ACL

So this year there were no weddings, hurricanes or both to prevent us from attending the festival. This thing is really well done. First, the sets are just long enough to hold my attention, the variety is impressive, and the logistics are pretty damn well thought out – free water, miles and miles of port-a-cans, ample food and beverage (at almost reasonable prices), and even some ok stuff to buy.

I also never realized how many tourists come in for this event. There are a lot of out of town people… they’re the ones in heels and jeans (I’m totally serious here, no sarcasm).

Anyhow, here’s the lineup we’ve partaken of :

Day 1
Tristan Prettyman
Stars
Nickel Creek
Gnarls Barkley – Check your thesaurus for overrated, these guys are there
Gomez
Ray Lamontagne – A suprise, awesome live show
Van Morrison

Day 2
Centro-matic – damn fine live show
Phoenix – frenchies who rock out, and good
Galactic
The Shins –
They were probably really good, but seeing as there were so many people there (half the damn town) and that we had an incident with some inconsiderate youths who weren’t aware of some of the courtesies involved in festival going (like don’t walk on our blanket and don’t talk shit to my wife), we bailed a little early. So I almost punched a 17 year old, so what.
Moving on…
Calexico
What Made Milwaukee Famous
Explosions in the Sky – Oh, hell yes.
Willie Neslon – From so far in the back I could barely make out the jumbotron, but hey it’s Willie. (And no, i didn’t take the picture)

Day 3 – In which we are tired, but still walk alot. And we discover the chicken cone.
Jack Ingram – meh
Patrice Pike – hello L.A. rockstar
The New Pornographers – the Cd was better
Sonvolt – Always great
The Flaming Lips
Ben Harper – that hippie has gotten angry
G-Love and the Special Sauce – yeah, rad
Tom Petty – from at least half a mile away, as the first thunderstorm in six months rolled down out of the hill country.

Get more perspective on the fun times here.