I say obligatory, because I've been re-reading my old festival review posts (Intonation ('05), Lollapalooza ('05), Pitchfork ('07)) to figure out if it's always been this much work to get our "money's worth" out of a festival. My conclusion is that ACL was, in fact, a mistake. Next year we'll be doing afterparties only.
Friday
Mates of State where dependably enjoyable. It's funny to see a band like them on a festival stage. They fit better in bowling alleys and tiny pubs. On a big stage, they look lonely, too far apart from each other. It's also odd to see them with other people (strings section) on stage.
We left after about 2/3 of the set, to go see Jenny Lewis at the WaMu JP Morgan/Chase stage. Unfortunately, the stage had an awkward roof and bleachers, so that if you weren't queued up early, you couldn't see or hear her. That was a lot of my issue with the fest, that for every set you had to try to beat the crowd there…
Friday
Mates of State where dependably enjoyable. It's funny to see a band like them on a festival stage. They fit better in bowling alleys and tiny pubs. On a big stage, they look lonely, too far apart from each other. It's also odd to see them with other people (strings section) on stage.
We left after about 2/3 of the set, to go see Jenny Lewis at the WaMu JP Morgan/Chase stage. Unfortunately, the stage had an awkward roof and bleachers, so that if you weren't queued up early, you couldn't see or hear her. That was a lot of my issue with the fest, that for every set you had to try to beat the crowd there…
