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The 2009 Austin City Limits Music festival proved to be many things this go around.
It proved to be another top-flight lineup buoyed by excellent mid-level talent and scores of up-and-coming stars. On Friday, fans were treated to a short, albeit riviting performance from the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs and R&B sensationJohn Legend, Theivery Corporation and Kings of Leon. A highly anticipated performance by Raphael Saadiq delivered. When he came on stage sporting a black suit and tie, Saadiq shed his layers as fast as the sun made the day hot. Eddie Vedder teamed up with Kings of Leon and people were actually chilly when the sun went down. Can you believe it?
More on the music in a minute, because what makes the ACL Music Festival so special, is more than just the acts that play over the three day weekend. ACL nestles into the delicate and urban-situated Zilker Park. 48 acres of lush green grass - thanks to labor from the City of Austin and an agreement with C3 Productions - were rolled out this summer to improve the grounds. On Friday, it was on grand display. You've never seen 60,000 people smile so often, most of them walking in their bare tootsies. It was as if something funny was put in the water.
And speaking of water, Barton Springs Pool and its over-run step child the *spilloff,* never got over run. The sky was blue, the temperature was perfect. Someone flipped a switch in September and turned off the 100-degree temperatures Austin was forced to endure since the end of May. Everyone benefitted - from the thousand's of workers that spent over a week setting up the grounds, to the profiteers selling Wellies come Sunday morning. Now we're getting a little ahead of things.
On Saturday the skies opened up. Not like in 2006 during the festival's closing Sunday performance by Tom Petty. No, more like in big spurts and short stops, which would mark the uneveness of day two. There were Austin's own Ghosland Oberservatory who seem to rise to every occasion no matter how big the pressure (or how large the backing band!) And there was Mos Def, who took the stage nearly 25 minutes late and who had a large following of geeked up fans wandering off about 25 minutes later. The Dave Matthews Band, to many a trite headliner, proved the right ingredient for the evening's finale. The man simply makes hits and is still churning out fine numbers without coming off hackneyed or overused. Matthews brought the crowd up and down at the right times and sent everyone home soggy, but extremely happy.
This year's green effort, a $3 Fan Tag to offset one's carbon footprint, was an optional purchase. It proved popular and it continues ACL's ethos of environmental responsibility. It is heading in the right direction and far better than the plastic cup idea from a few years ago. Recycling locations seemed more visible and increased in numbers from the previous year - always a good thing. My biggest complaint was the full-color booklet that is personally handed out on day one and by day two, left unnoticed in boxes 100 located yards from the festival entrance. Although it's full of great information (and advertisements), I think efforts like the ACL iPhone application are the direction for the future. The book must cost tens of thousands to produce and seems a considerable effort of people power for all the writing, layout and printing, let alone the difficulty in getting them handed out. By the time people get to the festival grounds these days, they have already read through the endlessly available blogs and music sites (like this one) to help them research and determine the bands they are going to see. Besides that, organizers should work to mobilize and centralize the thousands of resources that are already out there to create a *Friends of ACL* web of information. Taking advantage of social networking is the way to go. ACL's website or application can remain the hub, but the work is already done for them - no need use up additional resources. That's being green, among other things.
By Sunday, things were definitely not green. Zilker Park turned into a scene right out of a muddy Woodstock, and the good vibrations could be felt all around. Fans were walking barefoot and many were diving into the mud-poo like pigs in heat! The fun was certainly not over.
Whether it was the thrashing of Clutch, or Preservation Hall Jazz Band playing ice cream man, or Pittsburgh native Greg Gill's mashup project Girl Talk and the scores of young fans absolutely loving every moment of it, nothing, absolutely nothing iced the mud-cake like Pearl Jam. The two hour set included the old and new, guest appearances from Ben Harper, Perry Farrell (closing acts are supposed to have on-stage guests dang it, yes!) and a Neil Young cover. And it had *Alive,* quite possibly the quintessential anthem of the survivors of 90's rock.
How does the ACL festival seem to get better every year? It has now faced two years of big name cancellations (Beastie Boys '09, Amy Winehouse '08) and its first mudbowl. We at Austin Music + Entertainment magazine can only say it's an uncompromising commitment to the most culturally and style-crossed talent - from the bottom to the top of the lineup, it is the most unique and cozy of settings in a city which prides itself in presenting outstanding live music entertainment. You put all that together, and the proof simply rises to the top.
~Jason Repko
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