 3 of the top 9 shared between the two festivals.
Chance the Rapper
yes
The Killers
yes
Muse
no
Arcade Fire
no
The XX
yes
Lorde
no
Blink 182
no
DJ Snake
no
Justice
no
Weird, right? Does that spell the end of the close connection between the two festivals? Honestly, I hope so! Just kidding, and I don't actually think so, I just think there are ebbs and flows when it comes to booking acts that already have complicated schedules. I'd love to get Arctic Monkeys and The National and then skip the rest of the headliners from the Lolla poster. Or, it could be crazy close this year - I don't see any indication that C3 has decided to fully divest the two from each other... Also curious about how I did on these predictions last year. I was right on 6 and wrong on 3 (damn Lorde and Arcade Fire, juking me out), so that is pretty solid predictorations. So, how likely are we to see the top nine on the Lolla poster for this year? Let's dig in.
The Weeknd. He just put out a terrible new album of six boring alt-R&B tunes. He played ACL in 2015 (same year as he last played Lolla). He is headlining at Coachella and Panorama as well. For reasons that escape my brain, he is still massively popular. So everything possible points towards this pick making all the sense in the world. He doesn't have a real tour happening right now (his website just obnoxiously shows black and white versions of the Coach and Pano posters when you try to look at the tour), so he has no conflicts with October. <long, soul-crushed sigh> yeah, I guess we should expect to see him here in October.
Bruno Mars. Now this one is a little more interesting to me. I'm not a huge fan of the most recent album (that just won all the Grammys), but I'm also generally not that into 90's new jack swing and cheesy R&B balladry, so I ain't the target audience here. That being said, the dude can sing and dance like a bad mofo, so I'd actually be interested to go check it out just for curiosity's sake and to jam his hits and dance my heart out. Buuuut, his calendar is very full in October, with shows on Friday and Sunday nights of both weekends. Theoretically, that means he could play NYC on Friday night, run down to Austin and jam on Saturday night, and then haul up to Nashville for a Sunday night show. And then the next weekend would be even easier, with Tulsa and Dallas bookending an Austin show. But is that realistic at all? Seems like an insane schedule to try to pull off, especially for an artist who does a lot of dancing and moving in his show. Interestingly, this Rolling Stone announcement of the 24K Magic Tour shows that he is playing in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas on October 20, which happens to be when the F1 race is happening (and they usually book mega stars to play that weekend). But they With that evidence in hand, I'm going to go with no.
Jack White. I've already talked about him showing up here quite a bit, and think that they will make it happen. Here's to him jamming on White Stripes tunes for me. Yes.
Arctic Monkeys. Also already made the call on these dudes, with nothing changing my opinion since. Yes. Also just saw that new album is coming out May 11. Lock it down!
Travis Scott. This lineup is kind of hilarious, just switching back and forth between artists I can't stand and those that I really like. I very much dislike Travis Scott. His website, very annoyingly, lists only one single date in the middle of a page for his tour. As though the only thing he is doing is Governor's Ball in June. But he is playing loads of other things, such as Lolla Chicago and Lolla Paris and Rolling Loud in Miami in May. This "leaked" schedule on reddit shows him playing Zilker Park in October, although it might be entirely fake because it has his Rolling Loud date wrong. This listing has some other dates on it that don't make that potentially fake one, but it also has him in Paris during the weekend of Lolla, when he is obviously going to be in Chicago. Man, the Internet will mess you up on this stuff. What is real? I guess my instinct on this one is to believe he will be here. Yes. (although I'd rather have better rap as the rap headliner, please)
Vampire Weekend. Interesting. Their super helpful website simply has the name of the band on the page where their tour should be listed. SongKick has them listed for two upcoming festival slots (Fuji Rock in July and End of the Road in September) but doesn't list Lolla. This dumb website made me think I was going to get a touring listing, but instead just notes those same two festivals. So I guess no tour. Hell, I thought they had broken up entirely. Seems like, without Rostam, their sound is going to be entirely different. That last article also says that they have a new album almost done, so I guess this makes sense for us to get Vampire Weekend back at Zilker. But very hard to tell without more data. I guess I lean towards yes for now.
Odesza. Yeah, just talked about these guys as well the other day, and I think it is a yes. They are playing loads of other festivals, have no conflicts on their tour calendar, and will appeal to all the hip kids snorting tide pods and ready to party.
Logic. I mentally thought I had already researched this, but apparently not. I think he could make sense as another young, hot rap artists for the fest, but his tour comes through Austin on July 27, and isn't sold out, so I really doubt that he would immediately be back to Austin for a festival slot. No.
So, if my predictions are right, we'll have 7 of 9 of the headliners here in Austin. That is a crazy close connection this year. Could it be right? Last year, I correctly guessed whether or not the Lolla headliners would be here on 6 out of 9 (incorrectly thought we'd see Lorde, Arcade Fire, and DJ Snake), so I've done OK in the past. Now for other folks on the 2018 Lolla lineup that I think will be there (most of these I've already talked about so no need to further discuss):
Khalid.
Tyler, the Creator.
Chvrches. Loads of festivals this summer, no real tour, but a new album coming out soon and haven't been to ACL in a few years.
St. Vincent.
Dua Lipa.
Brockhampton.
Greta Van Fleet.
I've still got some more predicting to do, but this one is definitely one of the biggest ones. I need to go back and re-do my other prediction posts now that we have more touring information, and I think I might also go waste some time with historical touring data... Fun times! We'll have the announcement in about a month!
