I Was A Tourist In My Own Town

Formula OneI know FFF9 is upon us, but I would like to reflect on Formula One. It is something you here on the news. It is what many of you mistakenly call that thing out there on the east side of the airport. A long time fan, F1 weekend is just like a music festival to me. It is three days of party and day-drinking. But F1 weekend, with help from Transmission, has actually been able to provide a bit of music festival to go with the festival of speed.

You see, having Circuit of the Americas in Austin is a rather special thing. It is the only track to host Formula One in the United States and that means nearly a half-billion worldwide viewers know where we are and what we do. It hosts MotoGP, Tudor United and World Endurance Championship. It also has a big-ass music venue and that cool Loch Ness monster looking tower. Like I said, it is kind of a big deal. COTA is also nice enough to host Fan Fest downtown. This year, I hit night one with the Haloween crowd Friday and was lucky enough to check out Duran Duran Saturday. You will get a few DD cause I already posted the big gallery, but you will get plenty of Broncho, Devotchka, De La Soul, crowd shots and stuff from the track. I skipped Kid Rock, though regretting that a little. O_o

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Show Pics: Duran Duran @ ACL Live (11/1)

Duran DuranIt was Formula One weekend in Austin. If you are oblivious, F1 is the biggest thing to hit Austin from a worldwide awareness perspective, ever. People from everywhere know that Austin is Live Music Capital of the World and has the best BBQ, period.

One other thing F1 brings is a few added festival type events, we’ll get into Fan Fest in a later post, but a special event like Duran Duran at ACL Live? I gotta go. I have proclaimed my love of DD before when they came for SxSW a few years back. They have influenced so many of the current crop of indie/pop/dance acts out there, no doubt. Throw in getting to see local boys Knifight open was an added treat.

Click through for pics and more thoughts on the evening from me and +1.

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Show Review: Ryan Adams @ ACL Live (10.23)

Ryan

Thursday night was Ryan Adams’ second night at the Moody Theater; the previous evening he taped an ACL TV program, but this time it was purely all about the jams. A testament to this was the two-hour, and-then-some long set that Adams’ and his band gave to the very enthusiastic crowd. Comedian Dave Hall opened the night with his funny act. Read on to find out more about the evening.

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Show Pics: Erasure @ ACL Live (10/18)

ErasureIf you don’t like Erasure, I don’t care. I do. The lady friends of my younger days liked Erasure, so I liked Erasure. …at least that was my excuse to the metal-head, skater bros friends I had. One of the best shows I saw last year was Erasure at the very same venue, so I had high expectations. And to help meet those expectations, instead of a DJ, the lads form London brought along LA’s Superhumanoids as the opener.

Click through for pics and a few more thoughts…

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Show Review: The National @ ACL Live (4/22)

The National

After last year’s RainCL debacle, many fans of these gentlemen from Brooklyn were disappointed to miss out on their set, which was scheduled for a brief slot on Sunday. To counter this missed show, The National came back in full force, booking two sold out nights and a third added in the aftermath of popular demand. Riding high off of their sixth full-length album, which has steepened their rise of popularity initiated by High Violet to a new level. They brought along the ladies of LA’s Warpaint to open, and the crowd was amped up to hear their new favorites off of 2013’s Trouble Will Find Me. 

Click through for more on the show and plenty of pics from the honorable B.Gray…

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Show Review: Empire of the Sun @ ACL Live (8/1)

Big show. Big spectacle. Big dance party. Big sponsor? Uh oh.

Empire of the Sun puts on a display. From dancers scurrying to the far corners of the stage in some sort of concert-styled drill team/pep squad fueled choreography to giant LED panels with visuals of blissful jams, the duo out of Australia gives you an experience worth buying a ticket for. Mrs. IT Dept. was very excited to see Empire of the Sun who left a pretty strong impression after ACL a few years back and there is no other venue in Austin I would rather see them than ACL Live.

The sound was great. The light was great. The band was great. …but we got short-setted.

Read on to see pretty pictures and get the down low.

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Show Review: The xx @ ACL Live (2/11)

When The XX announced their Austin show, tickets were virtually gone within minutes, forcing the band to add another show immediately.  Such is the demand and the hype associated with the British group after the release of their album, Coexist.  They brought friends Austra to town with them, giving listeners a glimpse at the operatic IDM realm. 

Read on for some thoughts on the evening and pics.

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Show Preview: The XX @ ACL Live (2/11-12)

Date 2/11-2/12
Location ACL Live
Doors 6:30pm
Tickets Tonight/Tomorrow


Ticket Link Warning – If you don’t mind sitting behind a speaker, you can still get a ticket to either night’s show.

Indie darlings of moody sparseness, The XX are coming to town to play two nights and ACL Live. Austin Town Hall will be present tonight to give you all the lowdown on the show to see if you should sell your soul to go tomorrow night. A lot of people are way into Romy’s soft vocal, but the best song on the latest effort, IMHO, is the more upbeat, primarily Jamie XX-vocaled “Fiction”. Digress.

Now, The XX are cool and all, but to be honest, the openers Austra have spent more time on my playlists over the past couple years. I am looking forward to their set after having seen them at FFF6 in the broad daylight, not the best environment for their beauty-electro goodness. So here is a track to get you in the doors before their set starts at 8pm…

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Austra-The-Beat-and-the-Pulse.mp3]

Download:Austra – The Beat and the Pulse [MP3]

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