ACL Lineup Announced To Yawns (Mine)

FYI – M.I.A. is NOT a 80’s Punk Rock Band, and maybe you should listen to some Phish before denouncing them with a knee-jerk reaction like that.

Sweet blahg!

You sound like a blast to be around

What, you got a problem with us?

gillyfish — I’ve listened to Phish, which is why I’m able to comment with such substantial insight and eloquence on their crappy music.

Chongg — Yes, I am indeed a blast to be around, just ask my court-appointed psychologist.

Captain & Tenille — I’d rather listen to you than the Eagles. “Muskrat Love” forever!

(The guy who wrote “Muskrat Love” — longtime Austin songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey — would make a better headliner than the Eagles, Phish, or C&T.)

Alright, now that I’ve ranted, let me give kudos to ACL for scoring some damn cool bands this year, including the Flaming Lips, Vampire Weekend, Ryan Bingham, and, just to show I’m not ageist, Blues Traveler.

The Flaming Lips are festival whores. They’d play your backyard barbecue if you told them your two neighbors were coming. Vampire Weekend has two good songs. Or maybe 300. They all sound the same.

I was trying to be nice, Anthony.

Truth is, it’s a yawn-inducing lineup for the $85 (per day) ticket price.

P.S. I meant what I said about Blues Traveler — their songs are unique and John Popper is the best harmonica player ever.

Look beyond the top 5 headliners and you’ll find some amazing bands: The National, Morning Benders, Local Natives, Yeasayer, and The Black Keys to name a few.

What does “HB” stand for — “Hears Badly?”

You obviously don’t listen to much music or you didn’t read past the headliners….LCD soundsystem, vampire weekend, white rabbits, broken bells, blind pilot, hockey, Matt & Kim, Amos lee, Pete yorn, Charlie mars, spoon……ALL good….seriously, do your research….

You sir are an idiot. You obviously didn’t read the complete line up. You mixed up an obscure 80’s punk band with a genre bending international pop star for cripes sake. If you are going to try to make yourself sound like an elitest D-bag at least attempt to know what you’re are talking about. Just because you have a problem with like 3 of the 130+ bands which include Sonic Youth and The Strokes( which your golden boys The Burning Hotels ripped off completely), you are willing to write off a festival that draws thousands of people to our awesome state and shows the country that we know what we are talking about at least in music. Why don’t you just keep listening to talk radio and your books on cd and leave the real music journalism to the professionals. Just keep writing post complaining about the oil and gas industry, or the mayor, or the governor, or the guy that forgot the half pump of sugar-free vanilla in your half-caf soy latte.

I’m no hippie, but I realize Phish is extremely talented, and all the people that think Phish is just some hippie band are going to be very surprised at how hard they ROCK in concert. Fucface, you might have listened to some Phish, but you’ve never seen them live. I guarantee it.

You’d think a genre bending international pop star could come up with an original name.

I never said Phish wasn’t talented, they noodle around very well although it would be nice if they found a melody once in a while.

Austin City Limits (the TV program) was 10 times better in its early incarnation when it focused on Texas talent with the occasional killer outsider band. Now I barely watch the show because it wants to be all things to everybody. This year’s lineup strikes me in that same way.

Final thought: I express my opinions about music, TV, arts, religion, horny toads, technology, boxers vs. briefs, Jennifer Lopez, and life in general on this blog site. I welcome and enjoy reading all your responses, even the ones that call me “fucface,” D-bag, and idiot.

Bring it on beeyotches! But watch your stress levels for chrissakes — it can lead to hypertension.

Think about it, if Austin City Limits just had people from Texas only people in Texas would watch it which isn’t necessarily bad but how would that draw national attention to Austin or the state of Texas. The fact that they get these great national acts to come on the show expresses the fact of our significance as a culturally significant state and not the ethical and cultural backwards state that some of the rest of the country views us as.

ACL, like Bonnaroo in Tennessee and Lolapalooza in Illinois, draws people from all around the country. It’s financially good for the state, although I’m not sure having the Flaming Lips singing “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” is going to upgrade our cultural status any.

But Austin City Limits became big around the country after its debut in 1976 because it was on public TV and it was unique, focusing on regional bands of all sorts — country, rock, blues, funk, and just about everything else. All the musical styles were held together by that tangible Texas thread. I recall being in Michigan in the early 1980s and people telling me how much they dug Austin City Limits. Texas spawns more than our share of great musicians. People outside our state obviously liked seeing that talent.

It truly is a dull lineup, especially compared to Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. But why care about the quality of the lineup if they will sell out tix even before artists are announced.

ACL Festival has very little to do with the Austin City Limits TV show other than licensing its name for use in the festival production.

this is the worst goddamned lineup ive ever seen anywhere. with the exception of sonic youth, spoon and asleep at the wheel, anyone who is moronic enough to show up to something like this is getting what they deserve, a big wide shoe’d kick in the balls.