ACL 2018: Second Weekend: Friday Thoughts [EDIT]

Weekend Two, baby.  For the first time in years, this will be my primary weekend this year, which will be fine (I keep trying to convince myself).  I just fear that all of the grass will be dead (edit, it is very dead.  And in front of the Amex stage?  Total mudpit as of last Sunday).  And Greta Van Fleet and Nelly will already be gone.  And East Side Kings will have run out of Poor Qui Buns (edit, they stopped even having them on the menu!  Life has no meaning!).  And we'll get another torrential rain that will cancel Sunday (60% chance for rain as of Tuesday).  OR the weather will suddenly cool off and it will be the greatest ever weekend of ACL (high of 78, baby!), one that Sir Paul himself will write a song about to be played by his gravestone on a loop.  Yes, that is the positive vibe I'm going to adopt.

Friday, baby!  Opening day of the weekend!  Last year, I took my buddy to Freedman's for the pre-show lunch and drinks, and it ruled.  But Freedman's is closed (R.I.P.) so I need to come up with a new spot.  Pool Burger would be tight, have a few Tiki drinks and then just wander on down towards the park?  Or maybe Loro?  Hmmm.  Already excited about that part of the day.  Even if it means missing a few bands at the start...

[MORE EDITS to this!]  Two more artists have been removed from the poster - Cuco because he got into a car wreck, and Borns because he apparently groomed young girls so that he could sexually assault them (or something, sounds creepy AF).  Of course, fans on social media are all pissed off, as though Borns was the ONLY REASON they were coming to ACL, which is stupid.  Anyway, I've adjusted the schedule yet again to show these changes.  WHICH SUCK, by the way, because they moved a bunch of stuff around, and now you can't see both Big Thief and Alvvays, and some other issues...

As I did last year, I've changed up the preview format so that you get hour-by-hour thoughts and layouts.  Previously I had ranked all of the bands and that was insane, and also completely useless, because who cares if Sofi Tukker is my 83rd favorite band?  What you need to know is a choice during each set, where the artists are actually duking it out on the poster.

A few prelude thoughts:

• The comments for each band are those "One Liner" things that I added to my reviews. It helps me to remember who they are (sometimes) and provides some detail on the kind of music they play.  
• I've made each band name a link so that you can go read the full review and listen to some tunes if you are unswayed by the One Liner.
• The first column in each box is the stage where the band is playing (in case you thought I was just playing a weird word association game).
• 2:45 and 4:45 and 6:45 are tough calls.

Playlist!  This is mainly going to be the bands I recommend, with a few extra songs if they are notable or I couldn't make a definitive choice of bands.

Let's get down to it!

11:15

Miller Lite	Curtis Roush: Chilled grooves from a member of The Bright Light Social Hour
Barton Springs	NOTHING
Tito’s	The Gospel Stars: Gospel
BMI	The Blancos: Brooklyn dudes singing platitudes over hip hop beats.
Home Away	NOTHING

Ooooh, I had forgotten about how crappy the Blancos are!  Delicious to remember that garbage!  Nothing in this is going to make me burn to leave the office early on Friday, although Curtis Roush would be my choice if you were already going to be there at the opening bell.  Just go chill on the grass (or what is left of it by second weekend) and enjoy some relaxed tunes.  I think this means I'm not going to the park first thing anymore.

12:00 to 12:45

Honda (12:00)	Alice Merton: The "No Roots" lady.
Tito’s Tent (12:15)	Fatai: Powerful voiced coffee house tunes from Aussie Voice finalist.
Kiddie Limits (12:30)	School of Rock: Kids jamming cover tunes based on what they learned at private lessons
American Express (12:00)	Natalie Prass: Funky indie singer songwriter with a great voice

Easy choice.  Natalie Prass is very fun.  I know others think I'm dumb to not love listening to Merton force the word "roots" into my ears 342 times in 3 minutes, but I choose not to suffer through that.

12:45 – 1:45

Miller Lite	Ben Kweller: Piano heavy indie rock in the Ben Folds vein
Barton Springs	The Coronas: Irish indie rock that belongs on a CW drama
Tito’s (1:15)	Ravyn Lenae: R&B lady from Chicago with a little freakiness.
BMI	Nicole Atkins: Crooner who apparently sounds like a Brill Building singer
Home Away	Magic City Hippies: Kind of crappy white boy funk pop

My two original suggestions for this hour are gone now.  No more Lewis Capaldi (Strong-voiced blue-eyed soul from Scotland).  Big Thief got moved from here back to 2:45. Cuco (Terrible Spanglish indie bedroom slow jams) is out entirely.  As this article shows that he was in a car wreck last night and is cancelling the rest of his tour.  

Ben Kweller got added in here, and then The Coronas and Magic City Hippies got moved back into this space.  So now this is a totally different hour of music.  I guess, from these choices, I'm going to go with Kweller.  Kweller is a good time!  This was a harder decision with Kweller against Big Thief, but now not so much.

I heard good things about the Coronas after weekend one, FYI.

1:45 – 2:45

Honda (1:40)	Reignwolf: Real deal blues rock and roll with raw guitar shreddage
Tito’s Tent (2:15)	Duncan Fellows: Surprisingly fun indie rockers from Austin
Kiddie Limits (2:30)	Ralph’s World: Kiddie Limits silliness
American Express (1:45)	Bishop Briggs: One hit wonder with that "River" song, and some forgettable other alt-pop

Personal opinion here.  I know a lot of people will want to do Bishop Briggs because she has that one really big hit song.  I would counsel against that.  I think Reignwolf will be the best of this group, although I also enjoy Duncan Fellows and would likely enjoy that show too.

2:45 to 3:45

Miller Lite (2:40)	Alvvays: Top notch indie rock with pretty vocals and that Archie song
Barton Springs	Big Thief: Chilled out indie rock with high quality lyrics.
BMI	Sasha Sloan: Sad electronic indie you can relate to.
Home Away	NoName: Super chilled Chicago lady rapper

With the shuffling of artists, this gets even harder.  I don’t want to see Sasha at all, but the other three are all solid.  I saw both Alvvays and Big Thief first weekend, and I really enjoyed both shows.  That being said, if I had to pick between the two (and I do), I'm going with Alvvays.  Their show was perfection last weekend.  And they made fun of Ted Cruz (as Canadians do).

Also, NoName just put out a legit enjoyable new album, so you're not going to go wrong listening to her relax your soul with some chilled out raps.  

3:45 to 4:45

Honda (3:40)	Sir Sly: One alt-rock radio hit and a bunch of fun danceable rock.
Tito’s Tent	Golden Dawn Arkestra: Psych instrumental freakout jam music, but with horns
Kiddie Limits (4:30)	Lard Dog & the Band of Shy: Kiddie Limits silliness
American Express	David Byrne: Talking Heads singer still making funky, weird rock

Another hour that got shuffled.  Borns (One good album of psych rock pop, then one less good album of synth pop) was supposed to be this hour, but has been removed.  Sir Sly moves into that slot, which is too bad.  I heard them playing from afar last weekend and it sounded good.

But, that being said, its David Byrne all the way.  And its too bad, because both of the other guys are pretty solid.  David Byrne's set weekend one was freaking weird and totally awesome.  He puts together a legit performance and it was very cool.  Like, it made me realize how fun it is to have a performer doing something other than just standing up there playing their songs.  Make it a performance!  Super cool, highly recommend.

4:45 to 5:45

Miller Lite (4:35)	Lily Allen: Raunchy, but funny in lyrical realism, British pop star
Barton Springs	Jungle: Grooving funk soul
BMI	The Arkells: Old Arkells = good alt rock; New Arkells = generic indie dance rock
Home Away	Manchester Orchestra: Very good indie rock, in between Iron & Wine and Gaslight Anthem.

With Greta Van Fleet removed from this hour (in favor of Lily Allen), this hour gets a little more interesting for second weekend.  There is no easy choice.  Allen is raunchy and funny and likely puts on a very entertaining show of pop.  Jungle is very cool and Manchester also has a clean, classic sound that I very much enjoy.  If the Arkells would guarantee only playing their old stuff, then I’d choose that.  As it is, I think I’d probably choose Manchester, but would be open to taste testing the other two.

5:45

Honda (5:35)	Khalid: El Paso's favorite surprise high school star now doing hooks on major hits.
Tito’s Tent (5:30)	Gryffin: More generic EDM
American Express	The National: Depressing ass music loved by many people I like

It’ll be a game time decision for me to choose trying out the pop R&B stuff from Khalid or the depression indie from the National.  I’ll likely choose the latter, but we’ll see.

Full disclosure, I just tried the new National album a few more times today, and its growing on me.  Like a sad tumor of depression, but its worming its bummed out way into my brain.

{EDIT] I heard Khalid from the side of his stage as I waited for BROCKHAMPTON last weekend, and it didn't sound that great.  Seemed kinda boring.

6:45

Miller Lite (6:35)	BROCKHAMPTON: Self-described as THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOYBAND!  Off-kilter, fun hip-hop from a large crew.
Barton Springs	Father John Misty: Most interesting lyricist at the Fest
Home Away	Hozier: Massively popular Irish blues rock who needs to release another album

This one got easier now that BROCKHAMPTON has set up an after show, so that I can still go see them without ruining my chance to see either FJM or Hozier.  Now, that choice is still super hard, as I’ve seen both and they are both amazing live shows.  If you aren’t doing the After Show, then go see BROCKHAMPTON.  If you are doing the After Show, or hate original and fun rap for some reason, then I think I’ll say Father John Misty.

[EDIT] I kind of broke my own rule here, and did BROCKHAMPTON despite already having tickets to the Saturday night show.  They were awesome.  I was deep in the middle of the crowd, and my old ass jumped around and yelled incoherently with 10,000 kids between 13 and 20.  Very entertaining.

7:45

Honda (7:35)	Odesza: Chillwave electronic tunes.
Tito’s Tent (8:00)	Silent Disco
American Express	Paul McCartney: The Beatle

Although I’ve heard good things about Odesza’s live show, you have to choose the Beatle.  Also, if you go to Silent Disco while Paul McCartney is playing, then something is wrong with you.  At least, if you go to Odesza, walk over to the other side when the set is over and sing along to "Hey Jude" with all of us.

[EDIT]  Dude.  McCartney was fabulous.  His set list was top notch and he sounds great on both the guitar and the piano.  Very good show, I'm pumped to get to see him twice.