ACLfest 09 Day Three

Sunday of Austin City Limits had the dubious distinction of hosting one of those moments where the confluence of shared joy and shared adversity (such as it was) forged a memorable event: rain, and then, inevitably, mud, and lots of it. Setting aside civic concerns (pity the beautiful park!) as well as health and, well, cleanliness, it was definitely one of those defining days where people years hence will say they were at the Muddy ACL. It is perhaps the third such event in the festival's brief 8 years - following Dust, and Hot. And barring a massive mud-borne disease outbreak (not probable, per the city), it will likely survive as the most pleasant of the three.

Of note on the final day of ACL 09 were the Editors-like quasi-dirge of White Lies, the southern gothic gloom of The Dead Weather (though some Jack White fatigue was in evidence in the crowd), and of course, Pearl Jam. Who were...well...Pearl Jam.

Standing out amongst, either good or bad, were the Arctic Monkeys, who had a cleaner sound than in previous years, but also a more boilerplate one, as though perhaps Alex Turner were more enthused about his Last Shadow Puppets side project. Likewise Passion Pit, who, though good, had a difficult time rendering their studio sound live - either faithfully or as a stand-alone product.

In the "festival pleaser" slot was most definitely Girl Talk, who had fun utilizing the giant screens to play with the crowd, 'dance, Austinite, dance!' style. But it was all in good fun. And though Greg Gillis was masterful at slicing and dicing disparate sounds, it was nevertheless interesting to note that pretty much none of it was original at its source, and so thoughts on his inclusion could well be compared to opinions on whether collage is an appropriate art form for a gallery (in my opinion, it is). Many others do what Gillis does, and just as well - Austin's own Car(Stereo)Wars among them - but Girl Talk does have what those others don't: a 25,000 people audience, if not more (three other acts were playing at the same time).

Although it could reasonably be argued that both the "festival pleasure" and "biggest disappointment" slots could be taken by that mud - fans of Raul Malo no doubt the former, given the large amount of mud-dancing and slop-surfing that reigned during that stand-out performance. Fans of the park's pristine (and, honestly, short-lived) beauty probably the latter. In fairness, though, C3 (who puts on both ACLfest and Lollapalooza in Chicago) is largely responsible for the nice parkland in the first place, and city officials claim the damage looks far more severe than it really is.

Aside from fans of music, two other contingents could be said to have benefited broadly from the event. First would be the sport of cross-country skiing, as tens of thousands quite naturally discovered that similar graceful movements facilitate covering vast mud-fields, and are now primed for the sport (if only there were snow around these parts). The other would be shoe companies. Thanks to ACL, a good 50,000 pairs of shoes likely need to be replaced.

The rest rocked (or rolled) barefoot.

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