That's right, the official Austin City Limits Fesitval starts in mere moments. If you're in town and don't have a ticket, you should def check craigslist cause there's a lot of folks selling 3 day passes for around $100.
Last night I caught the Manu Chao show at Stubb's. There was no opening act just a 2hr set by Manu Chao. Overall I would give it a B or B+, it wasn't an A for me because I felt there were far too many punk rock breakdowns. It sounded like Gogol Bordello covering Manu Chao songs in a lot of spots. However, to be fair it could be just that my expectations were more focused on hearing a nice reggae skank and instead I got a French/Central American punk rock band. I can see why he is a headliner though, Manu Chao and his band were full of energy. They were all directing the crowd to jump and clap throughout the entire set. Even the ballads demanded fist pumping with call and response parts, so if you are hitting the fest tonight you won't be dissapointed by Manu Chao.
Preview tonight's after-parties after the jump...
Friday night sees the most after party action of this whole fest. Here's a list of what's happening:
G. Love & Special Sauce at La Zona Rosa (612 West Fourth St.)
Doors at 10 p.m., Show at 11 p.m.
Gnarls Barkley and CSS at Stubb’s BBQ
Doors 8 p.m., show 9 p.m.
Jamie Lidell w/ Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears at The Parish (214 E. Sixth St.)
Doors at 10 p.m., show at 11 p.m.
Drive By Truckers w/ Shooter Jennings at Emo’s (603 Red River St.)
Doors at 10 p.m., Show at 10:30 p.m.
Heartless Bastards w/ Dead Confederate & Wax Fang at Emo’s (Indoors, 603 Red River St.)
Doors at 10 p.m., Show at 10:30 p.m.
Car Stereo Wars at Emo’s Lounge
Doors at 10 p.m., show 11 p.m.
Rolling Stone presents The Cool Kids, Voxtrot and Belaire at the Mohawk
Doors at 8 p.m.
Afrobonics 1: The Melting Pot at the Whisky Bar
DJs Chicken George, Aquaman Chill with horns and percussion from the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra
Doors at 10 p.m.
ACL Afterhours at the Beauty Bar
Inside: Prince Klassen, Bird Peterson
Outside: AUX, Ume, The Steps, Always Already
Doors at 9 p.m.
The Rolling Stone party is RSVP but I'm not going to bother with the link because they aren't taking any more RSVPs. However, I went to an RSVP event sponsored by PASTE magazine at Emo's last night and not only did they not care about "the list" they didn't even have a list. So, if you want to go the show at the Mohawk tonight, just show up early and act like you're supposed to be there. Another good trick is to pretend you don't know their having an event and you just wanted a Lone Star real quick. Good luck and godspeed dear reader. If you are headed to Zilker for the fest don't forget your dang sunscreen!
If you're not headed to the fest you can watch it on your computer here. And/or you can hear it on XM radio.
Here's a vid of Manu Chao live so you can judge for yourself:
Manu Chao - La Primavera & Radio Bemba video via YouTube
