Day 2 Of ACL Was Everything I Love About Music Festivals

For all that day 1 wasn't, day 2 of ACL was everything!

Young the Giant: Awesome

City and Colour: Loved it

Abigail Washburn: Almost proposed to the fiddle player

Fitz and the Tantrums: Everything great in life

CeeLo: Was there volume? nope

Chromeo: Epic dance party, Ceelo who?

Court Yard Hounds: Wild card best show of the day. Might have actually proposed to their fiddle player

My Morning Jacket: Rock show spectacular.

My hangover this morning? Surprisingly not as bad.

Also, I blame Kanye for blowing the speakers and shitting all over the Stevie show. Typical Kanye.

ACL Day 1: How Sara Bareilles Saved the Day

So I'm going to level with you, I was not blown away by the first day of ACL. I'm still waiting for my apology from The Smith Westerns for their performance in the afternoon. Was it maybe the worst thing I've ever heard? Probably.

And what was with all of the mellow bands that have no business at an outdoor festival? James Blake? Really?? Not that I don't love Blake and his adorable accent, but he mostly just made for good background noise for the nap I took on that amazing Zilker Park grass. Not exactly what my ACL wristband and I had in mind for the day.

I was hoping that Mark Foster could remedy the less than stellar music experience I was having. If it weren't for the 1 million people that all had the same thought, he probably could have. It doesn't even matter that their shows are a shuffled version of Torches. I love everything about them down to Mark Fosters youthful new haircut.  Still, there were 1 million people and they didn't even play Warrant!

But Sara Bareilles was who I was secretly most excited to see. I knew that She would fix everything. My brother commented this morning, "If I had the day off I'm pretty sure I would spend it learning every Sara Bareilles song on the keyboard."  Girl has a set of lungs and she kills it in concert! We danced as the sun set and the stars came out. We sang loudly to all the men we aren't going to write love songs for and she was every reason I love concerts!

I still don't understand Kanye...

Festival Decisions

I love it when the toughest decision in my day is Chromeo or TV on the Radio Saturday night at ACL?

It's a close call....

A fall concert preview

I like buying printed tickets to concerts. I guess you could call it a weird quirk that I have and I keep all of them in an old box in my closet. They are the scrapbook that I am too lazy to ever craft. They tell my life's story in music, perhaps the best way to retell my life. Like a photo album I will often go through them and remember who I was with, favorite songs that were played, why that was the band I absolutely had to see at that moment in that concert.

Before there are memories made or set lists written, I keep my future tickets on my refrigerator, tucked safely behind a magnetic photo of my childhood. The stack is growing thick and I am filled with excitement every time I walk by or grab a snack.

Highlights this fall so far include:

ACL (obviously) (@aclfestival): I promise to write slightly drunken (or not so slightly) haiku's of all the acts that I see and as we get closer I will probably post the many drafts of the tentative schedule that I will probably only slightly follow because sometimes you just have to move with the spirit of a festival. That being said, I will not be seeing Kanye.

Adele (@officialadele): I once went to a concert with a friend who cried through the entire show in her excitement and love for the curly locks and sweet dance moves of Justin Timberlake. I didn't understand crying at a concert for love artist or love of music. JT is no Adele and thank goodness Adele is no JT, but after her recent performance at the VMA's, I can't help but think I will be a bit glossy eyed in the crowd. She is unreal amazing. I could be a concert cryer.

Friendly Fires: A favorite out of SXSW, I have enjoyed their new album, Pala, and will enjoy letting loose and dancing at their show.

Portugal. The Man (@portugaltheman): I don't have really strong opinions on this band. The one's I do have are generally positive, but I had a kick ass time seeing him at SX and when I saw he was coming through again I figured that was a concert I wanted to be at. Also, a friend recently compared them to Oasis. Maybe it wasn't Oasis but it was a random comparison and I liked it and it further confirmed that I'd like to see him in concert again.

Utopia Fest (@utopiafest): Camping? Intimate concert setting in a Texas town that is actually called, Utopia? I'm in! Also, I'm excited to find Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, who I met randomly last year at ACL. I had no idea who he was, but Chris Chu, of Morning Benders (who I also randomly met) introduced me and told me his band was pretty awesome. I got a picture with the both of them and when I got home I felt bad that I had no idea who this Dawes guy was, but was proudly bragging on facebook that I'd met him, so I looked up his music and you know what? Damn good! I plan on telling him that entire story. I am also excited for The Wheeler Brothers, among a number of other great acts that are listed.

Moe. (moeperiod): I love Moe. They are fun, upbeat, birkenstock music (which is what I call anything that reminds me of the northeast), that will be a perfect reprieve from Indie music. They'll jam, I'll dance (maybe while wearing birkenstocks), and it will be all kinds of fabulous. Get your tickets now. I promise you will love them.

There will be so many more as the fall progresses. What are you excited for?

ACL After Shows Announced

You mean there's more?? What bliss!

ACL announced their after show line-up today, for those hoping not to leave the Neverland of ACL music.  Check it out here.

You can also enter to win stage-side viewing of Foster the People during their Friday show. Sweet deal!