A Manly Guide to this Year’s Austin City Limits Festival
We don’t like to write much about the “other” festivals in Texas, seeing as they are rendered insignificant in the shadow of the great Texas Testosterone Festival, but we’re excited for this year’s Austin City Limits Festival despite ourselves. Seeing as The Texas Testosterone Festival had no live music, and ACL is barely manly, we figure it’s safe to make some recommendations for those looking for a weekend of great music that won’t wuss them out.
Friday, October 2
We’ll be arriving late, picking up the kid from school, so we’ll miss Asleep at the Wheel but hope to luck out enough to make it to see
3:30-4:30 The Walkmen at Xbox 360 Stage “The Rat”
4:30-5:30 Coheed and Cambria at Livestrong Stage “The Suffering”
6:30-7:30 Thievery Corporation at Livestrong Stage “The Richest Man in Babylon”
By then, the kid will certainly be ready to go home. But if not, Andrew Bird and Kings of Leon might wussify the day too much but will beat out the other options. Note: our friends over at Rushmonkeys.com also recommend Dr. Dog and Milkshake.
Saturday, October 3
We’re going to spend the early afternoon in the Austin Kiddie Limits area watching Quinn Sullivan and Secret Agent 23 Skidoo while dreaming of how great Coheed and Cambria were the day before and then will venture into the masses to check out
3:00-4:00 Grizzly Bear at Dell Stage “While You Wait For the Others” (slightly wussy)
4:00-5:00 Flogging Molly at AMD Stage “Drunken Lullabies” (not wussy at all)
5:00-6:00 …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead at Xbox 360 Stage “Relative Ways”
5:30-6:30 Eek-A-Mouse at WFC Stage “Black Cowboy”
By then, the kid will be ready to go home and we’ll find it easy to resist the temptation to check out The Decemberists because, although great, they are wussies and Ghostland Observatory is absolutely atrocious.
Sunday, October 4
Austin City Limits will be Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears’ coming out party. Gentlemen, they’re gritty, raucous soul with a horn section Tom Jones should be jealous of. The manly breakout of 2009 will be the first set you check out on Sunday.
12:30-1:15 Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears at AMD Stage “Sugarfoot”
1:20-2:00 David Garza at Austin Ventures Stage “D’yer Mak’er”
2:00-3:00 Clutch at Livestrong Stage “Escape From the Prison Planet” (further evidence Sunday is the best of the three days of the ACL Festival, they may be more deserving of an ACL stage than anyone short of Coheed and Cambria.)
3:30-4:00 Paul Green School of Rock at Austin Kiddie Limits “Black Dog”
4:45-5:30 Brett Dennen at Austin Ventures Stage “Make You Crazy”
6:00-7:00 Ben Harper and Relentless 7 at AMD Stage “Under Pressure”
And keep in mind, for those bands that are wusses, at least the chicks in the crowd will be hot. So… there’s that.
