When I saw the lineup for ACL this year, I was overwhelmed. I consider myself pretty music savvy, but there were A LOT of names I didn’t know. So I did what any resourceful person would do. I found an ACL playlist on Spotify and started listening at random, to discover who I wanted to go see.
Here’s my schedule:
LP
I think it took 20 seconds of Into The Wild for me to stop everything I was doing and make her first on my list. People have also told me this song is on a credit card commercial. I don’t watch TV so thankfully I don’t have to associate that with all her loveliness. Her concert was phenom. The rest of the group went to Delta Spirit, but my soul sista (Lorelei) and I opted for her. Wise decision, folks. Wise decision.
From there we tried to make it to Esperanza Spalding, but the crowd was so thick that we couldn’t hear her from way in the back. So we went back to other stage for Trampled by Turtles.
After Trampled, the gang wanted to head to the main stage for Florence + The Machine. Other than Dog Days, I don’t know any other songs, but I figured I’d go see what the fuss was all about anyway. She opened with “Only If For A Night” and I froze. The music, the instruments, and how the harmony of their voices undulated over the crowd… I was hypnotized. Goosebumps. Her voice is incredibly powerful and she’s a very theatrical performer. Sold! Sold! Sold! I may or may not have had Only If For A Night on repeat since then. Ok I have.
After Florence, I left the group and ran (yes, ran) to Thievery Corporation on the other side of the park. It takes so damn long to get to each stage so you really have to plan. I caught the last 30 minutes of their show and they still, to this day, put on one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen.
The Black Keys were closing out but some of us opted for AVICII instead. I’m usually the only electronic lover in the house, but I managed to recruit a few and they loved him! He played from the top of a giant head. Take that, techno haters.
Musicians who were on my schedule that I didn’t have time for:
- Infantree
- Justin Jones
- Alabama Shakes (SUPER bummed I missed them)
- M83