Austin City Limits Music Festival Day Two

Allison Krauss and Robert Plant
Day two at ACL brought some chances to see some bands I've been waiting to see for quite a while, as well as some old friends. ACL Day Two photo gallery

Fleet Foxes are a band that is going places, and after they get from their UK and Australia tours we will get a chance to see them here in Southern Calfiornia. Their singer said "We just don't know how to communicate on this scale" when faced with one of their bigger audiences at the festival. After playing a couple of their longer rambling pieces someone in the crowd yells out "One more song!" which draws a laugh and the band says they think they have one or two left. Harmonizing on White Winter Hymnal is as good as anything from the sixties in my book and is just plain mesmerizing. It does seem a little early, just after noon, to be hearing this sort of thing. Around midnite would be better and I can't wait to catch them here in our city in some dark nightclub.
The Fratellis
The latest Brit band to take up the mantle of Franz Ferdinand are the Fratellis. Their videos are definitely something to check out as they are highly entertaining. Chelsea Dagger and Flathead certainly define their style.

Athens band Drive-By Truckers got a little bit of a slow start and didn't even seem like the same band I've seen in the past. Maybe it was a little too much sunshine or their darker country moments.
Dancing to MGMT
MGMT had the kids dancing with their one, two, three punch of their best songs, Electric Feel, Time to Pretend and Kids. Who couldn't dance to this stuff? Maybe we will see them in LA next year after their European/Japanese tour finishes.

Bright Eyes front man musical boy genius Conor Oberst is touring with the Mystic Valley band, and has some pretty good licks up his sleeve. He seems to be changing identities almost as much as Madonna. Conor Oberst






The highlight of the day, if not the whole festival came when Robert Plant and Allison Krauss did Blackdog, slow, nearly acapella, with a fiddle filling in for the guitar lead. The crowd was dead silent, listening to something they had never hear before, something very familiar but completely different at the same time. It was a work of genius, with even old hands at the music critic game exclaiming "That was cool!" as soon as it was over, complete with goosebumps.

Photos and story by David Sprague

Krauss solo