2007

Haven’t been following? Get caught up if you haven’t been following: full Day One recap, full Day Two recap, and the Great ACL Fire of 2007…

So long, Texas — I shall miss this Glorious Smörgåsbord you natives call the Austin City Limits music festival. Seventeen more bands offered us free samples on the final day of the event, bringing the total tasting menu up to an uneven 49 acts over the 27 hours we spent cruising the spectacular (and quickly browning from the over-aggressive sun) Zilker Park grounds.

My Morning Jacket’s Jim James grew out his hair again

Day One brought the unexpected fire, Day Two brought the unrelenting warmth, and Day Three just brought the heat. Tell me how it’s possible to top a two-hour stretch of My Morning Jacket > Wilco > Ghostland Observatory > The Decemberists. Vanessa Williams didn’t play today, but ACL certainly saved the best for last. First, I will chop off my balls for crafting such a silly sentence. Next, I shall regale you all with a comprehensive report from the festival and publish another full photo gallery from our main man, Danfun.

We just can’t praise enough the effort the organizers of this festival put forth — about the only complaints I’ve unofficially registered surround the choice of placing Wilco and My Morning Jacket in conflicting time slots on Day Three and the fact that Bob Dylan may have sent his evil twin in his stead to sing with gravel and razorblades in his throat. Yikes, Uncle Robert.

But other than that, the execution was flawless. This was a festival virtually devoid of any inter-artist collaboration and breakout covers, and yet the performances were worth every penny. The bang for the festival buck here is simply astonishing, so read on after the jump for the latest installment of Ace Is Goddamned Exhausted And Hasn’t Slept In Three Days…

Wait, you missed our full coverage of Day One? Click here to get the skinny…

I’d love to look back and say all 16 acts we caught on the second day of Austin City Limits brought the heat, but instead it was the equatorial Texas sun that did the job. It was the kind of day that can convince even the laziest lardass to shed a few pounds. At one point the front of my lower legs from knees to ankles were drenched in sweat, which is something I never knew was possible. At least this festival is teaching me the basics of human perspiration.

Day Two of ACL lacked the sense of intensity and must-see urgency that the Friday session delivered, but that first day was admittedly tough to top. Still, only four of the 16 sets managed to truly floor me, with the rest of the day’s performances ranging from generously mediocre to only fairly impressive. Those four, though — Dr. Dog, Paolo Nutini, Andrew Bird and Arcade Fire — validated the entire afternoon and evening, even if we’re still a little pissed at the White Stripes for pulling out of the Saturday headlining spot against Quebec’s finest.

That introduction to the second day’s festivities shouldn’t imply a complete lack of good times at Zilker Park. But sandwiched between the instant reminiscence of Friday’s spectacular beginning and the eager anticipation of Sunday’s jam-packed lineup, the middle-day quasi-letdown was only natural. In any event, read on after the jump for a full recap of the day’s events, including our second straight photo gallery supplied by our photographic genius, Danfun.

As we mentioned in the Day One recap, a beautiful day of music and sun was marred only by a midday propane tank explosion and subsequent fire that injured four people, two of them critically.

It’s a sad footnote to an otherwise fantastic day, and we wish only the best to those injured. Our festival photographer Dan managed to rush over to the fire and snap a couple shots of what transpired:

Read on after the jump for two more pictures of the Great ACL Fire of 2007…

Austin, Texas may very well be the greatest city in the world. I can’t speak to the city’s infrastructure, its public transportation, its race relations, its garbage pick-up or its political competency, but when there’s unrelated piles of vomit splashed all over famed 6th Street at closing time, you get my vote. That’s a city that knows how to deliver that glorious metaphorical reacharound.

Oh, yes, the city also hosts the best-organized festival out there, bar none. Austin City Limits today kicked off three sunny days of solid performances, the musicians and the weather each hot-as-fuck in their own right. On Day One we managed to catch at least two songs if not the whole set of 16 different acts, enjoying eight straight hours of pure, unadulterated audio sodomy before heading back to the madness of 6th Street (and my buddy’s bachelor party). And the real crazy part? I still feel like I missed everything. Craisins.

Photo by Danfun

Day One may have not have been the best of the three days on paper, but I’m finding it incredibly difficult to picture a better or brighter day than the one that just kicked my exhausted ass all around Zilker Park. Del McCoury and His Talented Sperm — three-fifths of the band shares the surname — ushered in a day of shit-eating grins, and the afternoon and evening that unfolded will be tough to top.

So read on after the jump for a full recap of the day’s events, complete with an extensive photo gallery from Danfun and myself…