Austin Kiddie Limits (ACL Fest) 2009: Day 2 Review

I know, I know -- I was so diligent about posting my thoughts about Day 1 of the Austin City Limits Festival 2009 (or at least the Austin Kiddie Limits portion thereof). And now it's a full 48 hours later after Saturday's Day 2 mudfest, and I still haven't posted my thoughts. So let's get moving, eh? We did get an earlier start on Saturday morning, and found a parking spot fairly quickly, but even so, we pretty much only caught the last 2 songs of Mr. Leebot's AKL debut. Lee was energetic, trying to get the rained-upon crowd moving. Did I forget to mention it was raining? That it rained for, oh, most of Saturday? That I would still prefer my music festivals rainy and cool than hot and dry? Well, I would. Mr. Leebot - "Robot Dance" As I noted to Lee later that weekend, although it was raining for his set, nobody was flinging mud at him a la Green Day circa Woodstock '94. Then it was time to get lunch, so we moved out to the Food Court (mmmm... cones from Hudson's on the Bend) and, desirous to get out of the rain, after we ate we went to the Wildflower Center stage, which besides having a really good set of artists has a solid roof. We enjoyed 30 minutes of a (not literally) roof-raising set from the Gospel group the Soul Stirrers (Sam Cooke's old band), then made our way back to the AKL stage. Walking back to the AKL stage from behind the stage, you would have been forgiven if you thought that it was a guest artist set. The music from Quinn Sullivan did not sound like it should be coming from someone who could have gotten in free with a paying adult. Not kids music, but pretty amazing. Packed crowd, and when Sullivan said, "This was cool -- I hope I get to do this next year," I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought, "Yeah, on one of the other, bigger stages." Then we stuck around for Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, who I was eager to see. Skidoo brought a full compliment for the show including his daughter Saki, performing on stage and not fazed in the least by the crowd out there. Good set, though I'm wondering if maybe the bass was a bit loud -- as we left after the set early so that my wife and the kids could go home early with the Official Brother of Zooglobble, we could hear "Gotta Be Me"... from about a third of a mile away. Secret Agent 23 Skidoo - "I Like Fruit" Secret Agent 23 Skidoo - "Sleepover" After I came back across the bridge after dropping off my family with my brother, I was hoping to see more, but Lunch Money's set had started late, and between that and the rain, traipsing off throughout the rest of the festival seemed more of a pain than was worthwhile considering I had to leave shortly for another engagement. Lunch Money worked harder than probably any other band at working through the "this is what you do in this song to be interactive" motions. Here they solicited foods that did the kids wrong, right, and had never been tried. You sort of take for granted that people know how to act at concerts, but those are learned traits, and it's just as important to learn the rock show rules of the road than the children's theatre rules of the road. Lunch Money - "Ate Too Much of My Favorite Food" If I have one regret from the Lunch Money sets it's that I didn't hear them play many of their quieter songs. Having said that, live, the band rocks harder than on record. Watch out Rush, the band's looking to claim your power trio crown. Sad to have missed Milkshake's second set (though I did hear a song as I dashed back at one point to collect our stuff) and Ralph's World first set. Not to worry, though, Ralph was playing Sunday....

Austin Kiddie Limits: Day 1 in Review (Part 1)

Day 1 of the 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival is in the books, and what did we learn? Apparently leaving a little later, great weather, and threats of rain for the rest of the weekend makes parking in downtown Austin a lot harder to find. As opposed to getting downtown around 11 AM, we got there around 12:30 PM, and it took us a good 20 minutes to find parking. By the time we actually found a spot, walked to Republic Park, took the shuttle, got our wristbands, and found our bearings in the media tent, it was 2:00 PM. So, sorry, Stoosh! Our bad, Paul Green School of Rock All Stars (I've seen you plenty, though)! And really sorry to have missed The Telephone Company. Maybe Sunday, guys! But even with missing half of Friday's Austin Kiddie Limits stage, we still had a good time. They've changed the layout this year, so that the stage is on the east end of the area, facing (north)west, and the whole layout seems shadier. Or maybe it was just the 74-degree weather. Anyway, we got there in plenty of time to see Milkshake take the stage. They put on a good 25-minute-or-so set, mostly stuff from their new album Great Day, along with some older material. One of the things I like about AKL (and ACL in general) is that artists do feel the need to step up their game a bit. So I don't know if Milkshake normally brings a couple dozen inflatable baseball beach balls for "Baseball" (they probably do), or if the band brings graying wigs for "When I'm Old," but it just shows the band's trying. Also, Milkshake in particular, with six folks in the band, sounds good live on stage. Kids on the ground seemed to enjoy it. Milkshake - "When I'm Old" (Live) Milkshake - "Enemies" (Live) After Milkshake was a brief set from K'naan, which I couldn't pay full attention to because I was shuttling Little Boy Blue from activity to activity (including green punk hairdo), but I really liked. K'naan - "Take a Minute" (Live) (for what it's worth, there were a fair number of kids, despite what the uploader says) Then Lunch Money. It's OK, guys, you do indeed rock. Lots of dancing and a good-sized crowd (for AKL, anyway). They're also getting really good at incorporating crowd participation into their songs. Here's a new(-ish) song, with a couple more familiar ones to follow: Lunch Money - "Spicy Kids" (Live) Lunch Money - "Are You a Rabbit?" (Live) Lunch Money - "Roller Coaster" (Live) OK, there's more to talk about, but it's time to head back to Zilker Park before the skies open up.

Austin Kiddie Limits 2009 Preview

In years past, I've done a much more thorough job breaking down the Austin Kiddie Limits stage at the Austin City Limits Festival. This year, you're going to have to make do with a more abbreviated post. Which doesn't mean the lineup isn't worth the effort; on the contrary, it's the most solid top-to-bottom lineup in the event's history. Anybody with a kid in tow at the festival can stop by at any given point and be guaranteed to hear something worth hearing, either some great artists for kids, or some kids doing amazing stuff. Here's the schedule -- some live YouTubery after the jump.

Austin Kiddie Limits 2009 Schedule Set

Well, the 2009 Austin City Limits Festival schedule is out and Austin Kiddie Limits is part of the fun, of course. Half the fun is planning the AKL stages around the shows in the rest of the park you want to see. (The other half is, of course, watching those finely made plans be blown to bits by the fact that your kids can't be marshalled around at will. It's good parenting training, actually.) Anyway, here goes... Friday, Oct. 2 11:30 - 11:50 Stoosh (ex-Loose Cannons folks) 12:30 - 12:50 Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars 1:30 - 1:50 Telephone Company 2:30 - 2:50 Milkshake 3:15 - 3:30 Special Guest 3:30 - 4:00 Lunch Money Lots of good stuff going on in the afternoon -- Asleep at the Wheel, Medeski Martin & Wood, Blitzen Trapper. Good thing a lot of those folks are playing later in the weekend... As for the special guest, I'm pretty sure Andrew Bird's above Tor's pay grade (and his crowds would overrun the AKL area), but that's my vote.

Austin Kiddie Limits 2009 Lineup Announced

The lineup for the 2009 Austin City Limits Festival (Oct. 2-4) has been announced, including the Austin Kiddie Limits stage... Ralph's World Milkshake Q Brothers Telephone Company Lunch Money ... are definitely there. It's unclear whether Quinn Sullivan, Palm School Elementary, and Loose Cannons are playing the AKL stage or one of the other stages. Secret Agent 23 Skidoo is also listed (at his site) as performing at AKL, so I'm kinda thinking there are a couple more acts to be added. Top of the bill is a little OK, not great (Pearl Jam, Dave Mathews, Beastie Boys); it's the undercard, as always, that's where it's at (Levon Helm, Sonic Youth, Lily Allen, Blitzen Trapper, etc.) And for those of you looking for (potential) kids stage cameos, look no further than Medeski Martin & Wood, Terri Hendrix, and Andrew Bird...

ACL Fest (Austin Kiddie Limits) 2008: Final Thoughts

Well, it's been more than a week since I arrived in Austin for this year's Austin City Limits Festival, so it's probably time I wrap up all my writing on the topic and move on to something else. (Is there some other festival this weekend?) For those of you looking for the week's notes, look no further than my archives. To conclude, a few big-picture thoughts on the festival as it was, along with some on how it could be. ACL Fest is an exceedingly well-run festival. I mean, when the worst things you can say about the weekend is that the sounds from sets occasionally bled into one another (Alejandro Escovedo had his amps turned up, making the Swell Season set not quite as hushed as it might have been) and that there could probably be a few more water fountains, well, then, you done good. Sets started on time, shuttle buses were plentiful, there were lots of things to do, and the grounds were about as immaculate as you could expect. (Seriously, they decided to give t-shirts and other swag away to people who brought recyclables back in big plastic bags. What a genius idea -- I'm not sure I saw a single stray can or plastic bottle the entire weekend.)