Austin City Limits Festival- Day 2

September 29, 2008

Robert Earl Keen & Bonnie Bishop



Austin City Limits Festival- Day 2



The second day of the festival began somewhat blearily for us, shaking off the effects of a late, late, night, we somehow managed to make it over to Zilker Park just after noon for another long day of music. Just in time to see the Old 97s kick-start our day with a rousing performance which was impressive despite being in the bright sunshine of mid-day rather than in some darkened smoky late-night road house.

Old 97s

Melissa & Rhett

After their set, it was time for lunch and then splitting up again. Kathy headed over to see the Fleet Foxes, while I checked out one of the more interesting bands of the weekend, We Go to 11. The heavy rocking and impressive band is made up of 3 guys aged 13, 14 and 16. It’s hard to even recall what I was doing at age 13, suffice it to say I was not jamming out in front of thousands at a major music festival. They were excellent, not exactly the sort of music I am in to these days, but I could not help but be impressed.

We Go To 11

Nadene & Trevor

Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT

After checking out a little of the Band of Heathens, Kathy & I decided to take a break from the heat and crowds and walk over to the nearby Barton Springs pool for a quick swim. The beautiful spring-fed pool maintains a chilly 68 degree temperature year round and provided just the chilling jolt we needed to rejuvenate.

Kathy

Barton Springs Pool

Robert Earl Keen

We headed back to position ourselves in a good spot to see one of our favorite performers, Robert Earl Keen. He did not disappoint and had the crowd frenzied by the time he closed his set with, “The Road Goes On Forever”. It was amazing. After his set, we sort of bounced around between stages catching acts like John Fogerty, MGMT, CSS, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, Mason Jennings, American Bang, Spiritualized, The Black Keys, Iron & Wine, Beck and The Yonder Mountain String Band.

Yonder Mountain String Band

John Fogerty

Kathy & I had different favorites of the day. Mine was the surprisingly strong set by Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. His performance was subdued yet powerful and was way beyond my expectations and it was one that I decided to check out at sort of the last minute. I have included a youtube video that hardly does the set justice, but it was the best one I could find.

Conor Oberst

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

Kathy, and just about everyone in our group thought that the show closing set from Robert Plant & Alison Krauss was the best of the day. It certainly was cool to hear all those classic Led Zeppelin songs again and it was a powerhouse of a show, We stayed till the very last notes were played and ended up having to walk all the way back to the hotel in a somewhat delirious state, so exhausted that we didn’t even make it out to a post show party.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss