ACL Countdown: Sunday

Saturday: Less is More Day

So Saturday the chances of rain were 60%, so of course it started raining before we got there. I have nothing against rain at a concert---it weeds out some people and can be fun, especially like yesterday when the temp was around 65 and it was a warm rain.

We got there late, around 3, and saw Grizzly Bear first. This about sums of that show. I don't know if it was the weather, but they were out of tune, hanging out in the back of the stage to stay dry, and not very exciting. It could have been that it was our first stop--we needed something to get us going in the dreary weather, and they totally killed our buzz.

Citizen Cope was next. Great show. We got this nice spot in front of the sound stage and he was amazing and didn't even seem to care his leather pearl snap shirt was getting ruined by the rain. The downpour started around now, but we didn't care---his music made up for it.

We were too late to really get a spot for Bon Iver, but his music sounded great from far away. He also has kinda a low-key repertoire, but his music was so beautiful it pick up your spirits better than anything else.

After a quick gyro, we nabbed amazing center spots for the Decemberists and hunkered down for 90 minutes while they set up the stage. Worth every minute. This would be the second reason I bought my ACL ticket, and I was definitely into it. Also, they are one group where a dreary afternoon only adds to the atmosphere: they played Hazards of Love in its entirety—the folk opera I've been harassing all my friends to listen to—and managed to get the entire album into their hour set. Margaret was impressive, singing high notes in the crappy weather, and Colin Meloy was swapping instruments every song with ease, not really losing the breaks. They've been doing this all summer, the band definitely had the switches down. The show stealer, however, was Shara Worden, playing the Queen. The crowd was totally behind her, and she was getting into it on stage that made her vocals more powerful than on the record, which is saying something.

Having put up with about five hours of rain, we skipped out on Dave and Ghostland Observatory, although the light show for Ghostland looked awesome as we left. Leaving after Hazards was a good move, though, because it psyched me up enough to go out in the warehouse district later, instead of crashing like the night before.

Here's a great shot of my feet when I took my Chacos off--I don't have the Z tan line promised, but a mud tan line is still pretty funny.

Here's what I'm looking forward to today:

• Passion Pit/Girl Talk: My feet will hate me tomorrow, but I plan to get my dance on this afternoon.
• Pearl Jam, they are my mother's favorite band, and should be a fun closing act
• The Toadies. Can't come to Texas without hearing them. It'll be sing-along party three today.