Austin, Taragos: Austin City Limits Music Festival

Austin City Limits music festival is a fun festival. It's like a Jason's Deli salad bar style of musical entertainment. The selection of entertainers was vast, attracting crowds of all kinds including the strange characters. But all that made it interesting. Now mind you, I was a volunteer part of the time, so part of my observance and participation in the festival fun was taking from an observers point of view. Unlike, the guy that sold me a chicken avocado cone wrap drinking a Heineken while working the cash register, I was sober during my shifts. Below is the long list of all the performers. I may comment next to some of the performers after my typing is complete.

    * The Eagles - more like bald eagles. lol. they played sun night while I worked. ok set...
    * Muse - didn't really catch, sat night, we were tired
    * Phish - I was alone, walked around the crowd, didn't really get into it.

    * The Strokes
    * M.I.A. - Summer wanted to hear the gun song, but it wasnt worth waiting till the end of her set.
    * The Flaming Lips

    * LCD Soundsystem - I'm not an electronic sound person, but i liked some of their songs. Could be good workout music.
    * Spoon - was hoping to hear a couple of the songs I like from them but didnt stick around too long
    * Vampire Weekend - Caught the full set, awesome show, good tunes. Wish I was kinda drunk during so I could be in the front and sing along with all the songs without a care. I did get close but didn't wail away with them.
    * Norah Jones - haha

    * Band of Horses - heard of, supposed to be good, I need a few more listens.
    * Monsters of Folk - heard of, supposed to be good, I need a few more listens.
    * Deadmau5 - how people know this band is called dead mouse is beyond me.
    * Sonic Youth
    * Gogol Bordello
    * The National - Summer caught their set and she is now a fan.
    * Robert Earl Keen
    * The Black Keys
    * Broken Bells
    * Yeasayer
    * Pat Green
    * Slightly Stoopid
    * The xx
    * Silversun Pickups
    * Beach House - caught there set, it was pretty good.
    * The Sword
    * Matt and Kim
    * Portugal. The Man
    * The Temper Trap
    * Rebelution
    * Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
    * Girls
    * Miike Snow
    * Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses
    * Local Natives
    * The Gaslight Anthem
    * Lucero
    * Devendra Banhart and the Grogs
    * Blues Traveler
    * Pete Yorn- Caught his set, he played most of the songs I liked, good times.

    * The Soft Pack
    * Gayngs
    * Amos Lee - he seemed to play my least-favorite songs this night.
    * Robert Randolph & The Family Band
    * Ozomatli - Great band, bit of spanish music, hip-hop all in a groove that makes you want to move.
    * Richard Thompson
    * Martin Sexton - He played Black Sheep and some others that I like.
    * Manchester Orchestra
    * Black Lips
    * The Mountain Goats
    * Bear in Heaven
    * Mayer Hawthorne & The County
    * Midlake
    * Foals
    * Switchfoot
    * Cage the Elephant
    * JJ Grey & Mofro
    * Kinky
    * Angus & Julia Stone
    * The Morning Benders
    * Donavon Frankenreiter - missed his set.
    * Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
    * White Rabbits
    * David Bazan
    * Asleep at the Wheel
    * Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
    * Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich + Fussible
    * The Very Best
    * Beats Antique
    * The Henry Clay People
    * Blind Pilot
    * Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
    * GIVERS
    * Warpaint
    * Dawes
    * The Band of Heathens - Austin Country Rock. I like this band.
    * Charlie Mars - I like his Listen to the darkside song, curious if the others are any good...
    * Two Door Cinema Club
    * Lissie
    * First Aid Kit
    * Sarah Harmer
    * The Constellations
    * T Bird and the Breaks
    * Chief
    * Frank Turner
    * Shearwater
    * Those Darlins
    * Carolyn Wonderland
    * TV Torso
    * NINJASONIK
    * Kings Go Forth - a band full of instruments, I liked it.
    * The Relatives
    * The Ettes
    * Vonnegutt - has a single called Bright Eyes, catchy, poppy, good summer tune.
    * Qbeta
    * The Dough Rollers
    * MyNameIsJohnMichael
    * Basia Bulat
    * Sahara Smith
    * Balmorhea
    * Dan Black
    * JD & The Straight Shot
    * The Jane Shermans
    * The Kicks
    * Ponderosa
    * Two Tons of Steel
    * Caitlin Rose
    * SPEAK
    * Run With Bulls
    * Maxim Ludwig & The Santa Fe Seven
    * Gospel Stars
    * Heavenly Voices
    * Wesley Bray & The Disciples of Joy
    * Jones Family Singers
    * Ashley Cleveland & Kenny Greenberg
    * Buddy & The Straight Way Travelers
    * Ruby Jane
    * The Verve Pipe - i wonder if they played Freshman, they probably ended with it...
    * Frances England
    * The Jellydots
    * Elizabeth Mitchell
    * Okee Dokee Brothers
    * Tom Freund
    * The School of Rock All Stars
    * Q Brothers

The Weekend....

I was a Rock and Recycle volunteer. Whats that mean? Well I got a nice green organic t-shirt instead of the regular baby blue. That was only one of the bonuses though, so for volunteering a 3.5-4 hr shift, you get into the show for free before and after the shift. Since we just moved here and tickets were sold-out it was a no-brainer. What I did was partly host the rock and recycle tent. If a patron filled a branded plastic garbage bag full of recyclable drink leftovers i.e. bottles, cans, etc, they could turn in the full bag and receive a concert T-shirt, which was very nice and close to the design of the one that was selling for $30. Less trash on the ground, free t-shirt for the collector, less trash collector hirings for the concert - a true win win win. Plus it wasn't all that hard, all you really had to do was walk near where a concert was ending and people walked over and placed their disposables in your bag. Hell I even did it for a free shirt. So in the tent, I handed out bags and took in full ones for shirts. My other task was to man the water filling station. This was also a great and kind concept. Since water at shows can be expensive $2-3 each, plus all the trash it accumulates, here, if you brought a re-fillable container, you could stand in a short line and get your bottle re-filled with filtered cold water. The concert go-ers loved this and so did I went I was on the thirsty side. (The pic to the left is the water station, but since its dark, it's kinda hard to see). So that's what I did to volunteer. What was also cool about it was I was near two stages so while I was on shift I caught some acts. Summer was volunteering at volunteering HQ which was outside the concert but she got to sit her whole shift. I still like what I did better but anyways, we both got in.

Friday, my shift ended at 3pm. After, I caught a few songs from Kings Go Forth.

Then I caught a few songs of Miike Snow

Then I turned in my mostly filled trash bag for my free shirt =) and bought a late lunch brat.

Then I caught some the set of the Beach House, during this set, since I was alone, I thought it be a fun journey to see how far I could sneak up through the crowds. The easily way to do this is just follow a group of 2+ that look determined to snake their way up. I thought it be fun, to take a snapshot at each stop to show my progress. Reviewing the photos now, its not as cool as I would have hoped so I wont post them all.

Then I was hungry again so I got a pulled pork sandwich with a sausage add-on (which was nasty, I love my sausage meats but this one was gross) I ate this while listening to Spoon with my right ear and Amos Lee with my left.

Next was Vampire Weekend. It was a great set. I like how my photos turned out. Explains a bit about the jumping and good time that was had.

After that Phish played, I wandered and listened to a few songs but by then I was ready to go home.

Saturday:
We started Saturday by both going to the festival before our shifts started to catch some tunes. We started with a little Pete Yorn and then I went to my shift.

After my shift, I caught a little of LCD soundsystem and Ozomatli.

Then Summer was done with her shift so we had an avocado chicken wrap cone and wandered the festival for awhile while enjoying some after-volunteering beers. What was nice is there was a little market area with people selling their wares and also about 30 local restaurants had food stands so there was plenty of food to chose from.

Sunday. By the time Sunday came, we were a bit tired, Summer's shift was earlier so I dropped her off and then came back an hour before my shift to meet up with her and we caught a bit of Martin Sextons set. My friends band used to cover a few of his acoustic tunes, so it was fun to see him live. After I went to my shift during the bald eagles set, while Summer also caught some of Band of Horses set and The National (which she became a fan of)

And that was ACL 2010. It was a fun time, we experienced the festival, learned of some new tunes and learned some festival tricks for next year. I tried to get the early bird 2011 3-day passes for 50 bucks each but my browser messed up and I wasn't one of the few quickest. Made me a bit bitter but I'll get over it before next September. Aside's from getting into the show for free, I also got some souvenirs. Funny thing is, I thought the koozy's were free, hell a pint can of beer was $7 so it made sense. Therefore, I took one with each of the 3 beers I bought that night, the next day I discovered they were 2 bucks a piece. Nobody stopped me though so how was I supposed to know =)