Although the 60% threat of rain lingered throughout Friday, Saturday morning dawned clear and bright and the forecast of the day was mostly clear until late evening. Although I’d planned to take it easy in the morning and evaluate the weather, the good news propelled me out of bed, and I rushed down to Zilker Park for the onset of ACL Day Two and the day’s first set by outstanding garage rock quartet Parquet Courts. As pleased as I was to see some local and indie love on the ACL lineup, it feels like ACL did a disservice to both Wild Nothing and Parquet Courts–two outstanding acts that were slated so early in the day many missed them.
Parquet Courts are one of those bands that simply delivers incredible sound in a live setting. Fueled by crunchy guitars, quick tempos and lyrics that reflect anxious hopefulness and and world-weary observations, Parquet Courts are the kind of artist that came up in bars and clubs, proving DIY is still alive. Their first release was a cassette, and their debut album saw a small release by one of the members before What’s Your Rupture? picked it up for reissue earlier this year. The band kicked off their set with standout song “Borrowed Time” and saved album title-track “Light Up Gold” for near the end. If you missed them, you missed one of the weekends best acts.
Autre Ne Veut creates an entirely different kind of music, one that had me concerned about the reactions of a 1:00 PM sun bathed ACL crowd. Arthur Ashin’s soulful croons stretch out over experimental loops, beats, and synth-scapes, creating music that works best soaked in blue and red lights in some late night warehouse dance party. However, the early-rising crowd did get their dance on a bit for the set, and Ashin seemed too entranced by his own introspective songs of heartbreak to worry about us very much, ambling all about the stage haphazardly and, once, falling to the stage and pressing his face to the floor.
Autre Ne Veut’s Anxiety has been one of my favorite albums of the year so far, and the set was solid. Album highlights “Play by Play” and “Ego Free Sex Free” (for which a video just dropped) found places early in the set, while Ashin saved essential selection “Counting” for the closer. I suspect that those who caught Autre Ne Veut’s night show at the Parish during weekend one got the true treat, but his daytime appearance during the festival proved solid as well.
Another electronic act, Grimes, was among the best performers of the day, again sidestepping my expectations for which acts would be well received without the cover of darkness. Grimes, aka Claire Boucher, bounced onto stage with all the energy of a pixie, glitter encircling her visage. With keys and synths strewn with brightly colored flowers, the pop princess launched into a set of ethereal layers of electronic sounds. The slew of high school age boys and girls all waiting to see Kendrick Lamar seemed surprised to be so enamored with Grimes electronic pop as the beats compelled them to dance. Everyone loved “Oblivion” even though Boucher seemed to lose track of the lyrics.
As with Autre Ne Veut, I was impressed with Boucher’s ability to command a daytime audience with her nighttime tunes. Backup dancers flanked her on either side and added a visual spectacle to the live set, although Boucher did her part to move from behind her keyboards to the front of the stage. Onstage, she was enthusiastic and excitable, almost effusive, discussing her love of Pokemon and bantering about being a Canadian struggling with the intense heat of Texas. Her persona struck a much different tone than the last performance of hers I caught when dim lighting washed over skeleton-costume clad keyboardists almost motionless behind their instruments.
Most of the festival goers in my immediate vicinity had waited patiently through Grimes to see Kendrick Lamar, and indeed as second-tier headliners were concerned, his crowd must have been the largest of the weekend. Lamar began his set a few minutes earlier, which I don’t believe has happened at a rap show ever. And I’m not dissing him, I was ecstatic, as one who has been perpetually unimpressed with the posturing and aloof stage antics of some hip-hop acts I’ve seen. Lamar connected with the crowd between songs insisting that everyone be live so that he’d be live so the night would be live. Surprisingly, he dropped “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” early in the set, but most fans appeared to be in it for the duration, an impressive show of support for this young artist.
Although Lamar was essentially the end of my night of coverage as I didn’t dare compete with the throng of decades old Cure fans, I did stand near the back of the crowd and watch Robert Smith and co. perform the first several songs of their set. I was thrilled to catch “A Night Like This,” a song I hadn’t necessarily expected to hear as well as shocked that “Lovesong” came so early in the set at fourth. Even “Love Cats” was played a little over half way through, though the band did save “Boys Don’t Cry” for the finale. I always wrestle with whether seeing an act of The Cure’s status in an environment like ACL is an enjoyable novelty or a frustrating disgrace. Although I’m still not convinced, I did sincerely enjoy hearing the songs I heard.
I didn’t know it would be the last evening of my ACL 2013 experience, and although Friday and Saturday afforded some great listening experiences, I was sad to miss Atoms For Peace, The National, Phosphorescent, Phoenix, and others on the final cancelled day of the festival. All we have now is looking forward to ACL 2014. See full gallery of images from Day two below. All pictures © Bryan Parker & Pop Press International. Click any image to open in slideshow viewer.
