ACL 2013 Recap – Friday (10/4)

Who knows if the whole two week ACL Festival will pan out in the end? All we do know is that we’ll be bringing you coverage of both weekends, filled with as much nonsense as possible.  

Read on for our recap for the first of six days of rock n’ roll. 

Wild Nothing: I think all of ATH was surprised to see Wild Nothing playing at 11:15 on Friday. Having been a staple of the site for several years now, and internet darlings in general, we would have expected them to play later in the day/weekend, but nonetheless we arrived bright and early to catch Jack and company. They did not disappoint and I thought their set was the perfect way to kick off the weekend.

FIDLAR: Agreed to be one of the noisiest ACL sets in a long time, if not ever, these dudes brought the sound. Singing about copious weed-smoking and stints in rehab, their tunes helped me get more amped for the day.

Pinback: I will admit that despite being exposed to Pinback over the years, I never really considered myself a fan until yesterday. Planning to only catch a few songs before heading over to Electric Six to hear “the gay bar song,” did not work out so well because I was completely drawn in by Armistead and Rob. They had a more modest crowd than they probably deserved, but their performance (complete with Rob taking the mic off stage and as far into the crowd as the cord would let him) was definitely my favorite of the day, especially thanks to fan favorite song, “Good to Sea.”

Wild Belle: Didn’t get to catch this band during SXSW despite my best effort, so I was glad to catch their set at ACL yesterday. Outfitted in white suits, they performed songs off of Isles for a pretty large crowd. Natalie Bergman’s voice has all the gritty raspiness of a jazz singer, and I was continuously surprised to hear it come out of such a tiny woman.

Depeche Mode: I think an overwhelming theme of ACL day one was the great sound, particularly vocalists, and that was not more evident than with Dave Gahan and Martin Gore. Having listened to Depeche Mode my entire life (I’m positive my parents played their music for me as a baby), this was my most anticipated show of the weekend, and friends who saw them on tour recently told me to expect greatness. Dave’s voice is hypnotizing and sounded exactly as I hoped it would. Performing both old and new songs, they treated the crowd with amazing renditions of “Enjoy the Silence” and “Personal Jesus.” It also didn’t hurt that Dave Gahan is a 51-year-old with amazing abs and every woman in our group admitted to being attracted to him on stage.

–Words by Stephanie Yeargan