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September 23, 2005
ACL first day
I picked Cassidy up from school today and we headed straight to the festival. This was kind of a practice run, since most of our favorite bands aren't playing til tomorrow. It was hot, like last year, with a few passing clouds from the outermost edge of Rita, and every once in a while a strong wind gust. Hopefully we'll get at least a few sprinkles tomorrow to tamp down on the dust storms.
I tried not to think about hurricanes today, I really did. Every once in a while, though, the wind would blow while I was sitting in my chair looking east and I'd get that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, thinking about the Ninth Ward filling up with water again and tornados tearing through Cajun country, just over the horizon past the beautiful sunset reflecting off the Frost Bank building.
Music we saw: Morgan Heritage, Lucinda Williams, Thievery Corporation, Spoon, and Keane. Nothing too special, although Cass really liked Keane, who struck me as one of those overly-earnest post-Coldplay Brit pop bands. They were nice enough.
Food: Quail and andouille gumbo from Prejean's (apparently it took the Prejean's crew 26 hours to drive over here from Lafayette), bratwurst, veggie burger from Waterloo, ice cream from Amy's, and a total of 11 pints of water between the two of us.
Back in the car after dark, I couldn't pick up 870 AM out of New Orleans. They've been broadcasting from Baton Rouge since Katrina, probably just lost power. Radio silence never gives you a good feeling, though.
Tomorrow we'll take the Triumph, weather permitting. The day is bookended by Tegan & Sara in the morning and Roky Erickson at night. Everything in between is up for grabs, but sweet Jesus let it not be so damn hot.
Pictures in the flickr page.
Posted by ray at September 23, 2005 9:30 PM | Permalink
Categories: [acl festival | austin | food | kids | music | rita ]
Comments
Ah, dude -- Tegan and Sara cancelled yesterday due to travel problems caused by the weather! I figured you knew by now -- you and Cassidy were the first thing that crossed my mind when I read that. I know you guys really dig them -- sorry. They were replaced in the lineup by Tracy Bonham, who is really good, BTW.
We spent the day at the festival as well -- had a flat out BLAST watching/dancing to Grupo Fantasma -- AMAZING. Also caught a little Spoon, a little Thievery (awesome), a little Soundteam (REALLY good), and some of Lovett's show before heading out. We'll be back down tomorrow --- probably around noon or so. You have my cell, right? If not, drop me a line and we'll exchange contact info.
Sorry about T&S -- I was loking forward to them, too.
Posted by: Gregg P. at September 23, 2005 10:55 PM
Oh, and Keane sucks, by the way. We couldn't get far enough away from their stage to totally elimiant their whiny flacid Coldplay-ism. Every one of their songs would sound better sung by Tiny Tim.
Posted by: Gregg P. at September 23, 2005 10:57 PM
Ummm... eliminate.
Posted by: Gregg P. at September 23, 2005 10:58 PM
Aw, pooey. Tegan & Sara were going to be the highlight of the day for Cass.
Oh well, at least now I have time to go get my haircut before we go this morning.
Check your email for my cell. Once it gets crowded text messages might be the only good way to communicate, but if you can't reach me, we usually set up our chairs under the trees on the hill to the left of the AMD stage (where the new rear entrance is this year). We'll only venture forth to the Cingular and AMD stages, and to Dirty Dozen and Roky and the food court. Probably won't even go to the SBC half all day today.
Posted by: Ray at September 24, 2005 9:47 AM
I don't know if you got to see Tracy, but a highlight of her set was her attempt at covering "Walking With a Ghost" and her introducing her and her guitarist as the crew for Tegan and Sara who were sleeping in the bus.
Posted by: Ben Combee at September 26, 2005 3:14 PM
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