ACL recap

ACL was great!! the weather was great, although still pretty hot on friday and saturday. i have crispy brown shoulders, legs, feet, neck, and a peeling face to prove it. but enough about that...let's get to the important stuff - the MUSIC!! here is who i had a chance to see and my thoughts on each:

FRIDAY~
david ford - started out my acl weekend and did not disappoint. of the singer/songwriter genre and he ended on a song called 'state of the union' which was awesome. he did this pedal action where you sing or do some sort of beat or melody on your guitar and record it and it plays back. then you keep layering more and more and pretty soon it's like you have a full band and backup singers. if youve been to a howie day show lately, he does it and other people are starting to do it more and more. if that makes no sense at all, sorry.
paolo nutini - hes become a recent fave and i cannot tell you enough to check this kid out. i LOVE him
guster - didnt play any of my ultimate favorites but the set was still good
matt nathanson - listened to a few songs but he's so obscene in between songs that i lost interest and headed to gnarls barkley early
gnarls barkley - pretty good...lots of energy
gomez - very good. played my fav - "see the world"
los lonely boys - great guitar playing, great singing. had to get my fill of some 'texican' music
ray lamontagne - love him...always good live
john mayer - absolutely fantastic. played some old stuff, new stuff, get his new album if you dont have it - its very very good
van morrison - good ole van - who doesnt love van morrison!?

SATURDAY~
wasnt too excited about sat so we got a late start.
galactic - jam band and they did just that. very good
ben kweller -almost - we walked to his stage halfway thru his set and everyone was walking towards us. he had evidently gotten a bloody nose even before he started his set yet played for 30 minutes with blood going everywhere. yeah, im kinda glad i missed that treat. maybe he needs to take it easy on the nose candy? yeah.
nada surf - eeh...ok
the shins - pretty good. i was actually super tired at this point so i might have taken a brief nap during the end of the set but that in no way reflects their show
calexico - eeh...ok
what made milwaukee famous - eeh...ok
iron and wine - very good...he had quite a bit of more upbeat songs which i wasn't expecting but they were surprisingly good
willie nelson - honestly im not the hugest fan but it's willie, you can't not hear him right?

SUNDAY~
rocky votolato - it was pouring during his set but it didn't stop him from playing. and it was great...so great
the stills - a good little rock band
kt tunstall - i was looking forward to this show a lot and it was fantastic. she also does the pedal thing i was talking about earlier. she ended on 'suddenly i see' - my favorite!
matisyahu - you can't understand a word this guy is saying but it's entertaining. definitely a crowd pleaser
matt costa - didnt get to hear as much of him as i would have liked but what i heard was good
new pornographers - heard bits and pieces as i was walking around on a hunt for a fan. good though
ben harper - 3rd time to see him at acl and still good. he did a cover of neil young's 'heart of gold' and g love came out during another song
new orleans social club - one of my favorites of the entire weekend. these jazz groups are ALWAYS the best. there is so much energy at their shows - i would love to see them at one of the big stages one year
tom petty - closed out the weekend and it was awesome. there was a short break in the middle when it started pouring but he came back out, finished the set, and then did a 3 song encore. played all the crowd favorites -free fallin, last dance, learning to fly, american girl etc. etc. i loved every second.

so, all in all, a success in my book. always is. and now i get to start looking forward to ACL 2007!