Austin City Limits Fest
Through a happy accident, I ended up with a free wristband to ACL's first weekend. The festival is going through some big metamorphosis. They've moved it out of the hell weeks of summer to October and this year they had two weekends instead of one. Despite both the Cure and Depeche Mode headlining, I didn't buy a wristband. I already had tickets to see Depeche Mode in Brooklyn, and I didn't feel like spending a couple hundred dollars for a big outdoor festival. The full lineup only had a handful of bands I knew, so I wasn't too sad about missing the shows. Until a free wristband fell in my lap two days before the show started. Then I was super excited to hang out with my friends. I studied the food court map more than the music listings.
There were many annoyances of large festivals - insane traffic, our city's terrible public transit not running effectively, 90 degree weather, a billion hipsters. But the shuttles were reasonably organized, it was easy to get water, the weather cooled off on Saturday, the food court was delicious and it was overall really damn beautiful. Also you could buy a giant plastic squeeze bottle like the kind bike riders have, but instead of water it was full of cheap wine. That's really a magical thing. I ate a delicious coffee popsicle, a banh mi sandwich and a great thai chicken sandwich. I am sad I failed to get an ice cream sandwich.
So Friday there was Depeche Mode, and we managed some ridiculously close spots in the crowd. My only regret really is that my feet were killing me and there wasn't enough room to dance in that crowd. But it was close enough, and there were several thousand people around us who knew the words. Dave Gahan sexed up his performance even more than the Brooklyn show. He did a lot of crotch grabbing and ass shaking in that slinky way of his. Through it all he was grinning. During "Policy of Truth" he got down with his microphone stand and at that moment in time it was the sexiest thing I've seen in ages. They also did "Walking in My Shoes" which remains one of my favorite songs ever from Depeche Mode. It has all the rage and darkness and beauty.
Saturday was the Cure, which I haven't seen since the late 1990s with my high school friends. This time I was smarter - the first hour we spent up close near the stage. (Though I have to say, I encountered one of the rudest jack asses I've ever encountered at a concert and I seriously thought about setting him on fire.) They slammed through some of the dark goth-y glory of Disintegration right off the bat. Then it was "Fascination Street," which is the song that made me fall in love with them. I then fought my way back through the ground to the more open ground up the hill where people were dancing. I laid down in the grass while the front blew in with cold winds and the sky looked like the ocean at night, flecked with the beams of spotlights. They played more of my favorites, like "Doing the Unstuck" and I enjoyed that solitary experience so much. It was perfect.
I wish I had some way to armor myself with that alchemy, that dark and music and colored lights flashing out with the great booming sound overhead that distills so many things down to just a few words and notes. That we could always be there, saved in that sound.
There were many annoyances of large festivals - insane traffic, our city's terrible public transit not running effectively, 90 degree weather, a billion hipsters. But the shuttles were reasonably organized, it was easy to get water, the weather cooled off on Saturday, the food court was delicious and it was overall really damn beautiful. Also you could buy a giant plastic squeeze bottle like the kind bike riders have, but instead of water it was full of cheap wine. That's really a magical thing. I ate a delicious coffee popsicle, a banh mi sandwich and a great thai chicken sandwich. I am sad I failed to get an ice cream sandwich.
So Friday there was Depeche Mode, and we managed some ridiculously close spots in the crowd. My only regret really is that my feet were killing me and there wasn't enough room to dance in that crowd. But it was close enough, and there were several thousand people around us who knew the words. Dave Gahan sexed up his performance even more than the Brooklyn show. He did a lot of crotch grabbing and ass shaking in that slinky way of his. Through it all he was grinning. During "Policy of Truth" he got down with his microphone stand and at that moment in time it was the sexiest thing I've seen in ages. They also did "Walking in My Shoes" which remains one of my favorite songs ever from Depeche Mode. It has all the rage and darkness and beauty.
Saturday was the Cure, which I haven't seen since the late 1990s with my high school friends. This time I was smarter - the first hour we spent up close near the stage. (Though I have to say, I encountered one of the rudest jack asses I've ever encountered at a concert and I seriously thought about setting him on fire.) They slammed through some of the dark goth-y glory of Disintegration right off the bat. Then it was "Fascination Street," which is the song that made me fall in love with them. I then fought my way back through the ground to the more open ground up the hill where people were dancing. I laid down in the grass while the front blew in with cold winds and the sky looked like the ocean at night, flecked with the beams of spotlights. They played more of my favorites, like "Doing the Unstuck" and I enjoyed that solitary experience so much. It was perfect.
I wish I had some way to armor myself with that alchemy, that dark and music and colored lights flashing out with the great booming sound overhead that distills so many things down to just a few words and notes. That we could always be there, saved in that sound.