Franz Ferdinand. Wilco. The Roots. Elvis Costello. Los Lonely Boys. Pixies. Sheryl Crow. Modest Mouse. Pretty impressive lineup, eh?
And those are just a few of the highlights from the Austin City Limits Music Festival, where more than 200,000 fans caught 120 bands on eight stages during the three-day music bash.
It makes us wonder: If Austin can put together two world-class rock fests a year (ACL wrapped last Sunday; South By Southwest is in March), why can’t Chicago have at least one with such a mega-musical crew? For now, we’ll leave that to the folks at Clear Channel, Jam and the Mayor’s Office of Special Events to ponder.
Fortunately, Chicago does have a top-notch music scene, where many of the artists from the ACL fest will be coming in the next several months. Here’s a sampling of what we caught at the sweltering event (the heat index soared to 106 degrees one day):
Rachael Yamagata
One of the most surprising sets of the fest came from this ex-Chicagoan. On her debut album, “Happenstance,” Yamagata sounds polished and impersonal, but live, she comes across as a gritty singer-songwriter from the Carol King school of songwriting. Armed with a throaty and powerful voice (honed while formerly fronting local funksters Bumpus), Yamagata blasted an early-afternoon audience with songs torn from a jilted lover’s diary. Catch Yamagata at 7 p.m. Sept. 30 at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St.
The Soundtrack of Our Lives
Sure, it was a blistering 97 degrees when the Swedish sextet took the stage early Saturday afternoon, but that didn’t stop the band’s bearded frontman, Ebbot Lundberg, from donning one of his signature tunics. Instead of complaining about the heat (popular stage banter all weekend), Lundberg led the group through an hourlong set of chorus-laden guitar anthems. What’s next for the band? Look for the January album release of “Origin (Phase 1),” featuring the single “Big Time,” which mined the same German art-rock territory that Wilco unearthed in its “Spiders (Kidsmoke).”
Holly Williams
So what does the granddaughter of Hank Williams, the daughter of Hank Williams Jr. and the sister of Hank Williams III sound like? If her bloodlines are any indication, she sounds fantastic. Too bad The Wailers, who were playing on a nearby stage, drowned out her acoustic performance. Guess we’ll have to wait until her debut album drops Oct. 5.
Wilco
When Wilco debuted its new lineup in May after a week of practices, the group sounded like it was coming together nicely. During Sunday night’s headlining performance, the band sounded like a seasoned sextet. New guitarist Nels Cline squealed sonic nightmares from his guitar, and new multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, who spent most of his time behind a series of keyboards, filled out Jeff Tweedy’s songs with a palate of phrasings. Wilco’s Oct. 29-31 concerts at the Auditorium Theatre are sold out.
Franz Ferdinand
This Glaswegian quartet was easily the fest’s biggest buzz, and the band’s incendiary live set lived up to it. Animated frontman Alex Kapranos marched about the stage to drummer Paul Thomson’s jackhammer backbeat as the band revved up versions of its nouveau New Wave numbers. (The band’s Sept. 30 concert at the Riviera is sold out.)
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We don’t wanna say it’s weird but …
Know how you groan when tourists want directions to the Al Capone tour? Austinites let out a similar sigh when they hear references to their town’s unofficial motto: “Keep Austin Weird.” Still, we gotta say, we spotted plenty of offbeat spectacles:
Flying the freak flag
Think donning a black tutu and full-body pink leotard in sizzling heat is uncomfortable? “No, it’s fine,” the man wearing the getup calmly claimed. Turns out he’s Leslie Cochran, a local cross-dressing celeb who has run three unsuccessful campaigns for mayor.
Duck!
We know the bats–1.5 million of them–swarming nightly from underneath a downtown bridge here are harmless and even help curb the mosquito population, but we still gotta say: mostly cool, but still creepy!
Geek-a-go-go
Midwest-based pop mop-top Beatle Bob did his signature herky-jerky dance onstage here with the Old 97’s. Dressed in black pants and a purple velvet sport coat, the shaggy-haired superfan is an ever-present oddity on the pop scene. We’re officially dubbing him the Ronnie Woo-Woo of rock.
Personal statements
Sure, Chicago fests are great people-watching parades, but the T-shirt-slogan spotting here is especially primo. Our faves: “I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness” (turns out it’s an Austin band) and, “Like father, like one-term son.” Our top pick: “Grandma’s Bacon Fest 1987.”
At least he’s honest
Reckless Kelly frontman Willy Braun to reporters: “We’re here for the chicks and the dough.”
— Matt McGuire and Leigh Behrens
