ACL Day One

The Steps. We really like this Austin rock and roll band. They played this festival last year and this year they got voted in.

 Paula Nelson (aka Willie's daughter) sounded great with her band.

Another one with a legendary dad, Jakob Dylan. We got up pretty close, but the sound was absolute crap, so we moved pretty far back. They fixed the problem by then, but we ended up listening to the rest of his set from the one air-conditioned oasis on the grounds, the AT&T tent. Once you go there and get comfy, it's hard to go back out.

 But we did head out in time for Patty Griffin. We have been fans of Patty's since Flaming Red (1998). She still has the perfect voice. I have to say this though, every time I see her she seems thinner. She is way too thin - enough to be worrisome. I would be happy to donate 20 lbs. to her, then we'd both be just right. :-)

MrB took this video of Patty on Friday.


The festival provided a few extra hassles this year. They had our favorite secret free parking area blocked off this year (it was only a matter of time before that little prize went away), so we went down to Republic Square to ride the shuttle in. Seems like last year we parked there free, or maybe it was just cheap. Anyway, this time it was $10 for the day and $20 for day and night. Trouble is, we weren't too sure when they were going to decide that day was over and night was here (would it be 5pm? 6pm? 8pm? Nobody had a clue) so we crammed a ten in the slot and got back there around 6 with no ticket or towing. On the grounds they had ramped up security on the stage that's represented by people I know, and in the past I've been able to get backstage for a band I worked for by simply getting waved through. Not this time. No official VIP cred, no access, no exceptions. Day One was pretty tiring for these old bones. It's cooler than year's previous, but still in the 90s. By 5:30 I had a sun headache, a blister forming on the bottom of my foot, in need of food, and worried about the car being towed. Henry (the cat) was restless all night, so I got probably not more than an hour of sleep.

Today I am a zombie in pink. See you out there.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music - ACL