Saturday ACL Brief

12:45PM- The Virgins
Frontman Donald Cumming was wearing green eye shadow and, clearly apparent on the jumbotron, it was dripping down his face in the rain. They did most of their 2008 album with “Rich Girls” of course receiving the greatest of the applause.

1:20PM- Cotton Jones
I had reviewed this Maryland duo’s latest EP on Dryvetyme Onlyne at the end of August and was, therefore, eager to see them live. Whitney McGraw has a brilliantly peaceful complimenting voice to Michael Nau’s, who drastically altered the melody of “Nicotine Canary” from the album version.

2:00PM- MuteMath
Live samplings, rebounds, and drum and keyboard loops. A keytar and a homemade instrument named The Atari. DJ beats and frenzied drumming. I could go on but some of the instrumentation was occasionally too drawn out and a bit too much for me. Still, I was surprised that I had never paid much attention to MuteMath aside from learning that they were part of the  Twilight Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. I found them very talented and very exhilarating performers. Lead singer Paul Meany cried out his inability to “hold it together” in my favorite song of the set, “Burden.” Below please find the video for “Spotlight.”

3:00- The Airborne Toxic Event
There was definitely a sea of people gathered for this show. They attracted a larger crowd than Grizzly Bear, who positioned themselves near the back of their stage due to weather conditions. The Airborne Toxic Event sang “Goodbye Horses” by William Garvy just as they always do at live shows. In this case, however, they sang it in his memory as he recently passed away.

4:00PM- Citizen Cope
I had always been on the fence about whether I liked Citizen Cope or not. Saturday provided the confirmation I needed that, in fact, I do not like Citizen Cope. Moving on.

4:20- Flogging Molly
Having left Citizen Cope, I moseyed over to watch the Celtic-punk ensemble, Flogging Molly, and was swallowed up by stringed instruments.

5:00- Bon Iver
I was excited for my first opportunity to see Bon Iver (pronounced by Justin as bony-vair)  as he’s been at my fingertips on several occasions yet, unfortunately, just out of reach each time. So, nothing was stopping me. Not the mud up to my knees, not the clammy crowd surrounding me, and not even the fact that I could only see Justin Vernon from the big screen because I picked the wrong side of the stage to stand on.

6:00-The Zac Brown Band
Don’t pretend that you don’t like the song “Chicken Fried.”  If you’re a True Blood fan you may also want to refer to the second season episode 9, “I Will Rise Up” as Zac’s “Whiskey’s Gone” was featured there.

7:00- The Decemberists
It wasn’t my first time to witness “Hazards of Love” but it was every bit as good as the first, maybe even better. I lost myself in the story which immediately evaporated all sluggishness the weather had provoked.  I must give additional compliments to Shara Warden playing the Queen.