ACL 2009

Ok, I am so far behind on my blogging, I apologize. I have been SO busy still with my training for work, but it seems to be slowing down a little bit so I will try to catch up with everything I have been putting off!

First up, ACL 2009. Let's see if I can still remember what we did...it was almost a month ago.

We left Bella with my parents for a 4 day weekend to Austin. We love ACL and go pretty much every year, so I had asked my mom to babysit that weekend before Bella was even born. We headed down Thursday night so we could be there first thing Friday when everything starts. It was hard to say good bye to my little angel, but in the end it was SO nice to have a weekend where I could sleep in!

Friday morning we made the requisite trip to Kerbey Lane for breakfast and I had my staple of baked potato omelet and blueberry pancakes. SO delicious. We got to the festival around 1:30 that day just in time to catch Blitzen Trapper who I actually liked more than I anticipated. I liked the music I had heard from them before ok, but in person I thought they were really good. Reminded me a little of Counting Crows, who we all know are my favorite!

After BT we met up with Amanda and Jared over at Todd Snider. He was hilarious! If you get a chance to see him live you must do it. He is so funny. I had never heard any of his music before, but he was a hoot for sure. Next up was Phoenix who was one of the bands I was most excited about seeing. And they were good. Sounded just like the radio and they played all the songs I love, but that was about it. Nothing stood out as an amazing performance or anything, although I did learn they are French and the lead singer has a kid with Sofia Coppola. Interesting.

After that we pretty much just walked around and got something to eat, then staked out a place for Kings of Leon. I really don't know much about them except for their new stuff, but they were really good! They put on a great show and even the songs I didn't know I found myself bopping along with them. =) Also, I have to mention how great the weather was this day. Normally for ACL it is at least one million degrees outside and not a cloud to be seen. It was probably 85 and partly cloudy most of the afternoon. Greatness.

Saturday didn't turn out as good. It was in the forecast to rain so we brought some umbrellas and rain jackets, but it was more than a shower here and there. It would just pour down rain for an hour or two at a time. By about 4 o clock we declared ourselves huge wusses and went home. It was kind of a bummer, because I was really looking forward to seeing Flogging Molly, The Scabs and The Decemberists. Flogging Molly we did see, but I was hunched under an umbrella trying not to get soaking wet. They were so good, I am going to try to see them again under dryer circumstances.

After we left, we went to a place to eat where the waitresses wear orange shorts and tights. We had some wings and watched the devastation that was the Arkansas/A&M game. It was fun, but I wish we had won. If you are following the Aggies this year, they are continuing to baffle me. Super inconsistent. Anyway...

Sunday we actually spent a good portion of the morning going to Academy and every other store in the vicinity looking for rain gear. And guess what? So was everyone else. They were out of EVERYTHING. We did find one awesome A&M umbrella...not sure why no one in Austin wanted it. So we didn't get to ACL until a little later, but we did catch the Toadies and they sang all the cool songs I remember from college. Ahh, made me feel young again. =) I got to see a little bit of Ben Harper and The Dead Weather, and some of Michael Franti while waiting for Pearl Jam, who was also great. But what I have not mentioned was how awesome Zilker Park was. And when I say awesome, I mean muddy. I wore flip flops because it was all I had. About two steps in I realized that was not going to work. They were getting stuck so far in the mud I finally took them off. I and about a third of the people at ACL, spent the day barefoot, walking around in a good 2-6 inches of mud. Honestly it was kind of fun. And though the forecast called for it to be cold and rainy all day, it was perfect weather. Maybe a little cloudy early on, but as the day passed, the sun came out and it didn't rain once!

They are having ACL in October again next year which makes me SO happy. Hopefully this time it won't rain!