ACL 2018: Second Weekend: Sunday Thoughts [EDIT]

Oh, man.  Major shakeup.  What a cluster.  Child Ass Gambino has jacked all of this up, angered the whole world, put C3 in an impossible spot, and shuffled the schedules.  This day loses Gambino, but gets St. Vincent and Travis Scott.  Obviously, there are still good things on this day, but when you lose the #3 thing on the whole poster, with only two weeks before the show, things get messed up.

This day already suffered from having very little that felt MUST SEE to me, but with a little shuffling, there's actually at least one improvement (getting St. Vincent moved to this day helps).  Still weird to me that McCartney isn't closing down the weekend...

Because I'll have already seen a bunch of these bands on first weekend, I may be more willing to be experimental here and try out other weird things.  We'll see.

As I did last year, I'm not going to try to list everyone in order of how much I like them, because it honestly provides no good information for you to know that Houndmouth is better than Rezz in my mind.  What really matters, to me at least, is how to navigate the hard conflicts and figure out who to see in each time slot.  So, here we go again.

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).

Here is a playlist of my suggested tunes for Sunday.

Here we go.

11:15 or 11:30

Miller Lite	NOTHING
Barton Springs	Kydd Jones: Local rapper with pretty good beats and OK lyrics
Tito’s (11:15)	The Spiritualletes: Gospel
BMI	Davie: Alternative R&B guy with a nice voice but boring songs.
Home Away	Lemaitre: Electronic happy tunes in the neighborhood of Justice

Wait, where did Freya Ridings go?  Was that actually Child Ass Gambino in red-headed drag this whole time?  Crap, looks like she’s been dropped from the ACL website.  That was going to be my only suggestion for this hour.  Now, uhhhhh, I guess, if you’re there, go see Lemaitre?  (not a strong endorsement)

12:15 to 1:00

Honda	Thunderpussy: I can't say their name without grinning, but they kind of freaking rock.
Kiddie Limits  (12:30)	School of Rock: Kids jamming cover tunes based on what they learned at private lessons
Tito’s Tent	Superfonicos: Funky afro-funk from south of the border
American Express	Amber Mark: Soul pop and R&B like Norah Jones tried to make modern pop

Yeah, I guess I’d do Thunderpussy.  As usual, it likely doesn’t matter who is playing this early on a Sunday, but I think if I went, I’d give them a shot in this hour.

1:00 to 2:00

Miller Lite	Amen Dunes:  Great indie rock tunes by a weirdo who doesn't listen to music.
Barton Springs	Mt. Joy:  Pleasantly anonymous indie rock with good lyrics
Tito’s (1:15)	Ghost of Paul Revere:  Banjofied Americana and Harmonic Folk (with a big ginger beard!).
BMI	Phil Cook: Jam-ish goofball does freak folk well
Home Away	Yungblud:  Highly fun dance/electronic rock with lyrics built to shock.

This is a tough hour.  I know that none of these are household name bands, but I like all five of these bands.  So it will just come down to what are you looking to hear at this time of the day?  Yungblud likely has the potential to be the most famous/exciting out of this pack, with his dance-ready, exciting tunes and shocking lyrics.  Amen Dunes is probably the most talented of the bunch.  And the other three would be great for a nice sunny afternoon relaxation session with a cold beer in hand.  If I’m there, I think I might get hyped and do Yungblud, but Amen Dunes is also calling my name.  Might depend on what I did the first weekend.

[EDIT]  Yungblud was insane first weekend.  He might have been lip syncing, or at the very least was definitely using a backing track, but he was wild and crazy and extremely fun to watch.  Just know that you will get approximately 300 F- Bombs and 600 tongue thrusts.

2:00 to 3:00

Honda	A R I Z O N A:  Generic electro-rock tunes of platitude lyrics but a genius band name.
Kiddie Limits  (2:30)	Q Brothers:  The worst Kiddie Limits band
Tito’s Tent (2:15)	Flor De Toloache:  Mariachi ladies
American Express	Twin Shadow:  Sweepingly bombastic 80's synth pop

Yikes.  This hour is not great.  It’s too bad that some of the one o’clock guys couldn’t just slide over into this slot.  I’m not going to be one of those ironic dingbats that goes to watch mariachi to be funny (but disrespectful).  So, I’m left with generic and platitude-filled electro rock, or 80’s synth pop rock.  Ugggghhhh.  I guess I’ll pick A R I Z O N A, based solely on the fact that I met someone the other day who likes them?  But I refuse to highlight any of these guys, because its just not great.

I’ll tell you one thing I’d rather die than do, and that is go to the Q Brothers.

[EDIT]  Everything is hell now.  My buddy Joseph sent me a file of his sons making a rap with the Q Brothers that is actually very cool.  And Twin Shadow was terrible.  So I guess I'll give ARIZONA a shot next time, or go take a nap.

3:00

Miller Lite	Bahamas:   Sweet folky rock that brings Jack Johnson to mind.
Barton Springs	Parquet Courts:   Brooklyn garage rock fully loved by the critics
BMI	B.A.G. (Blimes xGifted Gab): Kick ass (for their single song, at least) women rappers
Home Away	Elle King:   The Ex's and Oh's lady has more scratchy-voiced, country-spiked pop.

Elle King is likely the most famous of the group, although she is probably the one I would want to see the least.  Parquet Courts’ brand of funky indie rock would probably be my pick, although that one BAG song is super good.

[EDIT] sent the wife and kids to Elle King while I did Injury Reserve on first weekend, and it was a good choice.  I'll hopefully go see Parquet this weekend.

4:00 – 5:00

Honda	X Ambassadors:   Sweepingly homogeneous alternative rock
Kiddie Limits  (4:30)	Saul Paul: Acoustic hip hop (but also real beats) for the Kiddies
Tito’s Tent	Moses Sumney: Quiet, pretty, soulful guy with amazingly beautiful voice who bores me
American Express	Janelle Monae:   Funky, freaky bad ass melting styles into great pop soul grooves.

Janelle Monae is the easy choice in this slot.  Sumney is lovely, but boring, while Monae is highly exciting and should be a true star.  I don’t want to see the Ambassadors at all, which likely means that both my kids and my buddy are going to demand that one both weekends.  I need to start a smear campaign now.  

[EDIT] Monae was freaking amazing.  She is a hell of a show woman, with loads of dancing, a great voice, multiple costume changes, and a real-deal show crafted for maximum enjoyment.  I actually tried to get my son to let me take him to X Ambassadors, going completely against my prior statement up above, but all of my children were being such massive annoyances that I couldn't do that to the wife.  No regrets though.  You should do this show, and get close.

5:00

Miller Lite	Tinashe:   Strong-voiced hook singer making bad, generic pop R&B
Barton Springs	Houndmouth: Shaggy southern rock goodness.
BMI	The Sisterhood Band: Country-ish acoustic ladies that get on my nerves
Home Away	Rezz:   Aggressive electronic "body" music

Easiest decision of the day, I think.  Houndmouth is the only band I want to see of these four.  If only the female hadn't left Houndmouth, then this could have been an all female singer hour.

6:00

Honda	Shawn Mendes: Former Canadian vine star turned pop star (sound familiar?)
Tito’s Tent	The Revolution:  Prince's backing band, carrying on without him.
American Express	Vince Staples: Great flow from an odd rapper with critical love

Interesting hour.  On the one hand, I’d kind of like to see the pop star with all the big hits.  On the other hand, I’d love to sing along to Prince’s hits.  On the third hand, which is weird unless this is talking about a character in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Vince Staples is great and would likely be a fun rap show.  I think I lean Mendes, but I’m not convinced.

[EDIT] I heard great things about the Revolution.  I did Camila Cabello with the kids, and then left the park, but two different people said that the Revolution was a blast.

7:00

Miller Lite	Illenium:  More entirely generic EDM with the usual female singing platitudes
Barton Springs	Shakey Graves:  Excellent local musician and songwriter doing bluesy rock
Home Away	St. Vincent: Quirky electro-indie rock

Well, this certain changes things.  Before the change to add St. Vincent to this hour (and day), this was an easy choice for me to go see Graves.  But St. Vincent is legit, and she is supposed to put on a good show, so I’m not sure what to do here.  I’d say at this moment, since I am currently listening to St. Vincent just for the pleasure of it, I might choose her.

8:00 or 8:45

Honda	Arctic Monkeys: Fabulous rock and rollers with a recent lounge act bomb
Tito’s Tent	Silent Disco:
American Express (8:45)	Travis Scott:  Auto-Tuned/half-sung Houston rapper with an attitude problem

Theoretically, you could do both of these, from afar.  Since they start 45 minutes apart, you could go listen to 30 minutes of the Monkeys and then trudge all the way over to the other side of the park to Travis Scott mangle words and generally disappoint the world.  I'd rather try out the full set from AM.  I guess, at the very least, I’ll wander over there once the Monkeys are done to hear Scott's last few songs from afar.