Selections from the 2006 Austin City Limits Music Festival are now available on iTunes. The only acts I saw that are available are The Tragically Hip and The String Cheese Incident.
The sound at the Hip’s set wasn’t too good. Mostly the vocals were buried too far in the mix, and the iTunes selections reflect that, though the guitars sound great. There are seven Hip tracks available, the best being “100th Meridian” and “Courage,” which is about how I remembered the set. If you like The Tragically Hip, you’ll want these two at least. The rest are good, coming off better than they sounded in person.
I only downloaded one String Cheese track – “The New Pollution,” which was as good as I remember it being. Also available are Matisyahu, Gomez, Son Volt, Flaming Lips and a few others. Why, oh why, did they not record Calexico. I’ll never forget how good they sounded on “All Systems Red” and “Not Even Stevie Nicks…”
Still, it’s nice to relive a great weekend.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
I’m finally going to get to see Calexico live, in a relatively tiny bar, this coming Thursday. The sad part is it’s the same night as our independent paper’s holiday party, so not many people will be at the show.
Still, when I saw Giant Sand over 10 years ago it was one one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen. Can’t wait.
Sounds great. I’ve been fortunate to see them four times since I first heard them.