Date: October 12, 2012
City: Austin, TX
Venue: Zilker Park
For my second festival of 2012, I chose Austin City Limits Festival. I’ve been a fan of Austin City Limits on PBS for years. This was also my first time going to Austin. While I didn’t make it Moody Theater, I did enjoy three days in Zilker Park.
LOS CAMPESINOS! – Six-piece indie pop band from Wales. I liked them. They were a good way to start the day.
RIVER CITY EXTENSION – Indie rock band from New Jersey. The banjo and violin made this band interesting.
JUSTIN JONES – Singer-songwriter from DC. His necklace was courtesy of his daughter. I liked his set.
BEN HOWARD – Singer-songwriter from England. I liked this guy too.
ESPERANZA SPALDING – Jazz bassist, cellist and singer. I had to see the woman that received death threats from Beliebers because she beat Justin Bieber out of the Best New Artist Grammy. While jazz is not my thing, you can’t deny that this woman is extremely talented.
M83 – Electronic band from France.
I’m not really a fan of electronic music, but the crowd for this band was massive. The sound at this stage wasn’t very good. The crowd started chanting ‘Turn it up! Turn it up!’ because even though we were next to the soundboard the music wasn’t loud enough. I was too far back to enjoy the light show.
THE BLACK KEYS – Rock duo from Ohio.
Even though The Black Keys are a duo, they performed many of their songs with support from two other musicians. While they put on a good show I found this a little disappointing because it made me feel that their songs may have been over produced in the studio even though they sound so raw. If The White Strips and The Ting Tings can perform their songs live without assistance from supporting musicians I would think The Black Keys could too.
Day 1 of my first Austin City Limits Festival was a success.
