Losman's Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Blog

Hi everyone, Carlos couldn’t make it to ACL on Saturday, so I’m filling in for him. My name is Adam Silverstein, I’m a weekend producer and assignment editor at Fox 7, but most importantly I’m a music fan with a ticket to ACL Fest.

The air reeks of sunscreen and smoke, my eyes are burning from sweat, my legs and feet are tired from a day spent standing as tall as I can to catch a glimpse of a band, while a perfectly good jumbotron goes to waste. It’s ACL Fest time once again, and for that magical weekend in September no one seems to mind a little sunburn, a lot of people and complete indifference to the score of the football game.

Austin is a city with an almost militant passion for its live music, but on plenty of occasions touring bands big and small skip over our proud little town for the bright lights and big bucks of Houston, Dallas, even San Antonio. But for this one weekend (and quite possibly another week in March) Austin earns the musical prestige we work so hard for, and becomes The Live Music Capital of the World.

I think my bike is the one on the right

In the interest of full disclosure, I started Saturday off with a bad taste in my mouth and a chip on my shoulder, one that had been resting quite uncomfortably there since Tuesday, and only seemed to get bigger and heavier each day.

Tuesday is the day I came in to work full of excitement and anticipation over my upcoming vacation, a chance to go to ACL Fest, and most importantly an opportunity to see one of my absolute favorite bands perform live, no once, but twice. I’m talking, of course, about The White Stripes. As I sat down at my desk, ready to start the day, I got the news, The White Stripes had canceled their ACL performance, as well as the Stubb’s after show. It would later be revealed that the cancellations were due to Meg White’s acute anxiety, and I suppose I can’t really fault the band for that, though I can still be angry about missing a chance to see a great band. Get well soon, Meg.

COLD WAR KIDS:

The great/frustrating/still-pretty-great thing about festivals is that the time you spend with your “must see” bands makes up only a small fraction of the weekend, so you’ve got to occupy yourself with other activities to fill in the gaps. Be it standing in line for food, water, toilets, or all of the above, or much more likely seeing a band you’re not too sure you’re into.

Cold War Kids are just such a band. They’ve built a reputation on strong live shows, and a somewhat less intense studio album. The crowd seemed to be comprised more of people with a gap in their schedule than diehard fans and the performance seemed to reflect that.

Don’t get me wrong, the music was there, they were tight, and together, nailing some vocals in a falsetto normally reserved for karaoke nights. But it felt like the band was as worn out by the heat as the midday audience they were entertaining. There really wasn’t that burst of energy you’d expect from a band with a history, albeit a brief one, of good, solid, rock and roll performances.

There was a constant back and forth between the band and the audience, both looking for more enthusiasm from the other, and I don’t think either ended up all that satisfied.

ARCTIC MONKEYS:

England’s most promising new band of 2005 never really caught on stateside the way they did back home. The Arctic Monkeys’ debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, had one of the biggest debuts in history, and owed much of that success to word of mouth on the internet. This is a group of young guys, some in their teens when superstardom came calling, who now have to live up to a hype machine that shoves them into the same league as the Beatles, Stones, and Oasis. A tough feat to be sure.

Watching them live you get the sense that they just weren’t ready for this kind of attention. They play with energy and enthusiasm, but without the stage presence and charisma that can win over non-believers and work a crown up into a frenzy.

The crowd at the AMD stage was enormous. An absolute sea of people packed together waiting for the show, though it became apparent after the set that a good portion of that crowd was only there to stake out a good spot for the upcoming Arcade Fire performance.

The band took the stage and played through their set without much reaction from the audience. Looking around I saw most of the crowd standing still. There was a little action when the band started playing a few of their hits, but aside from scattered applause it almost seemed like the crowd was oblivious to the fact that there was a band on stage.

    The Arctic Monkeys is a band I would like to see again in a smaller environment of serious fans. They just seemed out of their element in front of a massive crowd waiting for songs they’ve heard on the radio.

THE ARCADE FIRE:

If I thought nothing could make up for missing The White Stripes, in an hour and fifteen minutes The Arcade Fire proved me wrong.

    This was the kind of performance you go to a festival to see. There was a power and energy in this band that was completely unmatched by anything else I’d seen all weekend.

    The stage was lit up with neon lights and giant circular screens. The glow on the stage alternated between red and blue as giant images from silent films were projected against a red curtain behind the band.

    The crowd burst into applause as all the musicians (I counted at least ten) marched onto the stage. It was an applause that never seemed to die down as each song became an anthem for the thousands of excited onlookers to join into. Thousands of exhausted, sweaty people packed together cheering, clapping, singing, completely enthralled with what they were seeing and hearing.

    The band played a good mix of old and new, pumping the crowd up with hits off their wildly popular Funeral album, and throwing in a lot of newer offering from this year’s Neon Bible, all played with great precision and musicianship, be it from a bass drum, French horn, mandolin, or motorcycle helmet (yes a motorcycle helmet).

    Standing there watching and listening to The Arcade Fire, I completely forgot how tired I was from two days spent standing in the sun. I didn’t care how bad the guy in front of me smelled, or how thirsty I was, and most importantly I forgot all about missing The White Stripes, all I could think about was how lucky I was to be in Austin in September.

Thanks, Austin!