ACL 2019: Weekend Two: Saturday Schedule and Thoughts

In my post for weekend one, I called this the weakest day of the Fest this year, and I'm not so sure anymore.  Had a really great Saturday last weekend with a bunch of really good shows.  If you thought the Cure was bad for some reason, then I don't know what to tell you.  From up close, they sounded really great.

Being that I will have two pre-teen girls along for the day this weekend, we'll be avoiding some of the action out there.  Like, no freaking way I am taking them to watch Megan Thee Stallion, despite the fact that I just re-listened to her album yesterday and it is clever and kind of awesome.  BUT real damn raunchy.  And I also don't expect to go for the show-up-at-noon-and-attack-the-day-with-everything-I-have like last weekend.  But, we are still going to have a good time.

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).
• More rap this day than last weekend.

Playlist!

11:45

Miller Lite	The Aquadolls: Surf rock like Best Coast listened to the Breeders
VRBO	Blackillac: Gary Clark Jr. making good beats w/ two local Austin rappers spitting legit rhymes.
Tito’s	Wesley Bray & the Disciples of Joy: Gospel
BMI	Vanessa Zamora: Spanish-only indie songwriter lady
T-Mobile	Armani White: Philly rapper with just a few tracks, but all good stuff

I have to note that the explosion of Spanish language artists this year for ACL is jacking up my Spotify suggested artists something major.  In this hour, I liked the Aquadolls pretty well, and Armani White (while his catalog is pretty limited) is legitimately good.  But the chance to see two local rappers go to town with Gary Clark Jr. potentially in the background?  For sure would choose that one.

12:30/12:45

Honda	Orville Peck: Weirdo anonymous dude making
Kiddie Limits	Imagination Movers: Kiddie music that used to have a popular Disney show
Tito’s (12:45)	Abhi the Nomad: Indian rapper with some R&B hooks over low key beats
American Express	Flora Cash: Quietly generic dream pop with that one "You're Somebody Else" hit.

Orville Peck is the most interesting one to me in this hour - not only is his music good, but the whole weird hidden face thing intrigues.  Although, I now note that I just failed to fully write a One Liner for the guy.  Sorry man.  I was too busy looking up lampshade masks to wear for Halloween.  I don’t much care for Flora Cash.

1:15

Miller Lite	Megan Thee Stallion: Cocky, Nasty, Freaky Lady Rapper from Houston
VRBO	Diamante Electrico: Awesome rock dudes singing something groovy in Spanish
BMI	Laundry Day: Boy band of high schoolers from NYC recreating the worst parts of Brockhampton
T-Mobile	Taylor Bennett: Chance the Rapper's little brother

Don't get me wrong from what I said up above, Megan Thee Stallion is awesome.  Just know that you are going to hear so many different terms for genitalia that you are going to need internet access to interpret with urban dictionary.  But she has great beats and a good flow, so go see her if you aren't easily offended or watching music with elementary school kids.  
Diamante are great too - just all Spanish lyrics so you're just going for the rock bits. Taylor Bennett is solid if you are wanting to see cleaner rap.  Weird how they have put so many rap shows against each other so far today.  Laundry Day is a hard no for me.

1:45 / 2:00 / 2:30

Honda (2:00)	Denzel Curry: Surprisingly solid rapper whose mom gave him some sage advice
Tito’s Tent (1:45)	Madison Ryann Ward: Killer voice, but only one single so far to go with it.
Kiddie Limits (2:30)	Ray Emmanuel: 14 year old rapper
American Express (2:00)	Sigrid: Killer voiced Norweigian gal deserves more hype

Saw this Sigrid show last week and loved it.  She is really fun - I think my girls will enjoy it as well.  Denzel Curry has a few good songs, but a lot of his older stuff isn't my thing.  Good new album though.  "Ricky" makes me want to run through a steel wall with exuberant joy.

2:45 and 3:00 and 3:15

Miller Lite	Hippie Sabotage:  Chill (mostly) EDM by two brothers.
VRBO	Briston Maroney: Great basic rock and roll from a former American Idol contestant.
Tito’s (2:45)	Rob Baird: Classic-sounding Americana/country music with good lyrics
BMI	Dayglow: Great bubblegum rock from a UT student
T-Mobile (3:15)	Tierra Whack: Philly rapper with those tiny tracks now making good long raps

Tierra Whack was my gut reaction to seeing this time slot – she really is good and interesting and different.  But I’d also say that Baird is good, Dayglow is fun, and Maroney is also impressive.  Some good choices to be made during this hour.  Being that I'm with the girls, I might pick Dayglow.

Did the Tierra Whack show last weekend, and was a little disappointed because of technical difficulties (it was so freaking hot that the laptop playing the music was glitching) and her hypeman used up half of her time by just playing other people's music.  I know a lot of her songs are only a minute long, but I can hear an old, recorded 2LiveCrew song at home.

4:00 / 4:30

Honda	Brittany Howard: Alabama Shakes singer doing her own thing
Tito’s Tent	Pink Sweat$: Very basic R&B like young Beiber
American Express	Lauren Daigle: Contemporary Christian singer with a killer voice
Kiddie (4:30)	Bears & Lions: Rock and roll rap kiddie music

Missed this hour last weekend - well, I watched Daigle from afar because my buddy wanted to be close for Judah and the Lion.  She's pretty damn good (sorry for cussing, as Brittany Howard would tell me, God still loves me anyway).

On the one hand, Howard was amazing with Alabama Shakes, and I like what I have heard of the first few tracks from her solo stuff.  On the other hand, Daigle’s voice is beautiful and it would be nice to see her doing her thing live.  I expect we will do Daigle because my girls will actually recognize her music.

5:00

Miller Lite	Kali Uchis: Mediocre R&B sounds with some Amy Winehouse tendencies
VRBO	Natalia Lafourcade: Mexican pop rock lady
BMI	Chris Shiflett: Countrified current Foos guitarists yeehaws around on his own.
T-Mobile	Judah & the Lion: Popular combination of bluegrass sounds into hip hop-tinged pop rock.

Did Judah & the Lion last weekend, and I have to begrudgingly admit that it was pretty fun.  Very high energy show, uplifting songs - the crowd has fun.  But they were a little too cute with, like, matching costume changes and video goofiness.  But, seemed wholesome enough to let the girls do (unlike Uchis).

Although, they might just want to go get into the crowd for Eilish, since that is sort of the reason we are going.  Oh God.  I just realized I'm going to have to wait in that crowd for like four hours, and then hold my 9 year old in the air so she can see anything as we get crushed like we went running with the bulls.  Starting to feel like I might have the flu.  Anyone want a single day pass?

6:00

Honda	Billie Eilish: Dark pop phenom at only 17 years old.
Tito’s Tent	Masego:  Kind of fun jazz fusion rap/R&B guy
American Express	Gary Clark, Jr.: New school guitar legend from Austin

If you know anything about my musical tastes, you know that I’d go see Gary Clark Jr. here.  Did that last weekend, and he sounded great.  Although, I'll readily admit that the crowd was large and I couldn't easily get close after staying for the whole Judah show.  So I hung back and chatted with some friends during the show.

If you are going to Eilish, know that the crowd last weekend was outrageous.  Like, it is hard to compare it to the numbers that crushed into the Miller Lite stage for Lizzo, but I had friends send me pictures of the Eilish crowd and it was insane.  I very much doubt that I will be able to get very close for it, but we shall see.

Masego is actually pretty interesting, if you are not feeling either of the other options and want something that will be inventive and different.  And probably like 20 total people.

7:00

Miller Lite	James Blake: Falsetto-singing, glitchy-electronic R&B Brit
VRBO	Metric: Solid indie rock cut with electronic rock and their few hits about a decade old
T-Mobile	21 Savage: "Atlanta" mumble rapper who has a couple very good tracks.

I would pick Metric to see out of these.  21 Savage isn’t as terrible as some of the other rappers doing the mumble rap thing, but Metric is legitimately a good band.  When James Blake's most popular track is someone else's rap song that he schmears 14 or so words in the middle of, I say no thank you.

Metric was really great last weekend.  High energy show, good rock and roll.

HEADLINERS:

Honda	The Cure: It's The freaking Cure, dude.
American Express	Childish Gambino: Inconsistently good rapper and R&B crooner

I would absolutely go see the Cure.  But I also feel like I just saw them a few years ago, and with no new music, am I just going to see the exact same show?  All I know is that when I re-listened to them a few weeks ago, I got excited about this show.  But then I think that Gambino has about 3 tracks that are worth seeing, so going to that side might be a waste?  But maybe he's an insane performer because there has to be some reason he is popular when his music kinda sucks?  Torn on this one for sure.  Have a feeling Jason will make this pick for us.

We ended up at The Cure for weekend one, and I loved it.  I hear a few people say it was weak, but I loved the song selection and though everyone sounded really good.  That being said, we were also very close to the stage, so our sound might have been better than those listening to the auxiliary speakers 300 yards away.