Heat cools, music fades. ACL Fest on Sunday As I pulled out of town I dialed up my favorite Austin station KGSR 107.1 and after a few mellow Texas tunes the DJ threw on some Sting. "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You." I usually hate that song. Just flat out loathe it. But for some reason as I was cruising along I-35 at 75 mph, top down on the convertible, Sting blaring, for some reason the moment just seemed absolutely right.

Yesterday I attended ACL Festival down in Austin. Part of me would have loved to be there for all three days but damn if it wouldn't have beat me down. I went down there with the anticipation of partly cloudy weekend with a slight chance of rain. I even heard of "Rita Hates Rock Music" t-shirts being sold. Rita of course as we know skewed East and spared most of Texas, including Austin, where Sunday we supposedly hit 108-ish. And I felt every degree of it standing there bathing in a mix of sweat, spreading sunburn, and amazing music. I didn't bring my camera mainly because I didn't want to lull it around, but Chris had his so I might steal some pictures to post later on. We started the day in San Antonio, where we met up the night before with Rob and Casey and decided to head down there for a game of Scrabble. We wound up crashing and awaking early to drive back up to Austin to pick my Mom up at her hotel and get her to the airport. After a quick meal and a shower we headed out to the park where we hooked up with some of Chris' friends who we'd spend the day off and on with. Moving from the New Amsterdams to Eisley we just continued to revel in the day. Eisley was simply amazing and they were grateful and apologetic to all of us standing in the heat listening to them--which was cool. But the heat had only begun by that point. So about two bottles of water later Doves came on, and it just continued to get better. It was all a predecessor though to who would come next. Three words: The Arcade Fire. French Candian, yes, and the energy level was something I had never seen before on stage. Obviously the heat didn't bother them as they jumped around in black suits and dresses with hand warmers. It was so brilliant. So alive. It was during the heat of the day and I'll admit that despite constant water it was even getting to my Caribbean-toned skin. Still when it was all over the only sunburn came on the top of my head and on the side of my neck facing the sun as I moved around to the music on the West side of the park.
We next moved down to join some of the group at the East side of the stage where Colplay would eventually be jamming. I wanted to meander back and catch Wilco but once we made our way to the ground and the shade I decided to hell with it and stuck around for Franz Ferdinand, those Scottish goofy bastards. Wild energy, smooth jams, good show. By the time they were winding up the sun had finally started to set and we al began to realize that a massive cloud of dust was filling the sky. It was a beautiful scene really, the mob of sweaty people, all sharing in the mess. Coldplay finally came on and Chris Martin couldn't shut up about the amazing show The Arcade Fire put on earlier. Which didn't get old to me since I agreed, but I just hoped it wouldn't spoil their music for me. (I jammed to Funeral almost the entire way home today, and it just seems to keep getting better, so that's great. Martin kept bringing them up which got some jabs from the audience around me, as well as myself at one point, but it was all derserving. Their music is it, and their love show was by far the most powerful of the day). Then of course Coldplay gave us everything a rock show could hope for. Music, lights, special effects, audience interaction and sing-a-longs. Most everyone knew the lyrics so the whole crowd was singing along and swaying. Their set allowed for everyone to feel connected to each other having survived the heat and the dust and the crowds to just experience the night. Let the day pass away and experience the final show of the weekend, and some 70,000 of us did. What a excellent experience.  ¶ 9/26/2005 08:49:00 PM