The xx (2026)

One Liner: Lovely indie pop that switches between groove and sorrow
Wikipedia Genre: Indie pop, indie electronic, R&B, indie rock, dream pop, electronic rock 
Home: London

Poster Position: HEADLINER!
Day: Sunday
Both Weekends

T-Mobile Stage at 8:30.

Thoughts:  Last here in 2017.  No new music since then either, which is weird.

I remember discussing this band a few times previously, including in a review of their 2017 album, I See You.  I also recall making fun of the fact that their top song is an instrumental introductory track called, wait for it, "Intro," but then I see an article stating that "Intro" is the greatest, most important song of all time.  They really do argue that it is "one of the greatest songs of all time."  GTFOH.  The reasons offered in the article:

1. "The fact is, "Intro" has been on a mix you once made, because the song makes you feel alive."  Again, GTFOH.  You know what else was on a mix I once made? The fucking Spin Doctors.  Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do I Do It For You," for crying out loud.  I wish I still had all of the mix tapes I gave to girls, because I bet even more cringeworthy stuff is on there that I can't recall right now.  Point one in this argument is shit.  Is "More than Words" one of the greatest songs of all time?  No.  Just no.
2. "Rihanna samples "Intro" throughout her 2012 song "Drunk on Love.""  You know what else Rihanna sampled?  Avril damn Lavigne (on "Cheers (Drink to That)"), the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme song, and flipping Korn.  Don't try to tell me that being sampled by Rihanna should lend your 2 minute instrumental a special gravitas in the history of mankind.
3. YouTubers have created a "seamless edit lasting 2:45 hours" or another that lasts ten hours.  Yes, because a song gets infinitely better when you drill it into your head like a Guantanamo-style torture session.
4. "Soon after the world caught on to the short but mighty track, it was notably everywhere. It was used in the 2010 comedy/drama It's Kind Of A Funny Story during a drawing scene."  This one actually seems to hold water, as Wikipedia mentions a bunch of other places (that are significantly more well known than that one movie) it was used.  But so what?  Again, the Spin Doctors had "Two Princes" all over the place back in the day, including in feature movies "So I Married an Axe Murderer," "Love and Other Drugs," and "Sesame Street."
5. "It's the definition of "epic minimalism": A song that feels only mightier and more massive for the scarcity of musical elements actually present in its construction."  Here is the worst point of all five.  "Dude, silence is totally mighty because the musical instruments used in it are like, scarce, bro."  All of the xx songs are pretty low on ornamentation and excess.  This just makes no sense to me.

I protest much.  The fact is, its actually a pretty great song.  I enjoy it too.  But to add it to the pantheon of greatest songs of all time is just dumb.  Here, give it a shot, with its 808.4 million  streams [was at 199.7 million streams in 2017].

That is the two hour and forty five minute version, so just let it roll and see if you want to die after an hour.  It really is a great groove.  And that is the best part of these tunes overall, the groove.  The album opener for 2017's I See You, is a track called "Dangerous" that fires out as a horn-laced groove that makes me want to shimmy around at my desk.  Then, "Say Something Loving" is more of a slow burner of traded verses and echo-ey instrumentation. The hit from that new album, which isn't as popular as multiple tracks from the two older albums, is "On Hold," with 181.1 million streams.

Filmed in and about Marfa, I had some good commentary on that in my prior review of the new album. Suffice it to say that the transformation of Marfa from no-wheresville West Texas to the kind of place that a dream pop group of Brits would want to film their video is just damn weird.

The interesting thing is that their first album appears to be the most popular, in terms of number of listens.  Several songs with more than a hundred million streams and all.  Also insane, in the three hours that I spent listening to and writing my original post about this band, the streams for "Intro" went from 199.7 million streams to 200.2! Half a million streams in one day?  Was this the most popular eclipse soundtrack song for the entire world? [I guess I was writing this on the day of an eclipse?]  So crazy.  

Obviously, XX has been out longer, so people could listen more, but even if you took out the greatest song ever, that first album would still be the tops.  2012 album has one song with 253 million, but nothing else approaches nine figures.  I See You has two with more than 100 million, but one that doesn't even top 20 million.  And then other than remixes and deluxe versions, they have no new music.  Not sure that any of this matters, I just found it interesting, I guess because my Twitter feed made it sound like Jesus was back when the 2017 album was released, and I didn't even know who they were.  Lets do something from that second album.  Here is "Angels," with 253.9 million streams.

Damn, son.  Put that shit on a mixtape and you're gonna be swimming in ass.  Screw the "Intro" tune, when she sings about "being as in love with you as I am," I feel like she means it.  And so will the ladies.

This band reminds of the Cure in their sound, as though Sarah McLaughlin fronted a new super version of that band once Robert Smith heads off to clown school.  I think it is mainly the guitar work on these songs, kind of plucky in a way that reminds me of the Cure.  Like on "Crystalised," which sounds like Alt-J, the Cure, and Sarah hooked up to do a quiet practice session for a benefit concert to help puppies.

The band won the Mercury Prize for 2010, for that debut album (which is the top album of the year for the UK and Ireland).  Pretty impressive.  Two of the members (the two who aren't Jamie xx), Romy Croft and Oliver Sim (which are such very Brit names) were apparently raised as friends from birth and independently started making music before deciding to go in together on it with a girl-boy group.  They met at the Elliott School, which has spawned several other musical acts like Hot Chip and Four Tet, as well as Pierce Brosnan.

They originally just sang over a computer drumtrack, but early fan Jamie Smith came on board to make electronic tracks for them to sing over.  Jamie Smith became Jamie xx, who does solo music on the side now, including a well-regarded album in 2015 (In Colour) that did nothing for me when I reviewed it.  From reading a few interviews, the band members seem endearingly awkward and introverted, which seems perfect for this brand of chilly, dreamy pop.  Seems like all of the songs on the older two albums could be about love or missing love.  The new album has more bounce and fun to me, and I like it even more, but there are some real beauties on the old ones.

I don't honestly know if I will see this show - not sure I care about this or 21 Pilots less?  So weird that those are the two Sunday night closers.  We used to get actual stars for those slots.  But I guess if in a vacuum, I would totally would go check them out.  I like the tunes.  You should just go listen to the top ten on Spotify, you'll like it.

The Chainsmokers (2026)

One Liner:  EDM, just like you've heard so many times before.

Wikipedia Genre:  EDM, pop, electropop, future bass

Home: NYC

Poster Position: TOP Quarter - Line 2
Both Weekends.
Day and Time.

[location]

Thoughts: Last here in 2016.  Which sort of surprised me.  I guess when you sound just like everyone else, there is no reason to have them back?  When they were last here, I had predicted that they would be on the poster, but I believed they would be in the small type.  I was very wrong, as they were also on line 2 ten years ago.  Which is sort of weird.

Back then, I wrote the following:

A few weeks ago, a commenter I don't know (always so exciting when a stranger comments on the blog!) linked this performance from Ultra, saying that "After this you will understand why they are a big get."

It's a whole hour, so gird your loins if you plan to actually observe.  Four observations from the first three minutes: (1) this is Skrillex except with two J. Crew models hired to act like they are "making" the music; (2) the crowd shots of that Festival make me want to die and take anyone younger than 25 with me; (3) do not go watch Chainsmokers live if you have epilepsy; and (4) they really should invest in small stepladders if they are going to each crawl up on their console every 30 seconds so that they can scream "FUCK YEAH MIAMI!!!" and throw their hands in the air before climbing back down to twiddle a knob.  Their backs really will thank them later.  Two things about that are the worst.  One, that these dudes can't say anything to the crowd without including a "FUCK" or "FUCKING" in the sentence. Come on, man.  Two, the children in the crowd spend the entire time waiting for the camera to be on them so they can incorrectly lipsync the lyrics and throw their hands up in fake gang signs.

With that in mind, and after listening to the rest of the concert and watching portions of it, I think I get it.  This music would (and does) annoy the living hell out of me if I just sat here and listened to it for any extended period of time.  It is derivative and predictable and annoying.  However, like the Griz show I loved last year at ACL, it looks like they just steal the best bits from other people's tracks ("Under the Bridge," "Antidote," or "Shut Up and Dance With Me," they are equal opportunity gankers) and make it into a huge, really fun dance party of drop after drop after drop.  You just need to go there and let it all out.  For example, I'd never purposefully listen to a generic techno remix of Blink 182's "Miss You," but when its among 10,000 sweaty, drug-addled teenagers, you'll just want to let go and party along. Some of works: the drop at 1:56 (or 49:56 or 51:50) would send you into shakes and shivers while you jump as hard as humanly possible; then some of it craps the bed: the drop at 13:29 to end "Panda" is terrible.  He did tell people not to support Donald Trump, so he might be smarter than I thought.

I'm also genuinely curious about what the two bros are doing up there.  Other than screaming "FUCK!" and climbing onto the console over and over.  They both touch knobs and little sliders repeatedly as though that is changing the music. They have like 8 little fake turntable things up there that I don't recall them touching. They both repeatedly put on and then almost immediately take off big earphones around their necks.  Do they actually need to be there?  I think not.

How about just the studio tunes?  Pretty generic.  I definitely think the live tunes you can hear up there are significantly better than the stuff they have available to hear on Spotify. No real albums, just a bunch of singles and remixes of those singles.  By the way, they have a song called "#SELFIE." I think they should legally be required to light themselves on fire for creating that track.  Here is their most popular track (with a mind-boggling 342.2 million streams on Spotify) called "Roses." [BTW, up to 1.443 BILLION streams in 2026]

I like that girl's voice, but the song is a yawner.  They have another song with 238.3 million streams ("Don't Let Me Down") [now up to 2.462 BILLION streams in 2026, holy hell!], then one with 46.1 million ("Kanye") [only up to 123 million in 2026] but then everything else is down lower in number of streams.  Still though, that is a crapton of streams, showing that they are insanely popular with the kids who stream things.  And just so you have to suffer through this same thing, here is #SELFIE [282.1 million streams in 2026]:

Death to Smoochie.  So, then the question is, would I go see them play live.  I think the answer is probably yes.  Their live show looks like a lot of fun.  I still don't see them as a big "get," as I think any number of similar artists could create that same vibe of a show, but if I learned anything from last year's ACL, it is that despite not understanding EDM music or its popularity, if you just go in the middle of the kids and jump around and have some fun, it is contagiously awesome.  Now, I'm not going to skip most other headliners to go watch this, but if they are up against Kygo or LCD, I may go fire it up.

So, since that take up above, these guys have continued to churn out MASSIVELY popular singles.  Their top five most popular songs on Spotify all have more than a billion streams.  Which is nuts.  That is Drake and Taylor Swift type numbers.  In addition to those songs noted above, you would also have "Closer," featuring Halsey, with 3.8 BILLION, "Something Just Like This," with Coldplay, with 3.7 BILLION, and then "Paris" with 1.5 billion.  I ran through those, and now am running through the newer tunes in their catalog, and it is still just as uninspiring as it was ten years ago.  Somewhat hilariously, to me at least, they have a three-track single of "The Fate of Ophelia" that includes a Chainsmoker's remix, the original, and then an acoustic version, and while the original has 1.5 billion streams, the remix (ostensibly the reason for this single to exist) has only 20 million listens.  That is funny.

I never dug into who the guys were way back when.  This is Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, although originally it was Pall and another DJ named Rhett Bixler.  Too bad for Bixler that he missed out on the money train!  They started out just remixing other people's songs, and then started making their own crap, and by now they have won a Grammy and a bunch of other jenkier awards like the iHeart Radio awards or American Music Awards.  In 2019, they were the highest paid DJs in the world.  When asked about the name: "Pall replied that, "At the time of conception, it was... it was totally just like I was in college. You know I enjoyed smoking weed and you know it was just like such a 'yeah the domain's open'. I don't have to have any, like, underscores." Taggart added "It's just a name.""  Shows how much he cares.

The 2026 EP called Love is Kind, which features something called Oaks (which I guess is the woman singing?), is very generic and no song breaks ten million streams.

Normally, I'd obviously be a hard no to see EDM, but this year, you really don't have a choice unless you want big gaps in your day.  Dunno, man.

Turnstile

One Liner:  One of my favorite recent bands - a little hardcore, a lot awesome

Wikipedia Genre:  Hardcore punk, melodic hardcore, alternative rock

Home: Baltimore, MD

Poster Position: TOP Quarter - Line 2
Both Weekends
Day and Time.

[location]

Thoughts: ABOUT FLIPPING TIME!!!

I have been beating the drum for these guys to be on this poster for years.  I am very glad that C3 stopped being scared after the Astroworld thing and invited a band that will create mosh pits again.

In 2022, I made an entire post about their album GLOW ON.  As I mentioned, in here, I rarely do an entire post about one album, but this one was badass enough to do just that:

It has been a really long time since I've had an album where I wanted to spend the time to just write a post all about that album and that album alone.  Might have been a Sturgill album a few years back.  But this album has wormed its way into my brain in a way that made me want to dive deep.

Turnstile is a hardcore punk band from Baltimore.  Normally, I'd never be a huge fan of a hardcore punk band.  I tried to get in to some of the old classics - Bad Brains or Minor Threat, among others - but it's never stuck.  I liked some Black Flag or Henry Rollins, and found a few things in the periphery of hardcore, like Fugazi, that appealed.  These guys have some of those ultra-hard sounds, but to me they are more catchy and harmonic.  There is a real groove underlying these tunes.  Check "Underwater Boi" and the funk groove at the start that then turns into chunky riffage.

The album kicks off with "Mystery," that first song above, which is a blast of loud and soft parts driven forward by some pounding drums.  Love when the bass pushes to the front and starts working it out.  And then the spaceship takes off at the end before "Blackout" pushes its way in.  These songs feel like they were written solely for me to scream them at the top of my lungs while a bunch of younger people shove their elbows into my ribs to make room for their pogo dance.  The drumming has a cool sound in this one, almost gives an eighties party vibe.  And when the song drops out and then ramps back up into a slow-aggro banger, I definitely feel the need to enter the pit.  "Don't Play" reminds me of early Red Hot Chili Peppers, from the opening freakout to the shrill guitar solo.  The thing about most of these tunes - they're aggressive and loud and fast hardcore songs, and yet they are also tuneful and melodic and catchy as hell.  Somehow, the album keeps building too, because "Holiday" (5th song) is a freaking jam of crunchy riffage and a beat that must be slam danced along with.  It also drops out and disappears for a bit in the middle before roaring back with a vengeance.  The album opener is the top streamer, but "Holiday" is right behind it with 7.8 million streams on Spotify [now up to 49.9 million].

That quiet intro, met with the fist of the riffage, is hard.  But there is still so much musicality and harmony here, it's not just a pure hardcore anger bomb.  And maybe that means these guys aren't as accepted in the hardcore world now, because their tunes can translate to me as a power-pop dance bomb in addition to screaming high-speed freakouts.  Either way, I'm digging it.

What?  A tiny desk!

Ben Folds looking mofo back there behind that mic and organ.  That breakdown at the end of "Endless" is freaking dope!  "TLC"'s call-out to Sly and the Family Stone is also dope.  Great performance, I'd love to see this stuff live.  Feels like it would be totally unhinged fun with a few short moments of sleepy chill like "Alien Love Call."

Also, go watch this freaking thing:

I've got goosebumps up and down my arms.  That freaking dude slays and makes the whole backbone for the band.  I want to scream along to that song in a big crowd immediately.

Cool disc.  Hopefully they'll be tagged in to play a show in Austin sometime soon and I can go severely damage my back while trying to dance with the kids.

Which then happened!  Here is my review of seeing them at Stubb's later in 2022:

I was really looking forward to this show, and for the most part it provided everything I needed from it.  If you don't know Turnstile, I'm not terribly surprised, as they are kind of in a niche right now as rock continues to contract away from the mainstream.  But they are very hot among the rock/punk/hardcore folks, and this show was sold out in a heartbeat.

The key thing here is that their new album is amazing.  Just a perfect blast of anger and catchy guitar riffs and joyous singing.  It's like if Weezer or Fall Out Boy was a lot more angry and loud.  And so I felt exceedingly out of place in the crowd - taller and older and significantly less pierced and tattooed than everyone else there.  But the show freaking jammed.  Just loud and fun and exuberant.  And hot and humid and freaking packed with humans.  The one plus about this being an all ages show though?  There must have been a lot of 11pm curfews because the floor cleared out around 10:30 and gave me more room to not get bounced around.

There were so many pits at first, and then a big ass one opened in the middle of the main section in front of the sound stage.  I was about four people outside of it, and was glad for that buffer because I still had to hold my ground for the first few songs.  Much more violent than you see in that video up above of Lolla Brazil or something.  And while I didn't get fully engulfed there, I was close enough so that my slight pogo-ing and fist pumping looked to be a part of the melee.

Pretty sure they played every song from Glow On, and each one was rad.  "TLC," "Blackout," "Mystery," "Don't Play," or "Holiday," they all jammed.  But then the weird moment of the night was when they came out for their encore, and just fired right back in to "Mystery," as though we had not just heard that same song 30 minutes before.  It ruled, yet again, but it was really odd that they hadn't planned an encore song and held one back for that moment.  Great show though.  Was hoping they'd be coming to ACL.

[oh, and I forgot to mention, I saw two of the opening acts.  I don't understand, in the slightest, what the word "hardcore" even means when it comes to musical genre.  Ceremony was kinda awesome, but it also felt like I was watching a disco and new wave band fronted by Henry Rollins.  The other one, Citizen, also vascilated between screaming, breakneck punk and new wave 80's sounds.  Very confusing...but fun!]

Just re-reading that is already getting me psyched up to see them again.  They came back through Austin recently, but were playing the Moody Ampitheater, which sounds like a terrible venue to me because of all of the permanently attached seats in front of the stage.  How you gonna mosh and party in seats?  So, I missed out on that show.

Before I get into the rest of music, let's do some history.  They started out as just straight hardcore punk, sprouting out of Baltimore's scene.  They released an album, got to tour with a bunch of bands I have never heard of, and opened for New Found Glory (which seems funny to me).  But it wasn't until GLOW ON in 2021 that the world noticed - universal acclaim, #8 on Rolling Stone's Best 50 albums of 2021, and two Grammy nominations (no wins).  At the same time, the band kicked out founding guitarist Brady Ebert.  At the time, the drummer had filed something against Ebert, but it was dismissed later.  Which is probably not good, since in April 2026, Ebert was charged with second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault after intentionally hitting the lead singer's 79-year old dad with his car.  he is now facing potential life in prison.  NOT THAT HARDCORE, BRADY!!

But, before all of the attempted murderation, they released NEVER ENOUGH, which again was praised by critics, hit #9 on the US charts, and received three Grammy noms.  That made them the first band ever to be nominated in the rock, alternative, and metal categories in the same year (which also shows how freaking stupid the Grammy voters are).  They won Best Metal Performance for "BIRDS" and Best Rock Album for the whole disc.

Here is my review of that newer album, 2025's NEVER ENOUGH, with an intro that again includes a Tiny Desk show (but this time the real Tiny Desk and not the jenky At Home ones from the pandemic:

I know I'm about to talk about them and all, but I just really want for you to watch this Tiny Desk concert and not come away from it affected.  I love them, so maybe I am biased, but when they show the actual crowd moshing and he desk dives into them, I got goosebumps all over my body.

So great.  I am deeply sad that I missed their show last night at Moody Amp, but all I could think about the concert was how I would absolutely need to be in the front little section and not in the boring ass seated area, and I missed out on that section to buy tickets.  Oh well.

Turnstile - NEVER ENOUGH.  My personal opinion is that this album is not as strong as the last one, but it is still exceedingly enjoyable.  I am in this thing called Music League, wherein the participants are required to nominate two songs per round that they think match the theme for the round - covers, hip hop, women in country, metal, etc. - with the stated goal (from the guy who set it up) being all about finding new music.  Unfortunately, the old white dudes in this league can't seem to comprehend that, and so, for example, the hip hop week was all 80's/90's classics that are not new to anyone.  But, one week the theme was something like - Best Songs You Have Enjoyed This Week - and I wanted to add a Turnstile song to it because I had been jamming this album.  I chose the title track, and I now think that was a mistake.  I got no (or very few votes), and I think two major things go against the song.  First, there is a long and somewhat uninteresting intro and outro to it that detracts from the fun power of the tune.  Second, there is pretty much just one verse and then he says the title to the song 387 times.  So, while that would be big fun to mosh to, it's not as cool of a song to bring to a pack of music snobs trying to show why it is an excellent new song.  And so then, thinking more about what song I should have used, it dawned on me that these songs jam and make me want to put a fist through the wall, but the lyricism is not going to have them nominated for any Pulitzers.  Like, "Light Design" has four lines and then they just say "Light Design" forty-eight times.  Is he in love with the art director for their stages?  Anyway, top track is that title song, but I'm going to give you "BIRDS" instead, with 12.3 million streams [now up to 30 million]. (this video actually gives you a double shot - "SEEIN' STARS" and "BIRDS"  Lucky you.

Loogit that drummer go to town in the buildup to this song!  I need to go find video of last night's show to see if people stage dove.  I have goose bumps watching these people go crazy during this song.  So rad.  Other odd thing that keeps popping into my head as I listen are some weird throwback items that make me feel like I am hearing things.  "Light Design" and SEEIN STARS both evoke old Police songs to me - not sure if that is a legit feeling, but "SEEIN' STARS" definitely sounds like I've got "When the World is Running Down" vibes.  "LOOK OUT FOR ME" starts like a Rush song from the mid-90's, maybe "Show Don't Tell"?  Maybe I should make "DULL" the theme song of my blog - IM GOING DULL!  IM GOING DULL!  Because there really is a ringing when you talk to me, usually.  My right ear just zings along all the time now.  Wheee!  Love it, and will definitely keep the disc in my playlist!

The thing that I had not done much here was to go back into the catalog.  They have four older albums/EPs - 2011's Pressure to Succeed, 2013's Step to Rhythm, 2016's Nonstop Feeling, and 2018's Time & Space.  They are definitely less tuneful and more hardcore/screamo on those, but Time & Space shows an evolving style.  The "woooh woooh's" on the title track, and then I caught a groove on "Can't Get Away," so that you can hear where they are headed.  And that being said, I am still sitting here at my desk, entering time, and bobbing my head furiously to the thick riffage on the 2016 album.  But the first disc is much grimier.  Like, the title track sounds sort of like Helmet and Metallica met up to try to play a punk song.

100%, this may be the thing I am most excited to see at the whole weekend.  Depending on the schedule, I may go camp out.

Fancy Hagood (2026)

One Liner: A pop & country mix that leans a little into Leon Bridges-style soul pop
Wikipedia Genre: pop, country
Home: Nashville (via Bentonville, Arkansas)

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 16
Day: 
Weekend One Only.

stage and time

Thoughts: C'mon y'all.  This guy was here last year.  he has three new singles since then, none of which appear all that popular.  Why can't we get new artists for the Fest?

Jake Hagood was raised in Bentonville, Arkansas, the home of Walmart and a bunch of great mountain biking trails.  After high school, he moved to Nashville to attend something called Trevecca Nazarene University.  "Fancy" was a nickname given to him by his co-workers at Forever 21 during this time.  He was performing around town during his college time, until he was discovered by Scooter Braun, the guy that all Swifties hate.  He dropped out of college to hit the music thing full-time.

He was originally known as Who is Fancy, in a sort of campaign to make himself be viral or something.  The campaign to make him a thing involved his first single being released anonymously.  They released a series of psuedo music videos featuring actors lip synching to the song, and the single reached #29 on the Billboard Mainstream chart.  WHO IS FANCY?!?!?  

How weird, to be the singer of that song, and then see your video featuring some little Bieberite lip-synching your voice.  That dude's vibe annoys me for sure.  I like it better knowing it is a chunky Arkansasian than that scrawny little model.

A few months later, Hagood "finally" released his identity on a Jimmy Fallon appearance.  Funny to me that it was a mystery for all of four months.  His second single, performed on Dancing With the Stars along with Meghan Trainor and Ariana Grande in 2016, failed to chart, and so the evil Scooter Braun dumped his ass.  After some time, he relaunched himself as Fancy Hagood in 2020 with an initial single and some new genres including country, "confessional pop," and glam rock.  I'd say that the sound on the two albums aims more directly to the country sound in my estimation.

His first album available on Spotify is 2021's Southern Curiosity.  They've just erased the prior music from Spotify associated with his initial attempt to launch.  This album feels less like a country thing though.  Maybe country adjacent, but it's more like a subdued Sam Smith - he's not quite belting pop ballads, but it feels like he is right below that level here.  The top track is called "Forest," with 9.5 million streams.  Only one other song gets above a million, just as a measure on numbers for this album.

That one comes on sort of like a Lord Huron track with the vocal delivery, before the chorus at least.  We used to have a trunk like that in my house growing up.  Always had the dress up clothes in it, which was entertaining.  I wonder what Fancy has in his forest trunk?  Very pretty song though.  The title song is very good too - a little more rollicking and powerful with the full choir involved.

After that album, a few singles, and then a fun covers EP from 2024 called Smothered, Covered & Fried (a Waffle House reference that works just perfectly).  Mostly country, except for "Landslide," but not the kind of country classics that I would expect here.  i.e. not Waylon and Willie and Dolly, instead you get The Pistol Annies, Shania Twain, Little Big Town, and Eli Young Band covers.  It is an enjoyable detour.  His tune with Kacey Musgraves, "Blue Dream Baby" is too disco pop for my tastes.

2025's American Spirit is a fun combination of country and soulful pop.  It almost sounds like the new Leon Bridges album at multiple points.  Not much in the way of streams for that new disc, I guess people aren't getting his schtick anymore.  The track featuring Michelle Branch is the top streamer, which feels like it can't be the one I offer up here.  So, this is "Through," the top track otherwise.  132k streams.

Feels kind of like the kind of guy who won American Idol and is putting our his tentative foray into Country because his coach was the country guy.  His voice feels ready to belt out something at any given moment.

This is fine.  Really good voice, kind of unremarkable songs though.  I like the newer album more, but that is sort of faint praise.  I've gone through it all a few times and while my general vibe is that I like it, I don't know that I would choose him if he was up against something more interesting.

Max McNown

One Liner:  A measure of cheesy country and an equal measure of scrubbed-up folk

Wikipedia Genre:  Country, folk rock, Americana

Home: Nashville (now, originally from Bend, OR)

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 23
Both Weekends.
Day and Time.

[location]

Thoughts:  So, he is on the poster for Bourbon and Beyond as well, and my review of him for that was not great.  He somehow gets top billing by being up on the 4th line, and yet I had never heard of him until listening to B&B.

My initial reaction to his first few songs was very negative - cheesy Nashville crap-ola - but if you just let his tunes roll for a while, you get through the TikTok bait and into something a little less awful?  Like, "Better Me For You (Brown Eyes)" just feels plodding and manufactured for clicks and singalongs where the crowd is holding up their cell phones with flashlight on.

Funny thing, when I read his name, I was like "wasn't that a quarterback for the Bears?"  Close.  Cade McNown, this kid's uncle, was drafted by the Bears in the first round in 1999 (and only played there for 2 years).  Why does my brain retain these things?

But I just turned on his music again (now in July), and his second most popular song is a deeply cursed EDM song with Kygo that makes me want to die.  Like, awful lyrics, terrible vibes, just an awful experience.

Two albums - 2024's Wandering (Love Me Back), which includes the most streamed tune, and 2025's Night Driving, which includes the "Brown Eyes" track - many EPs, and some singles.  Honestly a lot of music (although a lot of these are repeats).

His most streamed tune has a Marcus-Mumford-covering-a-Noah-Cyrus-song vibe.  "A Lot More Free" has 313.1 million streams.

A little stomp and clap, a little whistle, and you've got a hit.  "World Change Me" sounds like a song featured on Yellowstone (non-complimentary).  And earlier when I said something more real, I'm not saying it is the greatest music I have ever heard, but kind of what Noah Kahan could sound like if he had an army of producers and songwriters at his side.  Like, "Bury Me in my Hometown" is a little trite, but I don't hate it.  And the Both Sides of the Blade EP, from 2025, is pretty nice.  And then I hear a recent single ("First Born Daughter") and it's not even country, just bad pop.  I really don't like it.

Feels like the country lovers really got the shaft this year on this poster.  If this is the best they get, then I guess they will come out to watch him, but I'll be somewhere else I think.

Labrinth (2026)

One Liner:  Squawky, glitchy R&B with infrequent forays into rap-ish squawks.  Squawk.

Wikipedia Genre:  R&B, hip hop, electronic, grime, soul, pop, rock, funk

Home: London

Poster Position: Top Quarter, Line 2 
Both Weekends.
Stage and time.

Thoughts:  Last here in 2023.  Has somehow released five albums in the three years since then, which seems either to show that he has an insane pace or that he just shoves out half-baked crap.  Unclear which.

Appears that he made the soundtrack for the HBO show Euphoria.  My middle kid watched that show long before she would have been allowed to watch that show, and in order to do so she would create a new login for HBO Max each day, watch a few episodes, and then delete that login.  I only discovered it because HBO kept telling me that the next episode for me to watch was named whatever.  So, I looked over at the wife, and was like, "are you watching the druggy teenagers boning show?" and she was like "what are you talking about."  So, we figured out that the kid was sneaky.  Since then, the younger kid has also watched it, so now my children probably know everything about everything.  Cool Cool.

Instant read on this is that this is horrible music.  This maybe going up against Geese and the Chainsmokers is like trying to pick whether it is better to get pooped on by a cat, a racoon, or a possum.  What even is this?  It feels like a joke - like someone is playing a joke on me by saying this is a headliner at ACL.  I'm listening to "Mount Everest" right now and the guy is just squawking for like a minute.  What is happening.  I'll give you the most popular tune first, this one was from Euphoria.  "Formula" with 1.1 BILLION streams.

Squeaky R&B is apparently what the people want.  Also, it feels like a partial song, like he was planning to flesh it out later and actually have a full song, but then forgot to slow down the lyrics and make it a full song and his manager just went ahead and uploaded it as incomplete.  So dumb.

I think it just has to be that he is associated with Euphoria, and it was a huge show for the young people.  I can't understand any other reason that this makes sense for this to almost be a headliner.

Wikipedia claims that he is a rapper, which I find interesting.  Maybe those are further down in his song list, because so far this feels like an SNL skit of someone trying to make fun of The Weeknd.  Real name is Tomothy Lee McKenzie.  In addition to releasing these songs on his own, he also made the supergroup LSD that included Sia and Diplo.  Again with the Diplo collaborators for ACL.  When he was young, he and his eight siblings formed a band called Mac 9.  I'm guessing that was unsuccessful.  He got his solo start by producing music for others, and even since making his own music he has still been getting credits with big names like Beyonce, Rihanna, Kanye West, Eminem, and The Weeknd.

His third biggest streamer is from a 2014 EP, and it is the best thing I have heard out of his discography so far.  No generic beat or weird, off-putting sounds, just a John Legend-ass piano track.  "Jealous," with 855.1 million streams.

That is lovely.  Literally a million times better than the newer crap he has released.  Really great voice.  That song is legit, but when you listen to the more recent stuff in the catalog, you can tell that he left the nice sounding stuff in the dust.  Oh Lordy, on "Forever," he is doing those same little squawks forever.  Why is that a thing for him?  Why isn't he actually a cool rapper?  So many times in his tracks he just yelps and squawks and makes weird noises.  Why?

Let's try the 2023 album - Ends and Begins - the top track on that one is called "Never Felt So Alone."  438.5 million streams. (and some that don't even crack 5 million on that disc?  Weird)

Sleepy track turns into blurted little words over the same sleepy beat.  I still just don't get why this is popular.  I'm trying to imagine the experience of standing in a huge crowd at the T-Mobile stage and just grooving along with this meandering thing while he stands by a laptop and yelps little blurted words at a crowd of kids.  My kids seem to think this is one of the big rap acts they'll get on the poster, but it just feels like they are going to be deeply disappointed if they are expecting a hype show.

Because I signed up for this crap, I need to check out some of the new discs too.  2025's Prelude is kind of EDM plus R&B?  Luckily it is only 15 minutes long.  2026's COSMIC OPERA ACT I caught me grooving a little bit to "IMPLOSION," another kind of R&B/rap thing, but with a pretty hard beat behind it.  ACT II didn't hit the same way.  I have no clue why this is a thing.  Welcome to ACL 2026.

Houndmouth (2026)

One Liner: Shaggy southern rock goodness.

Wikipedia Genre: Alternative country, indie rock, folk rock, Americana
Home: Indiana

Poster Position: 9
Day: Sunday at 5:00
Both Weekends.

Thoughts:  Here in 2015 and 2018.  I love these guys.  Saw them when they came through in 2015, and it was a great show.  High energy, real deal rock and roll.  Can't recall if I saw it in 2018 too, but expect I did?

They formed in 2011, playing gigs around Kentucky and Indiana before showing up at SXSW to promote their first EP.  The head of Rough Trade was in the audience and offered them a contract soon thereafter.  Spin and Esquire named Houndmouth a "must-see" band at Lollapalooza, and Garden & Gun said, "You'd be hard pressed to find a more effortless, well-crafted mix of roots and rock this year than the debut album from this Louisville quartet.  Pretty high praise!

But it was their second album - Little Neon Limelight - that blew up - mainly because their top single is on there   Excellent jammy, country-tinged rock.  One of those groups (like Of Monsters & Men or Lumineers) where it seems like ten people are singing on half of the tracks.  But these tunes hop into a groove and rock it with short-ish (almost everything under 4 minutes) jams.  Also reminds me of Bright Light Social Hour, which I dig.  Fun music.  "Sedona" is a great track, I still hear it from time to time in playlists and on the radio.  321.7 million streams.

I like the lines about your neon glowing brighter, a "Saturday night kind of pink."  They have a lot of party tunes that should be great live, and a few slower burners that are also good.  But that song there has gone platinum in the US and reached #1 on the AAA Chart

2018's Golden Age starts with about 40 seconds of silence, and then eases you into a slightly cleaner sound.  Still good rock and roll, but a little less shaggy, more produced.  Less roots, more pop.  Also, did the female vocalist leave?  Didn't they have a female on the old songs?  Yes, Wikipedia says that Katie Toupin left the band in 2016, so now its just three dudes.  That is too bad, I liked her harmonies, made the band a little different than the usual sausage party.

These tunes are pretty good - you can run through the album repeatedly in quick fashion because its only 10 songs and 36 minutes.  The top track is "This Party," with a sentiment of wishing you could escape.  3.6 million streams (sooooo far below the big hit).

Hear that?  Not a roots rock song, but still a pretty solid rock and roll tune.  Danceable, catchy, good groove.  Makes me think of Spoon.

"Waiting for the Night" sounds kinda like a Strokes vibe.  "Modern Love" hews a little closer to the classic sound, acoustic guitars and harmonies.  Well, then they have a weird ending to the song with robot vocals and spooky synths.  Otherwise, nice tune.  "Coast to Coast" uses a beat piece that I associate with the Beastie Boys, which is attractive to me, but now I need to dig into where that actually came from.  Oh, no, wait, that is an Eagles song!  "Those Shoes."  Aw yeah!  That is kinda tight.  1.4 million streams.

"'cause I'mma high, plains, drifta."  Such a tight beat.  Makes a cool groove on that tune.  But I think the easiest comparison on this album is to Spoon.  Most of the album sounds like their recent tunes.

Their most recent disc is 2021's Good for You.  That one sort of has Wilco vibes to me.  The top track on there is "McKenzie" with 34.8 million streams.

Nice tune, and the back scenes footage of the guys makes them seem like fun dudes.  I also note that they continue to like songs with place names as the title, as this album has an "Ohio" and a "Las Vegas" to go with "Sedona" and "Houston Train" and "Come on, Illinois" and "Halfway to Hardinsburg" on prior albums.

I have to admit that I prefer the old tunes to the new album, but I'd still go see these guys do their thing again.  They are definitely the best band I have heard on this poster in a few days.

Rusowsky

One Liner:  Latin Trap seems like genre to avoid

Wikipedia Genre:  reggaeton, Latin trap, R&B, experimental, bedroom pop

Home: Valladolid, Spain

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 8.
Both Weekends. 
Day and Time.

[location]

Thoughts:  Not trying to be rude, but I literally was about to start doing some other task at work, noticed the sounds coming from my speakers, said "I gotta get this thing done and move on," and then involuntarily shivered like I had tasted bad sushi.  I'm going to say that this is like if Bad Bunny did techno?  I don't pay attention to either of those genres, so that could be entirely off, but it makes sense to me.

Ruslan Mediavilla is from Spain, and Wikipedia claims that he explores: "underground and avant-garde genres such as bedroom pop, R&B, reggaeton, techno, hip hop and even jazz."  He began his musical training by the age of four at the music school run by his mother, who was a member of a Belarusian folk group.  He also studied piano at a professional conservatory.  The background of the name here is that it combines his nickname of "Rus" with the name of the little green dude from Monsters, Inc.  Which, uh, sure.

Lots of singles until his one album, DAISY, from 2025.  "MalibU" is his top track with 108.7 million streams.

I was thinking 'bout you, BIROMBA.  A little English, a lot of Spanish.  I don't care for it.  I am about to go vacation in Costa Rica, so maybe I need to download this to my phone so that we can roll down the windows of the rental and look legit as we cruise around the hard streets of some fancy beach resort.

His second biggest streamer is a 2022 single called "mwah :3".  I have looked at that and thought through the meaning of that song title and nothing I can come up with makes me more comfortable than what I first considered.  67 million streams.

Dammit.  Now I am getting AT&T commercials en Espanol before these videos.  Doing this blog jacks up my algorithms so much.  I will not be going out of my way to hear what this fella can do with underground and avant-garde genres...

Left Lucid

One Liner:  More EDM stuff!  Woohoo!

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but this is EDM, house

Home: Austin

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 24
Weekend One Only.
Date/Time

[location]

Thoughts:  Lotsa Austin artists down here in the bottom dregs of the poster.  This is the alias of local DJ and producer Lucas Ogden.  HIs tiny bio says the following: "While he has been a musician since his early childhood, he began producing music in his college dorm room. He soon after ventured to Los Angeles to attend Icon Collective to continue to hone his craft. Drawing inspiration from the likes of ODESZA and Flume to name a few, he aims to create continuity and a recognizable sound from seemingly different sounding tracks."  I love that first bit - was he dropping sick beats as a toddler?  Or does this mean he got piano lessons like everyone else when he was young?

I went down a rabbit hole about the Icon Collective as well: "Icon Collective was a premier Los Angeles-based music production and artist development school, notable for shaping the careers of major electronic dance music (EDM) artists. Founded in 2005, the school operated a physical campus in Burbank/LA and offered online programs, focusing on "the artist mindset" rather than just technical audio engineering."  It was also apparently called the MIT of Bass Music.  Suuuuuure.  It closed suddenly in 2025 due to financial difficulties.  Because anyone could make these songs using Claude?

About ten total songs on Spotify - no albums, no EPs, just singles - and several of the early ones have very few streams.  But his 2025 single called "keeping u close" boasts an impressive 439k streams.

When he said he aims to create a recognizable sound, did he just mean that it would sound like every other house musician ever?  Because mission accomplished.  I'm being rude - I am sure that this set, in the little Tito's tent, would be a perfectly enjoyable and sweaty start to the day.

His other top streamer is "247" with 183k streams.

Man, those old school calculators with the printout feature were a good time when I was little.  Trying to get it to write amazingly cool stuff like 80085, and then leaving it behind for the owner to find it?  Height of hilarity.  But yeah, another EDM song that sounds like all the other EDM songs to me.  I would not go out of my way for this one.

Lola Young (2026)

One Liner:  Strong voiced Brit singing hard-edged and confessional pop

Wikipedia Genre:  Pop, R&B, Soul

Home: Croydon, UK

Poster Position: Top Line - 2 (up from line 16 in 2024!)
Both Weekends.
Date/Time

[location]

Thoughts: Welp, another one who was just here in 2024.  I guess there just aren't any other artists out there so we need to see the same things over and over...

This is not the first Lola Young that comes up on Wikipedia, who is the Baroness Young of Hornsey, and a British actress, author, crossbench peer, and Chancellor of the University of Nottingham.  Instead, this is a gal who alternatively reminds me of both Amy Winehouse and Billie Eilish.  Her Wikipedia is pretty useless.  I know she is English and was born 1/4/01 and that she was nominated for the Brit Award for Rising Star in 2021 and then placed fourth in 2022 in the BBC Sound of... competition.  In an interview, she claimed to have more shoes than brain cells.

Four albums - 2019's Intro, 2023's My Mind Wanders and Sometimes Leaves Completely, 2024's This Wasn't Meant for You Anyway, and 2026's I'm Only F**king Myself.  My normal reaction to a pop star who reminds me of Eilish would be to tell you that I hate this, but instead, I have actually enjoyed listening to it.  The backing music is a little funkier and harder, and her voice can sometimes do the annoying whispery shit, but can also belt in an appealing way.  I guess I now see why she is already back to the 'Fest, because one of the tracks on the 2024 album blew up in a massive way.  Like, dwarfing all other songs in the catalog for sure.  "Messy" fires up 1.1 BILLION streams.  I guess this struck a chord on TikTok.

It used to weird me out if I hadn't ever heard a major hit, but now it feels semi-normal to realize that the kids are jamming things that never cross my space.  But I can see the teenagers doing stuff with this one about being too messy or too clean or whatever.  I actually like it.  And listening to the whole album, this just really sounds familiar to me.  

Her top single from that 2023 album, this is "Don't Hate Me," with 43 million streams.

Her lips are so ridiculously full.  Like Jennifer Lawrence playing Roseanne Barr.  Almost a rap track, but I'm definitely grooving on it.  The second most streamed tune is a single that came out after the albums, "Conceited," with 99.8 million streams.

That is the one that feels even more like Eilish/Winehouse crossover.  But in her own way - she's not exactly like either of those but just flashes it here and there.  "Wish You Were Dead" is pretty solid too, with a well-written look at a shit relationship.

Then the newest album also works pretty well.  "SPIDERS" makes me think of Olivia Rodrigo with the rock and roll edge and confessional lyrics.  I honestly came here to bag on this, thinking that I would tear it up for being another repeat visitor doing nothing but generic pop music, and then I found myself really enjoying it.  She has some swagger and good lyrics and its not just a vacuous pop money grab thing.  I might go see it.

Bridgette Calls Me Baby

One Liner: 'member The Smiths? I 'member...
Wikipedia Genre: Pop rock, alternative rock
Home: Chicago

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 8
Day: ???
Both Weekends.

[location].

Thoughts:  Fascinating.  Over the years, there have been a lot of throwback 80's sounds, but I can't recall one off the top of my head that is so distinct.  These dudes sound exactly like The Smiths.  Well, I say that as someone who just sorta knows the hits from the Smiths.  I am not a deeply rooted Smiths connoisseur, so maybe this just sounds like what a Casual Smiths Guy thinks the Smiths sound like?  I am so intrigued as to why someone would make music like this in 2026.  Also, the song that just came on sounds like Orville Peck.  And his voice can also sound like Brandon Flowers at times.  Those two should take the stage together and blow minds.

The lead singer, Wes Leavins, says that the name for the band comes from a pen-pal relationship he had with French film star Bridgette Bardot when he was in high school.  That is so weird, it is bound to be true, but how odd.  Was she really writing him back, or does she have an agent who handles that?  What in the world did they talk about?  Anyway, the lead singer grew up in Texas, but then moved to Chicago to star as Elvis in a musical called Million Dollar Quartet, which "stars" Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash.  Odd quartet, in my opinion.  But, that job got him noticed by Baz Luhrmann and he was going to be the voice of Elvis in the 2022 biopic (which I thought kind of sucked) until Baz realized that Austin Butler could do the voice.  Initially, Wes had a band called Juvenescent, and some of those band members came over to BCMB.  Since then, they have opened for Muse and, in a perfect circle moment, Morissey.

Two albums - 2024's The Future is Our Way Out and 2026's Irreversible.  No songs have more than 2 million streams, so the Morissey-style crooning is not catching on with the hip kids.  Top streamer is "We Were Never Alive" from the first disc.  1.5 million streams.

Loogit the hair on that synth player!  Impressive.  Funny that a dude from Texas could sound a smidge British like that as he croons.  On the new disc, I kind of like the instrumentation of some of the songs, for example, the guitar jangle in "The Early Days of Love" makes me think of early REM (with Morrisey singing...).  The top track on that disc is "Slumber Party" with 1.2 million streams.

Interesting, at least to me, that their most streamed songs are the ones that go harder on the instrumentation.  Not like hard rock or anything, but both of these more streamed songs are definitely danceable rock.  Versus that jangly cruiser I mentioned above that has 97k streams.

I doubt I would do this show, but it could be the best option we have?

Calder Allen (2026)

One Liner:  Poor man's Ryan Bingham with a good pedigree

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but I'll go with Americana

Home: Austin

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 15 
Both Weekends.
day?

[location].

Thoughts:  His third trip to ACL - 2021 and 2024 - they are really trying to make "fetch" happen.  As you can tell from the post that I wrote back in '21, he was not on anyone's radar at the time:

"We've reached the part of the poster where the band doesn't even have Spotify.  Not a good sign.  There is something called Calder the Band, but that doesn't seem anything like Calder Allen.  On YouTube, a search for Calder Allen brings up a dude who looks like he might still be in high school.  His two uploaded videos are a Spanish project and a video about Slope and Direct Variation, that must have been for a math class that I long ago forgot about.  Calder caught a nice fish one time.  I tried "Calder Allen musician," and got this video of two children singing in a church?

Not bad!  But nothing else on YouTube appears to reflect the sounds that this artist plans to make for us at ACL.  The internet tells me only this: "Calder Allen, who comes from a talented family: he's the grandson of Terry & Jo Harvey Allen, son of Bale Creek Allen, and nephew of Bukka Allen."  Okey doke!  Seems like, if he were so damn talented, that he'd have his music available on the Internet for people to hear!"

But since then, he's become more of a thing.  The Chronicle wrote about his debut at ACL, and it was obvious then that he had a musically famous family that other unknown ACL artists do not.  "Calder Allen debuted at last fall’s ACL Fest with an all-star band that included Charlie Sexton [Arc Angels, his own solo stuff], Martie Maguire [The Chicks!], Glenn Fukunaga [apparently Austin's premier bassist for 50 years], and his uncle Bukka Allen [has played with Terry Allen, Ian Moore, Joe Ely, Robert Earl Keen, Jack Ingram, Ryan Bingham, The Bodeans, Courtyard Hounds and Joe Walsh]."  I mean, his dad wrote "Amarillo Highway," so this dude is set up for success.

Well, now he has some music on Spotify for the world to hear.  2022 was a big year: Stone EP, Shine EP, Show Me The Way EP, and then the album The Game.  All of the songs that were on the EPs are also on the album, so I guess this was just a slow roll out of the singles.  And strangely, the top song sounds familiar.  Feels like something I heard on a TV show.  "Good Times" has 1.5 million streams.

He's like an ad for Austin with his multiple Howler Brothers hats and shirts and Yeti gear and Continental Club shots.  He is literally wearing two Howler Brothers shirts at the same time in one of those shots.  I mean, I'd take the sponsorship money too!  His album makes me think of Ryan Bingham - low key musically and a solid, if unremarkable, voice.  Actually, I guess it is in the same vein as Zach Bryan as well.  

Since that one, he has released 2024's poorly punctuated Dreamers Drifters and Hiders and then 2026's Fault Lines.  Neither of those has any appreciable stream count.  No song on DDH breaks 100k and only the opening track on the 2026 album does it.  Sounds very much like Bingham to me. "Daylight Saves" with 117k.

The second-most streamed tune is from the early days as well - "Show Me The Way," with 464k streams.

I called his voice unremarkable up there, and that is probably true, but I also want to take it back.  It's a really nice voice - has a little bit of rough edge to it, while still sounding smooth and comforting.  After listening through all of his tunes today, I really enjoy it.  This guy is solid.

Skrillex (2026)

One Liner: Pretty damn terrible, aggro EDM
Wikipedia Genre: Dubstep, brostep, EDM, electro house, pop, post-hardcore, emo
Home: L.A.

Poster Position: Headliner (ugh)
Day: ???
Weekend One Only.

[location].

Thoughts:  Last here in 2014.  I missed that show, but before I get into a more fullsome discussion and history, I was very entertained to read back over my recounting of seeing him play at Stubb's that year instead.  Enjoy.

"If you have been reading my other posts, you'll know that I have been excited about seeing Skrillex. I still couldn't tell you what the hell the difference is between dubstep and techno or EDM or whatever else name this stuff has been given, but I freaking love Bangarang. One more time!

However, I wanted to go see Eminem play the Saturday night of ACL 2014, so I knew I was going to have to miss out on Skrillex's show. Until my friend Joseph scored us a pair of tickets to go see him at Stubb's outdoor for the second weekend of ACL. Both of us were pretty pumped, and I spent a large part of that Friday playing the new album (Recess) to get myself all ready to go.

And it was lame. So lame. I think the underlying reason is that I just don't do the drugs like the kids these days. The only way that the people around me could have been as excited as they were by this concert is if they were doing the ecstasies or Molly or freebasing bathsalts or whatever. This concert consisted of Skrillex hitting buttons on his control panel to play songs, and then doing his best to pump up the crowd by pumping his fists or shooting finger guns or yelling super original things like "Whats up AUSTIN!?!" or "get your hands UP AUSTIN!!" Multiple times during the show he would step up onto his control console thing and try to hype us up or get us to clap together.

Also, his crowd was exceedingly aggro.  Just a bunch of 'roided up 20-year old dudes who wanted to ram into other people.  I hated that for sure.

In case you want to know, dubstep is defined as a genre of EDM that originated in South London and generally features syncopated drum and percussion with prominent sub bass frequencies. Reading about it hurts my head. The stylistic origins noted on Wikipedia are reggae, dub, grime, 2-step garage, drum and bass, and breakstep. Uh, reggae? I'm not a huge reggae guy or anything, but "No Woman No Cry" did not spawn Skrillex. And no one has ever heard of those other styles of music. Someone in their parent's basement in Cleveland just made that stuff up to confuse old people like me.

I was hopeful that Joseph was going to give me a glowing review of the show, because he was hammered with pre-show plans for a cab ride, and that would support my theory that I needed to be in a different mind-set to have enjoyed the show. No such luck. A random sampling of some of his texts from after the show:

"Not gonna lie... Awful"
"Unless you are high and 18"
"I'm going to eat some tacos and go home"
"It's much worse than you and I mixing a show" [which really can't be true. I wouldn't even have the first clue how to torture synthesizers and drum machines into making those noises]
"But serious. Wtf was that show?"
As well as some fun auto-correct entries like "Syrah" and "I marry."

Thinking back on the show, I think it had all of the pieces I was expecting. Ridiculously loud and deep bass (thank God I brought ear plugs. I am sooo old). Some of the popular songs I had heard before, plus a few other ones incorporating current rap hits that were kind of fun. A huge sweaty crowd, almost exclusively under 30, filming every second on their phone so they can watch it over and over again (I guess? Weirdos.). So I'm not really sure what my problem was, but I just didn't feel the hype or excitement once I was standing there among the crowd. Glad I gave it a shot. No need to try to see him again."

So, there you have it.  Maybe the worst show I can remember seeing at Stubb's.  And now he is a top headliner for ACL!  Despite having no popular releases for years unless he had Justin Beiber on the track.  Such a disappointment to see him on the poster at all, much less as #5 on the whole thing.

I guess the whole lineup has a lot more EDM than expected.  Cut out the rap and country and just go EDM and pop?

Anyway, this is Sonny John Moore, and if you have never seen him he looks like Corey Feldman.  He was originally the lead singer for a hardcore band called From First to Last, and then went out on his own to continue trying to make that same sort of music.  He was scheduled to record a debut album on his own, but that session was apparently cancelled, and in 2010 he fired out a dubstep album called My Name is Skrillex as a free download on MySpace.  His real debut was later that year, Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, and it won him three freaking Grammy Awards - Best Dance/Electronic Album, Best Dance Recording, and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical.  The title track was that winner, and it now has 238 million streams.

Does anyone else get stressed out by that song?  That being said, that song (with no actual video) has over 347 MILLION freaking views on YouTube. What the what? Maybe if you take ecstasy. I don’t know, it’s interesting? Not sure how to dance to it other than doing the Bernie. On the other hand, Bangarang is a ridiculous animal slice of badassery that I still don’t get enough of. If you have not heard it before, you need to click on the YouTube link way up above, turn it up very loud, stand up in an area where you won’t break anything valuable, and just do what you need to do for 3 minutes.

The build-up and release (a/k/a The Drop, as described in 9/10s of all Rolling Stone articles about EDM. I swear they'd say Creedence used bass drops if they published an article tomorrow) is freaking fantastic. This type of music is apparently derived from Dubstep, which is a thing in the UK. According to RS, people trying to insult Skrillex call is Brostep because it attracts bro-ey douches. I get that too - very true in my experience. 

But it was in 2015 that Skrillex really figured out his meal ticket.  He made an album with Diplo called Jack U that invited a bunch of famous collaborators to the mic - 2 Chainz, Missy Elliot, and crucially, Justin Beiber.

Skrillex and Diplo present Jack U. Kingpin EDM stuff, with some of these tunes bringing the pain while others are kind of bland. Best ones are the "Take U There" remix with Missy Elliott, "Beats Knockin'," (this is what I wanted his concert to sound like, instead of lame-o-rama), and "Febreze." The weakest one has Justin Beiber, which is not alone a reason for disliking it, but its just a boring crooner song. And of course, that is the track with over a BILLION stupid streams.  

But overall, it is not a good album.  I re-tried Recess, and it makes work way more stressful than it needs to be.  Just an unrelenting stream of aggressive beats and sounds.  I do have to make one more comment - I worked with the church youth group for like eight years, and some of the Senior knucklehead boys would repeatedly play a Skrillex song called "Devil's Den" because they thought it was funny how awful it sounds.  I hated it.

I very much doubt I will go watch this show.  I think he is pretty bad.