Austin City Limits Music Festival 2012 – Day 1 Recap (Afghan Whigs, Soul Rebels, Umphreys McGee, M83, Black Keys, AVICII)

Saturday October 13 – Austin Texas is the home of many cool events. The city hosts the insanely popular South By Southwest festival (SXSW), it is the host of the only F1 active track in the US and  the Austin City Limits TV show – the longest running live music weekly TV show. The self proclaimed “Live Music Capital Of The World” is also the home for the Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) which was held between October 12-14 2012.

The festival is held over 3 days with multiple artists playing from 11:00 am to 10:00 pm on 8 stages of various sizes. There are 2 “headliners” every night and this year they included The Black Keys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack White, and Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Since we were able to attend only at last minute notice we were unable to obtain the proper media accreditation, so we mostly just went there to enjoy the day. Here is what we saw:

Coming from Toronto, Canada the first thing one notices is the heat – man, this felt like mid-summer does in Canada with temperatures hovering over 30 degrees Celsius. Applying sun tan lotion in mid October sure seemed surreal.

The first band we saw was The Afghan Whigs. The alt-rock band has recently reunited (25 years after their first performance) and were in fine form. I was not familiar with the band before today, but was impressed by their guitar driven sound. The mid afternoon set with a blistering sun was a perfect setting to be introduced to a very good hard rock which somehow had eluded my radar. Frontman Greg Dulli had very strong vocals and the band (all wearing black), were the perfect accompaniment to his lyrics.

You can check out the first 2 songs of their set below. 

Zilker Park is right across the river from downtown Austin which provided a marvelous backdrop to the festival.

My Austin based friend and honorary guide for the day insisted the next band we see was not rock but a New Orleans bass band. The Soul Rebels were that band and they delivered a fun filled set. In one of the smaller stages (under a tent), the crowd were dancing through the whole set and obediently complied to the band’s many requests of “put your hands up” or “jump up and down” or “step to the left, step to the right”. Truly a unique experience the 8 piece band delivered what seemed like one long song with many funky and jazzy songs intertwined in what became one of the biggest dance parties of the day.

During the end of the set, the band brought up a guest saxophonist – a lovely blond that spun out sax solos that were on par with the 8 boys from Louisiana. The Soul Rebels sound was obviously steeped in the traditional N’awlins jazz but with contemporary touches (including some rap). They even delivered a funky jazzed up version of The Eurythmics 80’s hit “Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This”. Second band that I had never heard of before that really entertained me.

As is often the case in Austin, things are done differently. The food vendors were not your typical corporate fast food crap you would expect at big concerts or festivals but a massive display of local food vendors with excellent and unique flavors.

Tonight’s dinner was a Spicy Crunchy Chicken in a cone from The Might Cone. Incredible energy replenishment.

As the torturous sun sets, the crowds get larger and the headliner stages – there were 2 of them tonight – one for the rock crowd who flocked the stage where The Black Keys played, and one for the rest who gathered on the other side of the park for Swedish techno/Electronic Dance Music DJ AVICII.

As the night progressed the options included Weezer, Florance and The Machine and Black Lips. We decided to check out another unknown band to us named Umphrey’s McGee. The first thing one would notice is the massive light show much like early days Pink Floyd. Massive and multiple lights constantly shone out from the stage, which was usually smoke filled by the way, and illuminated the band in a mystical manner. Umphrey’s McGee is conveniently labelled a jam band but what they really delivered was a set that ranged from Electronic Dance Music to Heavy Metal. Their songs seemed precariously long and when you started to lose attention they switched up tempo and grabbed you back in usually with a heavy guitar solo. Not only did they own their crowd, they connected with them during their set. I have now seen three bands I never heard of before and thoroughly enjoyed all three.

Walking around we noticed M. Ward playing but his country music had no interest so we kept going after a quick photo.

M83 was on the next stage over and  we only stopped for a pic. The apparently very popular “shoegaze” band from France had a sizable and enthusiastic crowd. I must confess I have no idea what shoegaze music is, but if the musician is staring at his shoes as opposed to looking at the audience and connecting it is simply not for me. To each his own. ;-)

It was time for the headliners and although there were 75,000 people in the park today (which was sold out ages ago btw), the vast majority gathered for The Black Keys. As much as I love the band’s records and heavy blues, their live shows do not really do it for me. Even less so at the back of a crowd of over 60,000 people. It is unfortunate that The Black Keys are overexposed so much as I would much prefer to see them in smaller setting, but they are on the same trajectory as U2 apparently. You can check out our review of The Black Keys in Toronto earlier this year here.  As you can see from the picture below our view was horrible so instead, I took the opportunity to experience something new and went over to the “techno” stage.

AVICII sat on top of a massive human head statue and mixed his beats high above the cranium.He was rated #6 DJ in the world in 2011 according to DJ Mag, and right up there with household names like Armin van Buuren, Tiesto and Deadmou5. The set featured thunderous bass and plenty of buildups for the fist pumpers and most in attendance were dancing in the warm evening outdoor rave. Good fun.