ACL Saturday

Saturday I made it down to ACL a bit after 3. Even though I reviewed my entries from previous years about transportation, I didn't write why biking can be a bad idea. So I won't make the same mistake next year, here are some notes: if you haven't biked in a year, your butt and back will get sore. Also, it's dangerous to ride in traffic or on the sidewalk while you remember how to ride, you get dirty removing your tires and getting the bike into and out of the car, and you don't really save much time since you have to walk when it gets crowded anyway. On to the show.

I made it down in time to see the last half of the Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings set. Several songs featured great audience participation on stage. The brass section was heavily involved in every song, complete with subtle choreography. The baritone sax sounded great. That deep sax is practically required for a good brass section.
CSS was very good. They're the Brazillian band Apple used in their iPod Touch commercial ("Music is my boyfriend...") The chick lead singer swears and screams a lot, but in a cute funny way. Several members of the band were into dousing the crowd with water from their water botttles. They had one false start, no big deal. No one was bothered by it. They got the crowd to participate by jumping up and down and waving their hands. They also used a keytar for a few songs. You don't see that much. The lead singer was brave enough to get body passed.

John Fogerty didn't disappoint. I'm amazed that he still has the vocal range to sing all of his songs--nothing sounded transposed down. His set consisted almost entirely of his well known songs. One or two from his latest album. He ended it with Fortunate Son and Proud Mary.

Beck was the one act I really wanted to see, thus I skipped the entire Robert Plant/Allison Krauss set to be sure I could get relatively close to the Beck stage. He played all his hits, but I was happy that he played a few songs from the one album I own, Midnite Vultures. He played "Nicotine & Gravy," and surprisingly my favorite Beck song "Mixed Bizness." Surprisingly, because I think the brass is integral to this song. Somehow he was able to get away with performing without brass this time. The last song he played must have been his latest single, because, while I didn't recognize the song, it seemed that everyone around me did. Beck didn't add any to the show in the way of comments or conversation with the audience, but that didn't surprise me. He also finished a good twenty minutes before the end of his allotted time, but that didn't bother me as much as others. I also must mention that the plaid shirt wearing chick guitar player/vocalist was awesome. I need to find someone like that.