Join us this weekend for a special Austin City Limits Encore episode featuring Grammy winner and indie favorite Arcade Fire. This episode displays their growth as musicians as well as their expanding catalog of albums from their very first appearance nearly four years ago. Drawing extensively from their Grammy winning album, The Suburbs, Arcade Fire also includes a handful of singles from their first album, Funeral. However, one highlight worth mentioning is the when the group performs “Keep the Car Running” a catchy and infectious tune from the band’s second album, Neon Bible.
You won’t want to miss this weekend’s episode! Be sure to check your local PBS listings here for times. Also, don’t forget to check our Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr pages for goodies and info on all things Austin City Limits. Next week we premiere the amazing Season 38 with the one and only Radiohead!
Mumford & Sons, Florence + The Machine, Coldplay, Arcade Fire, Randy Newman, Lykke Li, Wilco. Maybe you were there for the tapings, or maybe you watched their performances on TV? Either way, we want to let you know about the Austin City Limits: Season 37 Commemorative Photo Book. Every artist who appeared on Austin City Limits Season 37 is here in this commemorative book packed full of incredible photographs, set lists, limited-edition poster art, taping programs and one-of-a-kind autographed art boards from the band members themselves. Published by Soundcheck Magazine, with photos by Scott Newton and Soundcheck’s Randy Cremean and Gary Miller and forewords by Newton and ACL Executive Producer Terry Lickona, the book is an exceptionally cool way to look back on a truly fantastic season.
Check out a preview of the 116 page book. You can find information on ordering here. Proceeds benefit KLRU-TV, Austin PBS – the longtime home of Austin City Limits.
This weekend we are excited to present a special episode featuring Coldplay. Recorded last September, the performance features the band debuting several new songs off their most recent release Mylo Xyloto, including “Paradise,” “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” and “Hurts Like Heaven,” as well as old favorites like “Viva La Vida.” Originally presented as a New Year’s Eve special to ring in 2012, this show has become a new favorite. The band gave us an extra-special performance, and we’re thrilled to bring it back to the airwaves.
You can see for yourself this Saturday – check the listings for your local PBS station. You can also go here for biographical info, pictures and the setlist. Don’t forget to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages for more ACL goodies. Next week: the ever-amazing Arcade Fire.
ACL @ the Alamo returns this Monday, September 24, with a special program featuring the one and only Lyle Lovett. We’ll be presenting the 60-minute Season 15 episode featuring the iconoclastic Texan troubadour in support of his now-classic LP Lyle Lovett & His Large Band, including Lovett staples like “Here I Am,” “Good Intentions,” “If I Had a Boat” and “The Wedding Song.” Following the episode will be a collection of performances from Lovett’s many appearances on ACL, including what is likely the first public broadcast of “That’s Right, You’re Not From Texas.”
You can find more details and ticket information here. As always, proceeds go to benefit the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. If you’re in Austin this Monday, come join us!
As charismatic as he is talented, there’s no denying that Jack White is one of the most exciting musicians to hit the scene in the last decade. The Detroit native brought blues-based rock & roll back to the mainstream with the White Stripes and indulged in acclaimed side projects the Raconteurs (who graced our stage in 2006) and the Dead Weather. Earlier this year came Blunderbuss, White’s first album under his own name, which debuted at #1 on the charts in the US, UK, Canada and Switzerland. Q Magazine calls the eclectic record “a concentrated shot of charisma, undiluted and intoxicating,” while Rolling Stone notes that it has “huge riffs, wild ideas, tunes for miles: Jack White has created a classic.” The Guardian asserts that “Blunderbuss is White at his most strange, contradictory and unfathomable, and therefore at his best.” Now White is coming to Austin to headline one night of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, and we couldn’t resist enticing him to bring music from every stage of his career, to our stage for an episode of ACL. Please join us on October 14 for an unforgettable night of rock & roll.
The Gear Blog is a behind-the-scenes look at the instruments and equipment that graces the Austin City Limits’ stage. Our Audio Engineer Kevin Cochran goes in-depth to give our audiophiles their fix.
All sound engineers will eventually fall into one of two categories of temperament after a certain amount of time within the business. The type A that will occasionally succumb to stress at some point and become…difficult to deal with. And the type B who has seen it all, knows that there are worse problems in the world than a noisy line or a wrong patch, and just deals with it like a jujitsu move. I’ve learned the value of grace under pressure from Wilco’s long time front of house engineer, Stan Doty.
Stan is my favorite engineer to work with at any ACL shoot. Period. He has run front of house sound for all three of Wilco’s ACL tapings and once Guided By Voices (one of my all time favorite episodes). Not to lay it on too thick, but the way he carries himself under pressure is something I’ve tried to emulate, especially since moving to our new digs.
Stan used a Midas Heritage 3000 console for Wilco’s mix. There have been plenty of pictures of those in past blogs, so let’s just look at the outboard gear that he brought along this time.
photo by Kevin Cochran
For vocals Stan puts Jeff Tweedy and John Stirratt through a dual channel Summit Audio tube compressor… usually. At the time of the taping, one channel was acting up and John’s vocal was put through a dbx compressor at the bottom of the rack. See, jujitsu. Acoustic guitars, piano, and keys are processed through BSS DPR-402 and 404 compressors; drums, bass, and effects are sent to dbx 1066 gate/comps.
photo by Kevin Cochran
The FOH (front of house) mix is sent through four Klark Teknik equalizers. The top two are the stereo left and right mix that are also split to the side fill stereo speakers. “F” stands for front fills (smaller speakers on stage that usually just have vocals and lead instruments sent to them) and “S” is for subwoofers. At the bottom of the rack are T.C. Electonics D Two and a 2290 delay followed by a pair of Yamaha SPX-990s.
Pat Sansone’s guitar world was off of stage left with a collection of Telecasters and acoustics. On the right are Stirratt’s basses.
photo by Kevin Cochran
Sansone’s keyboard setup is a Nord and KorgCX3. The silver keyboard is a Korg M3. Sansone was also responsible for the broadcast mix of Wilco’s episode.
John Stirratt’s bass rig is two Ampeg cabinets fed by a custom head built by Chicago amp maker Tim Schroeder.
photo by Kevin Cochran
Glenn Kotche’s kit. Nice faux wood panel finish and artwork on the kick drum head.
photo by Kevin Cochran
Mikael Jorgensen’s stage right key world includes a Hammond organ and a Nord synth and a variety of special effects.
photo by Kevin Cochran
A wonderfully out of focus picture of Tweedy’s guitar pedal board. For some reason, everything relating to Jeff’s equipment was out of focus that day.
photo by Kevin Cochran
Nels Cline amp is a Schroeder DB7 head going into a vintage Marshall cabinet. The DB7 was designed with Cline’s input.
photo by Kevin Cochran
Nels’ effects are too many to account for individually. The most interesting ones are the almost mythical Klon Centaur overdrive, Digitech Whammy, and my favorite pedal in the world: the Boss VB-2.
photo by Kevin Cochran
Nels Cline’s talent as a musician is that he can jump into noisy avant-garde cacophony or incredibly restrained, understated playing with equal proficiency. That’s very rare and demonstrates not only skill but taste. For the more noisy, outlandish adventures, Nels has this table to his right with a smattering of glass slides, Electro-Harmonix delays and effects, and a Korg Kaos pad.
photo by Kevin Cochran
Hmm… another out of focus picture. Tweedys acoustics are a collection of Martins and
Gibsons, one of which produced a special buzz that made me think we’d blown a speaker. Stan notified me that this happens all the time. For electrics, Tweedy mainly uses Gibson SGs including his own signature model. I love that finish.
photo by Kevin Cochranphoto by Kevin Cochran
Nels is mainly known for playing a well worn vintage Fender Jazzmaster once belonging
to Mike Watt. Watt even carved his name into the guitar and it still bears his mark. Cline would sometimes switch between a Telecaster and double neck Jerry Jones with 6-string and 12-string necks.
This show was the last taping in our new studio for season 37. It was a grueling year with a high learning curve and having a band like Wilco, who has been a great friend of Austin City Limits, was a nice end to a tough season. Getting to work with a fantastic road crew like Wilco’s made the season finale all the sweeter (and easier). I’ll talk about the historic studio 6A and the new place in future posts.
