We skipped ACL this year - after three years of mediocre to unpleasant experience w/ the festival, there are no regrets. I had a weak moment on Friday with all the excitement and buzz, but then it started to rain and I remembered ACL 2003. I suppose that’s better than the dust and heat from last year, but still, not my cuppa.
Instead, Jef and I went to La Zona Rosa to see an ACL aftershow with Guster and Gomez. I’m a huge Guster fan, so I was psyched to see them. I only knew two or three Gomez songs going in, but surprisingly their performance was actually my favorite of the night. They’d both played earlier in the day, and were spent, but Gomez gave it their everything, and Guster was good, but not mind blowing. Guster has been touring a LONG time, putting out albums since they were in college. I know artists have to do different things to stay fresh and find inspiration, but what they did to Airport was criminal. It broke my heart.
Back to Gomez. What made them so amazing? We saw part of their set a few years ago at ACL and they played mostly slow songs and it just droned. Maybe it was hot, or it didn’t translate well at an outdoor venue, but seeing them this time was a totally different experience. They had the crowd completely riled up and even though they were exhausted and they just kept pushing. At one point the guitar player went off on a looooong solo, starting slow and getting faster and faster until everyone was cheering and his hands were flying and when it was over, he teetered and said “I feel a bit nauseous now.” I love that they gave that much to us.
I’ll never give up on Guster, they are one of my all time favorites. I guess I just built them up so much, I didn’t meet my own expectations. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to head over to Rhapsody and look up Gomez songs.
September 19th, 2006 at 10:29 am
I caught part of Guster on Friday at Zilker–sounded great, even outside. Ten degrees cooler than last year, a little breeze and (at first) lots of grass = an entirely different and welcome ACL experience.
September 19th, 2006 at 4:53 pm
I thought the concert was great, but it seemed so LONG. We left when Guster was doing their encore. I thought both bands had good points, but Gomez tended to jam a LOT and Guster played too many slow songs. But still. . . I’m so glad I went. And it sold out! Who knew?! I didn’t know that so many people knew about the bands.
September 19th, 2006 at 5:31 pm
E - The concert was WAY long. But I think Gomez played forever and Guster played a normal set. Every time I thought Gomez was done, they did another 3 songs. I am psyched that it sold out, but at the same time, a little bummed that Dave Matthew’s frat-boy audience has infultrated the fold. We had to move to the back for Guster because I couldn’t take the hair flipping and “duuude!”ing. Just me?