Austin Sound Check

ACL Redux : Day One

by Ana Wolken on September 30th, 2008

Best Set of The Day: Dan Dyer
Best Band I’d Never Heard Of: Autamata
Best Set I Wish I’d Seen: (tie) NERD and Jamie Liddell
Worst Set I Wish I’d Never Seen: Vampire Weekend

ACL kicked off on Friday with one of the best sets I’d see all weekend, courtesy of Austinite Dan Dyer. I previewed him before the festival began and he honestly lived up to every expectation I had. I can’t recommend Dan Dyer enough.

Another band that lived up to my expectations (albeit extremely low ones) was Vampire Weekend. They were so underwhelming I left halfway through their set. Despite my criticisms pre-festival, I really felt like I should give Vampire Weekend the benefit of the doubt. A true test of a band is their live set, as modern technology has degraded the reliability of recordings. What happens in the studio can’t always be reproduced on stage (ah hem, pitch correction). Unfortunately for Vampire Weekend, their live performance was as musically bland as their album and they were even more boring to watch. In Stage Performance 101, the first rule is to move… even just a little makes a difference.

Unfortunately my ACL Friday was cut short. After interviewing Slightly Stoopid (more on that later!) I had to split and missed the Friday headliners. A few cool camera phone snaps for you after the jump.

Dan Dyer

Dan Dyer being interviewed by Paste.

 Autamata

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POSTED IN: ACL