Saturday, October 15, 2005

Finally finished with that story.

Look, It's the Arcade Fire watching The Frames.
Okryan pointed out that I forgot to mention that we met Jeremy and Richard of The Arcade Fire during the frames set. Great guys. They were totally just walking around like normal guys. We chatted with them for a few minutes then asked for a picture. They were understandably reluctant(The whole going unnoticed thing) but Jeremy finally said he would take the picture. After that Richard left and we talked to Jeremy for a few more minutes. End of story.
Our strategy changed for Sunday. There were sets that we had to see. Up until that day we had just flitted about catching as many bands as possible but now it was time to post up on some stages. We started with a little bit of Eisley and then wandered over to see a little bit of Rachel Yamagata. After that it was time to make a stand. We ran over to get a good spot for The Doves. we were in a pretty great spot and the band put on a great show. We stayed at the stage after the set slowly inching our was forward. We got to see and hear a little bit of The Bravery before they began sound checking for the Arcade Fire. At this point we had been in the crowd for two and a half hours. I have to say here that I bought a hydration pack especially for ACL and it was well worth it. Myself and the rest of my group sipped on the sweet lukewarm water as we baked in the middle of a crowd of several thousand. The Arcade fire tore it up. By the time they took the stage we had wormed our way just a couple of people from that barrier. From our vantage point I didn't feel like the crowd was as into it as they should have been. At stubb's you could barely hear the band as we all sang along and danced to the music. The set itself great, maybe not quite as inspired as the Friday show but still amazing and of coarse it was 108 degrees outside. Win kept throwing bottles of water out to the crowd one of which okryan caught. We all drank a little bit of what was referred to as the arcade water. I've watched the set several times(it's easy to find) and am amazed at everything that was going on that I didn't catch. At the end of the set the band threw the rest of their water into the crowd and left the stage. The crowd began to disperse and then I heard a small roar and turned in time to see the guy behind me get beaned in the head with a drumstick that a roady had thrown from the stage in the next instance a water bottle with a piece of paper taped to it flew right into my hands.... It was the set list!!
After that excitement we held our spots as we watched The decemberists on then next stage over. We could clearly hear a couple of the songs and could see the big screens pretty well. Finally Wilco came on. At this point we had been in the crowd for four and a half hours. They put on a very solid set. I love to see a band have a good time on stage. After that we caught a bit of The Black Keys who were burning it down for a huge crowd. After that I scored a free bar-b-que sandwich and we watched Coldplay who were actually really good with the Austin skyline behind them in the distance. Another great weekend in Austin and already I'm looking forward to next year.
The ride home was very entertaining. We listened to Funeral by The Arcade Fire six times on the way home. After the ipod crapped out we had to buy the album. I got a sweet new pair of addidas running shoes at the outlet. We also learned PG is a crappy driver and it is easier then you think to misplace a car.

1 comment:

Dodge said...

ACL was fun...word!