The Summer Festival Season kicked off in surprisingly strong fashion this year at Coachella, where Drake sexual assault by a vampire velociraptor nonwithstanding, the atmosphere and lineup were tuned to near-perfect levels for the first time in years. In other words, the ante has been upped. And while we have magnificent festival bills to look forward to at Bonnaroo, Sasquatch and beyond, Austin City Limits announced a stellar lineup this week to bring the Fall edge into view.
Tail From The Rain: Pearl Jam Soar at ACL
The festival, which will rock Austin’s Zilker Park on back-to-back weekends – Oct. 2-4 and Oct. 9-11 – will feature headliners Foo Fighters, Drake, and The Strokes leading, with Florence & the Machine, the Weeknd and Disclosure following their lead alongside Run The Jewels, Chance The Rapper, Disclosure, Alt-j, The Decemberists, Tame Impala, Father John Misty, Alabama Shakes (first weekend), Modest Mouse (second weekend) and many, many more.
We thought Dave Grohl would take a freakin’ break. He’s drummed on every goddamn album in your collection, been the SXSW keynote speaker, made a legendary HBO music-history series and a lukewarm album to yellow-brick-road your way through in accompaniment, produced retardedly great bands, started an amazing supergroup – and no, I’m not referring to the staggering brilliance of Them Crooked Vultures – and so much more. Fatigue has set in fully, and for everybody’s sake, the dude needs to smoke a joint, go surfing, play with his kids… and just breathe.
Nevertheless, we know the Foos will put on a stupid awesome show. They are legends for a reason, naysayers be damned. Here’s an excerpt from a transformative Lollapalooza experience:
Something magical took place that night, some kind of rare high-wire act of energy and exhilaration that all musical experiences aspire to, but so very few actually ever accomplish. Between Dave’s throat-shredding screams and drummer Taylor Hawkins’ pulverizing-firecracker low end, the crowd found an upped-ante of enthusiasm and electricity in their headliners that resulted in a volleying intensity of energy between band and fans and back again.
We would be tested by the rains once more, however, as when the band launched into “The Pretender,” with no notice whatsoever the skies unleashed another torrent of precipitation.
Undeterred, the band plowed ahead, soaked to the core and clearly reveling in the all-for-one energy crackling among the masses before them. The gleam in Grohl’s eye as he rounded the bend to the final chorus of show-closer “Everlong” indicated that he felt exactly as we did: something very special was underway, a level of positivity and passion that transcended the majority of musical experiences.
See the full weekend-one ACL 2015 lineup below:
