Calling all Austinites! We know that this weekend is already laden with music, what with the Austin City Limits Music Festival kicking off Friday and the various after shows that will follow after the park closes. But we want to keep you up even later! Musical goodies will be happening on your TV screen late into Friday and Saturday nights. That’s right, this weekend we’ll be airing our latest additions to Season 38 multiple times from Friday to Sunday. It’s like we’re having our own kind of festival, only it’s in your living room, late at night, and there will be no annoying foot traffic! You’ll have six chances to catch Bon Iver’s and Radiohead’s debut performances on KLRU. Check it out!
We’re pleased to announce two more tapings for Season 38 with a veteran and a rising star: Bob Mould on November 1 and Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros on November 5.
For fans of alternative rock, Bob Mould scarcely needs any introduction. The singer/songwriter/guitarist rewrote the rules of punk rock in the 80s with his band Husker Du and defined the sound of melodic alt.rock with his 90s power trio Sugar. He’s also released a line of critically lauded solo albums that have ranged in sound from acoustic reverie to electronic dance music and everything in between. Following his highly regarded memoir See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody and a successful tour performing the classic Sugar album Copper Blue in its entirety, Mould has release his acclaimed new LP Silver Age, a high-volume reminder of Mould’s mastery of melody, power and passion. With Mould in Austin for a set at the fabulous Fun Fun Fun Fest, we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to bring this pioneering rocker to the ACL stage.
photo by Laure Vincent-Bouleau
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros are the brainchild of singer/songwriter Alex Ebert, former frontman for the band Ima Robot. Following a relationship dissolution and treatment for addiction, Ebert began writing a book about a Messianic figure sent to Earth to heal mankind, but kept getting distracted by love. How the book evolved into a large, psychedelic folk rock ensemble remains mysterious, but the band’s impact is crystal clear: a radio hit with the infectious “Home” (from the debut album Up From Below), a spot on the inaugural Railroad Revival Tour alongside ACL vets Mumford & Sons and Old Crow Medicine Show, and a loyal audience built by heavy touring. Now, in celebration of their second album Here and a spot at Fun Fun Fun Fest, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros bring their freewheeling, hard-folking party to Austin City Limits.
Two great acts on the greatest stage on the planet in November. Keep an eye on our Tapings page for information on tickets!
Austin City Limits will be taping a performance by Jack White on Sunday, October 14th, at 8 pm at ACL Live at The Moody Theater (310 W. 2nd Street, Willie Nelson Blvd). We will be giving away a limited number of space available passes to this taping. Enter your name and email address on the below form by 9 am Thursday, October 11th. Passes are not transferable and cannot be sold. Standing may be required.
The day after we recorded Radiohead back in March, our reaction was, “Radiohead taped Austin City Limits last night. It almost feels like that’s all we need to say.” Even now, months later with the Season 38 premiere upon on us, we still feel the same sense of met anticipation. It was a happening that fans and we had personally been waiting for and it finally came to fruition. A band like Radiohead, (well, let’s be honest – there really isn’t a band out there like Radiohead) that can constantly challenge themselves and evolve to change their sound to continue to make beautiful and inspiring music is a rare gift. We are incredibly grateful to open up our 38th season with such progressive rock icons and modern day musical legends.
Radiohead opened their set with “Bloom,” the busy and fitting song for the occasion that opens their 2011 self-released album The King of Limbs. From there the group goes to the piano-heavy and melodic “Daily Mail,” another new song from last year. The rest of the set features a collective mix of tracks from TKOL, Hail to the Thief, Kid A, OK Computer, and new singles. One highlight of the night is when they played a forgotten B-side, “The Amazing Sounds of Orgy.” Of course the essence of the night was captured at the very end when the band played the big hits and crowd favorites, “Idioteque” and “Paranoid Android.”
For those that missed seeing the taping live, this is your opportunity to see what many described as being a passionate and “life-changing” performance. You can truly feel the energy of the band and the audience in this episode, and Thom Yorke’s dancing may even inspire you to flail around in your living room. (Seriously, if you don’t dance during “Idioteque” then there may be something wrong with your well-being.)
Don’t miss the premiere of Season 38 this weekend featuring Radiohead! Check your local listings for times and stations here. Also, don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook, if we get to 90,000 likes (we’re really close!) we’ll post an interview with Ed O’Brien and Thom Yorke. You can also follow us on Twitter and Tumblr for updates about tapings. Tune in next week for Bon Iver!
In honor of iconic Texas guitarist and ACL veteran Stevie Ray Vaughan’s birthday today, our intrepid FOH mixologist and gear blogger Kevin Cochran turned in this report on the instrument also known as “the Wife.”
As far as guitars go, only a handful are as iconic (and synonymous of their players) as Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Number One guitar. A centerpiece of the Texas State History Museum’sTexas Music Roadtrip, this is the first time this instrument has been seen by the public since Stevie Ray’s death in 1990. Vaughan made two appearances with “the Wife” on Austin City Limits: the first time in 1983 and again in 1989.
After snapping this picture, I was chastened by security that no photography was allowed inside the exhibition. As I’ve learned in the past, it only takes once to run afoul of museum muscle and then they’ll follow you around for the rest of your stay. It’s a bit of a chore trying give your full attention to the next exhibit when the security guard is only a few feet away giving you his full attention. In this case, it was totally worth it.
The original tri-colored sunburst finish has been eroded away by the rigors of years of heavy touring and Stevie’s abusive playing style. A closer inspection of the body will reveal gouged indentation of the wood above the pickguard from repeated contact of Vaughan’s guitar picks. Not just nicks and scrapes, but a deep dent that exposes the bare wood. The vibrato was swapped from the nominal set up of a right-handed player, to left-handed so that that Stevie could emulate Jimi Hendrix’s more exotic techniques. Repairs were needed quite often as Vaughan would break whammy bars and wear down frets on a regular basis. Charley Wirz and Rene Martinez are credited with most of the repairs for Stevie’s instruments.
Because of frequent refretting, the original neck became unplayable by the late ‘80’s and was swapped with the neck of another guitar in Vaughan’s stable, Scotch. Ironically, just a month before his death, a piece of stage rigging fell on Number One and snapped the neck at the headstock. It was the Scotch neck and not the original that was destroyed. Martinez acquired a replacement from Fender and Stevie was without the use of his favorite guitar for only one show. After Stevie Ray’s death, Rene replaced the new neck with Number One’s original and the guitar was given back to Stevie’s family. It now belongs to Stevie’s brother, Jimmie.
If you look closely at the photo, you can see Jimmie Vaughan’s guitar behind Number One. I didn’t get chance to grab any pictures of that guitar. It is a 1963 Stratocaster (according to the exhibit placard) with a Schecter maple neck (sporting a Fender decal on the headstock) and a salacious girly sticker on the back of the body.
As leaves turn brown and the weather grows cooler, we have more exciting tapings to announce: an ACL debut with Delta Spirit and return visits from Gary Clark, Jr. and Esperanza Spalding.
Formed in San Diego and based in Brooklyn, modern rock quintet Delta Spirit have steadily built a loyal live following over the course of seven years and three records. Originally self-released before being picked up by Rounder Records, the band’s debut Ode to Sunshine gave its earnest, spiritually-inclined guitar pop enough attention to earn it spots on Late Night With Conan O’Brien and Last Call With Carson Daly. The group’s second record History From Below hit the Billboard album chart at #174, while its current self-titled LP entered at #103 and earned the #1 slot on BB’s Heatseekers chart. As likely to include beats hammered out on trashcan lids as sprightly melodies played on the usual rock instruments, Delta Spirit has brought its sound into the light the old-fashioned way: with good records, hard work and steady touring. Come find out on November 2 why the buzz is growing.
photo by Frank Maddocks
Gary Clark, Jr. has been tearing up Austin stages since he was a teenager, and has lately made a name for himself across the country as well. Though known for his driving blues-rock guitar style, there’s more to his music than just twelve bars and guitar solos. As Rolling Stone notes, Blak and Blu, his major label debut, “[owes] as much to Kurt Cobain and the Ramones as Buddy Guy and John Lee Hooker, indebted to hip-hop and psychedelia…grounded in tradition while standing on the brink of change.” Clark has appeared on ACL before, as part of the Tribute to Bluesman Jimmy Reed with Jimmie Vaughan and Omar Dykes, impressing his fellow musicians and our viewers. On November 30, he’s coming to show Austin City Limits what his own music can do.
photo by Carlos Pericas
With one foot in jazz, the other in soul and both hands on her bass, Esperanza Spalding has become a rising star in both critical and commercial circles. A restless creative spirit, the young musician/singer/composer has absorbed everything from jazz to Brazilian pop to R&B to classical music in her creative evolution. Her most recent album Radio Music Society leans most heavily in a soul direction, with a set of original tunes, plus covers of Michael Jackson’s Stevie Wonder-penned “I Can’t Help It” and Wayne Shorter’s “Endangered Species,” featuring lyrics by Spalding herself. The former Berklee School of Music professor first appeared on ACL three years ago, where she wowed an audience unfamiliar with her music, and she continues to do so every time her show is rebroadcast. On December 2, Esperanza Spalding is back, with a whole new program, and we couldn’t be happier.
The usual lottery for taping passes will be announced on our Tapings page as we get closer to the dates. We have more exciting announcements coming soon!
