Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Initial judgment on ACL line-up

As I suggested, the line-up took me by surprise in several ways. I am unimpressed with the presumed headliners but in all honesty, I am usually not too interested in the ACL headliners. The great finds are usually in smaller type (e.g. Spiritualized, M. Ward, Yeasayer, Man Man). But still, Foo Fighters as the main act?! Maybe I'm out of touch, but I just don't see them as that type of draw. Am I completely off base?

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss is a great selection. Midnight-Vulture-Beck will be awesome. Sea-Change-Beck not so good. Fogerty is the token old fogie. Mars Volta is a shocker for ACL, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless. Also excited about David Byrne, though I think we'd all prefer a Talking Heads reunion. Happy to see Gillian Welch on there...in fact, there's a distinct blue-grassy vibe to the line-up, much to the excitement of my wife.

So, it may not be a mind-blower of a line-up but it's definitely top-notch and more importantly, not a retread of past line-ups. Response on the web appears to be strongly negative on the more vocal of message boards, but I'm in no way disappointed. Lots of great acts to see (I count about 25 on my wish list) but as always, it will all come down to the schedule.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sea Changes Beck is the best Beck. Don't knock it. Though a festival would be more suiting for a MV Beck