Off to Never, Neverland…

October 8, 2018

Brandi Carlile





Sweet Spirit

The Breeders



Off to Never, Neverland…

Day two of the ACL festival was not nearly as hot as the first day and the line-up was what I considered to be more consistently good throughout than any acts that really blew me away as far as being amazing. The headliner was Metallica, an act that I have not only seen many times, but one that really does not really do much for me. I arrived later than the previous day, not getting on-site until about 2:00 PM and leaving after only a few songs by the headliner, making it a relatively short day by ACL standards.



Sweet Spirit

The Wombats

The good news is that no real stand-out favorites that I felt I had to see, I was able to explore and check out bands that I was either less familiar with or even a few that I had no idea who they are. This is always one of the things that I have always enjoyed about attending these massive music festivals in that there are often new bands waiting to be discovered playing on some of the smaller stages at weird times with much less fanfare than the larger stages.





I met my friends Tim and Tiffany, who were celebrating their 15^th anniversary with a trip to ACL from their home in Massachusetts. We had seen them earlier this summer at the Green River Music Festival and it was cool to hang with them again. They got married on the exact same day that Kathy and I did, fifteen years ago. After enjoying lunch with them in the VIP lounge, I made my way over to see the reunited band from the nineties, The Breeders.

Tim and Tiffany



Having Kim Deal and Tanya Donnelly playing together again as the original line-up was back together was pretty cool. They sounded as if they had not lost a thing since their heyday and it was cool to see the return of a classic alternative band to the fold.

The Breeders







Perhaps the set that I was most anticipating was the one that I next attended, a fantastic performance by Brandi Carlile. She gave a beautiful impassioned performance that just happened to fall on the same day that controversial Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed and it obviously impacted her performance. Rather than be downhearted or angry, she gave a rousing speech about how we need to continue to fight with our vote and to keep the faith.







I just love her and her set did not disappoint, even though it was much heavier on her more recent stuff from her latest release that I am less familiar with. It was still amazing as usual, I never get tired of seeing her and hearing her soaring vocals and beautiful songs. I wish she had been given a longer set than the one hour she was allotted, but she certainly took advantage of every moment of it.

Sharon Van Etten







It was quite a different feeling during the next set I saw from singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten. She was powerful in a complete different way with more strong, angry seeming lyrics and powerful rock than Carlile, though it was fantastic as well, it was just quite a divergence from the previous set. Strong women continued to be my featured acts of the afternoon as I next checked out Lauren Mayberry and her amazing Scottish band Chvrches.

Chvrches





Following in the tradition of the leading British synth-pop bands such as Depeche Mode and New Order, Chvrches is a female-led power-pop sensation that put on a mesmerizing set. We had seen them previously at both Coachella and Lollapalooza, but they seem to get better each time and this was certainly one of the highlights of the day.









The last full set that I watched was yet another powerful, eclectic and talented woman, Anne Clark or as she is commonly known, St. Vincent. She is another act that we had seen a few times before and has never disappointed. One of the most distinctive, unusual and interesting performers around, St. Vincent combines her powerful vocal stylings, amazing guitar work and unique stage presence to give a masterful performance that I always enjoy.

St. Vincent

Metallica





I did stay and watch a few songs deep in to the Metallica headlining set, which was duly impressive, but I was exhausted, tired of the huge masses of people and wanting to beat the crowd out of Zilker Park and back to my hotel. I know some of my friends would consider it sacrilege to take off early during their set, and I might agree if I had not seen them so often over the past few years.