Broad Ripple Gazette, vol 7, no 20

Austin City Limits Festival
October 8 – 10, 2010
Austin, TX

I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since the last Austin City Limits Festival and it’s always a great weekend. This will be my third year I’ve attended the festival. I have a photo pass again, so I’ll be as close as can be to the bands. I’m especially looking forward to seeing Ryan Bingham and Dawes and discovering new-to-me bands.

Reviews:

Billy Bragg
September 15, 2010
The Vogue

I’ve been waiting all summer for this show and I was not disappointed, but I’m a huge Billy Bragg fan and I would have been happy to watch Billy eat dinner. As it turned out the show was heavy on Billy talking – about sixty percent Billy banter and 40 percent music. If you did not share his political views you might have been disappointed. I enjoyed hearing his take on American politics through his lens and British voice.

Billy played a mix of his music, songs from the Mermaid Avenue discs and old protest songs and I loved every second of it. I had a blast!

Toad the Wet Sprocket
September 19, 2010
The Vogue

Most people my age can remember their first 45, Wild Cherry’s Play that Funky Music, and their first album, Jim Croce’s I Got a Name, were mine. How many of you remember the first CD you bought? Mine was Toad The Wet Sprocket’s, Fear. I’d heard “Walk on the Ocean” on the radio and was smitten. I’m not sure I even had a CD player yet.

I bought the disc in 1991 – the band officially broke up in 1998 and I didn’t get the chance to see them. It was the era before I saw lots of music – can you imagine?

The band recorded their first record when they were all teenagers. TTWS randomly reunited for specific shows and short tours over the years. Singer Glen Phillips has a nice solo career and I’ve seen him several times. This summer the band played an 18-show tour that ended in Indianapolis.

And the show was awesome! I’ve found the last show of any tour is either really great or sucky and not much in between. Either the band is pulling out the stops for the last show or they’re already home in spirit. They played a nice mix from their albums with some stage banter thrown in.

I was happy to see such a nice crowd on a Sunday night. And it wasn’t just any Sunday, it was the brother Manning vs. brother Manning smack down. I ran into (stalked is such an ugly word…) Glen Phillips behind the Vogue after the show. In my concentrated effort not blurb out something goofy, I told him I was in an all-woman jug band and played typewriter. He nodded politely, told me that sounded nice and shook my hand. I fled down the alley to my car. 

All and all, another fun night at the Vogue!