So once in the gate, we made our way to Wildflower Stage to see the Sam Roberts Band play a great blend of garage rock/Beatle-esque pop. I've always really liked this guy a lot. Back when I used to work at Universal Music, I helped to promote his first album - "We Were Born in the Flame" - which still is an all time favorite of mine. I also met him and watched some epic shows at TT the Bears in Cambridge, MA. When i put out my first CD, I gave him a copy and he was cool enough to write back the very next morning and give me some feedback on it!!! (That is awesome in my book.) Unfortunately for his ACL set, he only played a couple songs from that first album but despite that, the new songs were really good.
After that we hid under our umbrella and ate some pizza and drank some beers, before heading over to catch one of my favorite shows of the day - Flogging Molly. There's something truly inspiring about seeing an Irish punk band play to a large crowd in the pouring rain. Even if you're not truly Irish, it impossible not to be sucked in to the hoopla of dancing bodies, waiving Irish flags in the air, and crowd surfing. One minute someone is knocking someone down in the pit, the next minute they have arms around each other singing at the top of their lungs like long lost brothers.
By the end of the show, we had to pee bad! So we walked across the festival grounds and found some stalls by the Bon Iver show. The lines were insanely long and by the end, it got so bad that we were racing people in the line beside us to get to the next open stall. I was able to sneak attack my way to the open stall after an hour of waiting, while my competitor turned away for a split second. I let out a "HAHA!" as my teamates cheered me on like an Olympic hero! It was a shining moment in a sea of shit and mud!
We did catch some of Bon Iver's set (who i freakin love) but there's just something about big festivals and tons of loud drunk people that just doesn't go well with his music. I felt the same way when he played at Bonnaroo. Don't get me wrong he is great live and he plays with a full band. So the songs do rock a little more in a Neil Young & Crazy Horse meets Hall and Oates kinda way, but it still doesn't come across too welll unless you can get a spot right up in front.
After this, Erin was a little cranky, so we went and had a seat and bought a bottle of white wine in a squirt bottle, that was very refreshing. We met up with some peeps while listening to the Zac Brown Band. I can't put my finger on why but there's something I really don't like about this guy's songs. His big hit - "Chicken Fried" plays at my work about 15 times per day. People say they loooove this song. One guy at work told me one day - "I think i'm finally coming around to this guy. I can totally relate with drinking beer on a Friday night and wearing a pair of jeans that fits just right, and turning the radio on and eating some chicken fried chicke." This song is likely to go down as the greatest redneck anthem ever along with "Sweet Home Alabama". Forty years from now, I'll be driving down the highway with my 5 year old son, and this song will come on the radio, and my kid will even say "Daddy can you turn this up? I love this song!". At that point, I am likely to pull the car over and never come back again. Sadly, I will probably try and struggle to block this song from my memory for the rest of my life. I may even look into shock therapy to do this............ anyway back to set............. the Zac Brown Band was pretty freakin good! They mostly played covers including "Devil Went Down to Georgia", and "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison. Everyone in his band was just plain sick on their instruments and of course when Zac Brown closed his set with "Chicken Fried", dedicating it to all the soldiers in Iraq; everyone sang along and gave it the largest crowd reaction of the weekend.
After this we made our way to my other favorite show of the day - The Decemberists! The band played their entire new album - "Hazards of Love" from start to finish, which seemed a pretty ballsy move for a festival crowd. But it was great! This was my first time hearing the new songs and was moved. Colin Meloy is a genius in my book. The band pulled from traditional Irish folk to big dynamic Led Zeppelin style bluesy rockers. Colin Meloy switched off on vocals with two other members. One reminded me a lot of PJ Harvey.
After this, we headed over to see the Dave Matthews Band, who I haven't seen since 2001 (which by the way was a great show!). To be honest, I really wasn't looking forward to this show, but was just interested in seeing what he's been up to since 2001. Dave Matthews is not someone I would typically go and see live so I figured this would be a good time to see him. For the first time since 2001, I've heard some new DMB songs on the radio that I have really liked. "Funny How it Is" is one of them and maybe one of my favorites of 2009. His band was super as usual and Tim Reynolds played guitar for the show, who is pretty insane! We ended up leaving about halfway through the set though......... then we headed home.......... Pearl Jam tomorrow night!
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