Under Cover in Austin

Zedd, 10/20/03

A while ago, my friend, the Dowist, mentioned this huge music festival in Austin Texas, the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Apparently, it was to have over 130 bands and be headlined by REM, blah blah blah. Well, the Dowist came into town last month and started rapping about how we should get some tickets off of Ebay and take a road trip down to the Festival. After a while, I started to cave and we ended up getting two tickets for $100. Not a bad deal, since they would have been $75 each if we had payed full price. We had to pay $16 to have them overnighted to us, but that’s still way cheaper than buying them from the box office. We even ended up finding a friend of a friend to stay with down in Austin, which saved us some more dough.

So, we got the tickets on monday and the Festival started on friday. No problem. 1500 miles isn’t that far, is it? The first night, we camped in Nashville and played at the Cedar Hill Park disc golf course. The next night, we camped in Pittsburg, TX. Go figure. Then we were in Austin. Hot damn! We turned in our tickets for wristbands, and we were ready to go. The next day dawned bright and early, and we went down to the park to catch the first band. Here are the rest of the bands that I caught, in order of their appearance (disclaimer…I have no idea what I’m talking about. Don’t listen to a word I say about these bands):

Day One

Midlake: We got there in plenty of time to check out the first band of the festival, Midlake. They are an entertaining band with a somewhat Radioheadish sound. If I happened to come across them again I guess I’d go see them, as long as it didn’t cost much money. Their guitarist made funny faces.

Spacetruck: After Midlake, we went over to a different stage to check out a band called the Damnations. Unfortunately, they were a country band, and both the Dowist and I hate country. One good part about this blunder was that I ran into some guy who was juggling. I went up to him and juggled for a bit and he told me that there were some other jugglers around. Consequently, I brought in my juggling clubs for day two. Anyway, after not really paying any attention at all to the Damnations, we headed back to where Midlake had played to see a band called Spacetruck. I have no complaints about their show and would definitely see them again.

Particle: Particle kicked some ass. They are actually opening for Widespread Panic at the AJ Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh this weekend, but it costs $30, and I won’t be in town anyway. Alas, I didn’t have the presense of mind to snap any pictures. I guess I would call them sort of a jam band.

Liz Phair: Liz Phair is hot. And she sings about blowjobs and getting laid and stuff. What more can you ask for? I’m going to buy her first album, Exile in Guyville sometime. She can be my blowjob queen and fuck me till my dick is blue any day as is promised in one of her songs. On an interesting sidenote, she opened for The Who when I saw them perform Quadrophenia in 1996. She was playing with a band called the Muffdivers. That sort of caught my attention, even back then. Unfortunately, I coulnd’t verify this on the internet, but I’m still sticking to my story. SPECIAL REQUEST(10/23/2003):As requested, here is some info about her performance. I haven’t listened to all of her cds enough to say what she played from where, but I know she played some stuff from her first cd, exile in guyville, eg. the song where she wants to be my blowjob queen (flower) and a song that I believe is called ‘Fuck and Run.’ I would definitely say that her performance was rockin’ and not poppin.’ ~zedd

Galactic: Another jam band sort of thing. I enjoyed their music and was bummed out when I had to leave to meet up with the Dowist before Steve Winwood came on. Oh well. Go see them.

Steve Winwood: A veteran of such bands as Blind Faith and Traffic, Steve Winwood really knows how to rock. He went back to his earlier roots and played an organ for most of the show. I recognized a lot of his older stuff, and it was a really good performance. If he comes around and you like Blind Faith and/or Traffic, I would recommend checking him out. Oh yeah, one of the guitarists looks like a pirate. Pretty cool.

Al Green: He’s a legend. Enough said.


Day Two

South Austin Jug Band: I just caught a little bit of these guys, but they were cool.

Corn Mo: I also only caught a little of this guy, but he’s funny as hell. The Dowist caught his whole spiel and really liked it.

The Dandy Warhols: The Dowist was really jazzed to see these guys. He’s a big fan. I enjoyed their show too. It may have partly been due to the fact that there was one row of ppl between me and the stage. Pretty cool. I liked their stage performance better than their latest album. It was more in-your-face and rocking. Some guy was getting his groove on in the VIP section during their show. The girl said ‘hi’ to him and obviously knew who he was.

Los Lobos: I didn’t really listen to much of these guys. I met some jugglers and passed with them for quite a while. Hi Roger, Jim, Randy, etc.

Drive-By Truckers: I kinda did a drive-by viewing of their performance. Don’t remember much.

Nickel Creek: I wanted to see Nickel Creek because I had heard a bunch about them from up near school and whatnot. I was not disappointed. I liked their show enough to buy one of their cds, and maybe I’ll buy some more sometime. They do a bluegrass-type-show.

The String Cheese Incident: The String Cheese Incident opened with Another Brick in the Wall II. They even had a giant helium pig that was guided throughout the audience during the show. They also did several other covers. I like jam bands, so I enjoyed these guys. I know a bunch of ppl who are really into them. These ppl usually like the Grateful Dead and/or Phish as well.


Day Three

The Shins: A good show. The guy made another appearance here. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my camera up fast enough to catch him.

Soulive: Another jam band. Good show.

Doyle Bramhall: Kind of a blues act. Very Enjoyable.

The Polyphonic Spree: Like 20 ppl in white robes playing instruments and singing. An odd but good act. As you can see, the weird VIP dude made another appearance. This time on stage.

Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe: I did some solo juggling during this show. It was great to juggle to. Thanks to the cute gals who watched my bag while I juggled and that dude who taught me some stuff about twirling.

Ween: Yeah, these guys were good too. Check them out if you get the chance.

R.E.M.: Lance Armstrong introduced R.E.M., the headliners for the ACLfest. They all of their big songs and a bunch of not so big songs too. I really had to piss throughout the whole show, but I couldn’t go anywhere. We were about 25 feet or so back from the stage. It was a good move to see Ween instead of Ben Harper because it was at the same stage and allowed us to get way up front. As I said in the forums, they rocked.

Quite a few bands, eh? Yeah, I thought so too, but it kicked ass.

After we left Austin, the Dowist and I headed to Houston to check out the NASA space center. It wasn’t bad, and we saw some armadillos at the campsite. Then we headed for Beaumont, TX for the sake of frisbee golf. We also checked out Joe’s Crab Shack for a seafood fix. It was decent. That night we made it to Quitman, MS and stumbled upon a state park to camp in that had a frisbee golf course. What luck!!! It was a very nice place to camp, as well, despite being in a dry county. Damnit!!! We actually drove around looking for beer, and ,when we couldn’t find any, I asked a man outside a gas station if he knew where we could get some. He laughed at us and said “Man, ain’t you know this be a dry county?” I shit you not. The next day, we drove 17 hours and arrived home. Unfortunately, I had picked up a hitchhiker in my pants that bit me 27 timed during those 17 hours. Ouch!!!

And I’m spent.