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ACL @ the Alamo

Reel Rarities: Leonard Cohen

Music legend Leonard Cohen has a new record, Old Ideas, coming out on January 31. To celebrate, we’re bringing back Cohen’s classic 1989 episode of Austin City Limits as the latest installment of Reel Rarities, our monthly series of screenings at the venerable Alamo Drafthouse. Recorded during the tour for his acclaimed comeback I’m Your Man, this hour-length show features Cohen and his skilled band performing a range of tunes from that brilliant record, as well as dipping into his back catalog. Given the scarcity of Cohen tours and TV appearances at the time, this episode was a boon to Cohen fans and is easily the most requested episode of ACL outside of Tom Waits.

But that’s not all. Cohen did another episode with us in 1993 during the tour for The Future, and we’re happy to present that half-hour alongside his original appearance. Plus our friends at Sony will be on-hand with some advance music from the new album and some special prizes. So if you’re an Austin-based Leonard Cohen fan, come check it out at the Alamo Ritz at 7 p.m. on January 23 – you can find more details here.

Reel Rarities: Handpicked Gems from the ACL Vault is an ongoing series at the Alamo Drafthouse. Tickets are $5 and the sales benefit our friends at the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.

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New Year – New Episodes!

We’re halfway through the broadcasts of Austin City Limits’ 37 season and you may be asking yourself: how do we follow up shows with Coldplay, Mumford & Sons, the Decemberists, the Steve Miller Band, Miranda Lambert, Raphael Saadiq and Randy Newman (to name only a few)? With a second half equally as strong, of course.

Arcade Fire “We Used to Wait” at ACL: Behind the Scenes from Jonathan Jackson on Vimeo.

Coming up on January 7 we have Seattle up-and-comers The Head and the Heart and British veterans Gomez. On January 14 it’s the return of Album of the Year Grammy winners Arcade Fire. January 21 is ACL acid folk day with Fleet Foxes and Joanna Newsom. January 28 features the debuts of rising stars Florence + the Machine and Lykke Li. We close the season on February 7 with our old pals Wilco.

We’re as jazzed about these new episodes.  Don’t forget to watch on your favorite PBS station!

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This weekend on Austin City Limits: Coldplay New Year’s Eve

When we recorded Coldplay for their second episode of Austin City Limits, we knew we had a special show on our hands. So we decided to expand our usual 60-minute show into a 90-minute special to celebrate New Year’s Eve, and we‘re thrilled to share the entire show – airing this December 31st at 11 p.m. – with the world. That’s right – the entire show, with no songs cut. There were a few nips and tucks in editing, of course, as there always are. But every song on the setlist is included, from the quintessential hits “Viva La Vida,” “Clocks” and “Yellow” to new classics “Paradise,” “Charlie Brown” and “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.” And since this is a New Year’s Eve celebration, you’ll want to stick around until midnight for the traditional NYE countdown. (Not that you’ll want to change channels before then. Or afterward, for that matter.)

Coldplay “Paradise” from Austin City Limits on Vimeo.

Check out the episode page for more details – pics, setlist, etc. Visit our Facebook and Twitter pages to leave comments on the show, not to mention catch up with the latest doings in ACL world. (You can sign up for the newsletter for the latter as well.) Visit our Tumblr blog for a photographic trip down memory lane. Next week: another new episode, featuring The Head and The Heart and Gomez.

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This weekend on Austin City Limits: Tom Waits

The Tom Waits episode of Austin City Limits is one of the most requested shows in our 37-year archive. In the spirit of the holiday season, we’ve put this Season 4 delight back on the air for the first time in over a decade. Tune in this Saturday 12/24 – that’s right, Christmas Eve – to see this classic episode once again.

Recorded in December 1978, the show came in through the back door, so to speak. Terry Lickona, who became producer in Season 4, was trying to book singer Leon Redbone. Redbone and Waits shared a manager, who promptly requested that Terry book his other client as well. In order to make sure the Redbone show happened, Terry agreed, even though he was nervous that the roots-oriented audience ACL had already built in its previous three seasons might think that Waits’ avant-garde gutter poetry was too radical for the show.

The rest is, well, you know the cliche. Supporting his classic LP Blue Valentine (but aren’t they all classics?), Waits was deep in the transitional phase of his career, evolving out of the jazzy beat poetry of his early work (“I Wish I Was in New Orleans”) and into the bluesier, more dissonant sounds (“Sweet Little Bullet From a Pretty Blue Gun”) for which he became known in the 80s and beyond. He acknowledged the season with the streetwise but lovely “Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis,” which incorporates a few bars of a better-known Xmas hymn. And he debuted “On the Nickel,” one of his greatest ballads, and which wouldn’t be released on record until Heartattack and Vine in 1980.

Tom Waits “Silent Night / Christmas Carol From a Hooker in Minneapolis” from Austin City Limits on Vimeo.

You can check out the episode page for pics, the set list and the original liner notes for the episode. Don’t forget to visit our Facebook and Twitter pages and/or sign up for our newsletter for the latest news on ACL happenings, or to go to our Tumblr blog for a look back at ACL’s photographic past. Next week: our New Year’s Eve blowout with Coldplay!

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News

R.I.P. Bee Spears, Willie Nelson’s long-serving bass player

We here at ACL TV were saddened to learn that longtime Willie Nelson bassist Bee Spears passed away this weekend. You can find more details here.

Here he is with Willie from the pilot episode of Austin City Limits.

 

Watch Pilot Performance: Willie Nelson “Bloody Mary Morning” on PBS. See more from AUSTIN CITY LIMITS.

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ACL @ the Alamo

Reel Rarities: The Decemberists and Explosions in the Sky

Thus far our screenings in the Reel Rarities series have been classic episodes featuring iconic artist like Tom Waits, Loretta Lynn, B.B. King and Neil Young. But on Dec. 19 at the Alamo Ritz, our latest installment moves forward in time to just a few years ago, as we run the great Season 33 episode featuring the Decemberists and Explosions in the Sky. Folk rockers and recent Grammy nominees the Decemberists recorded their second ACL episode early this year, while the Austin-based EitS won raves for its 2011 LP Take Care, Take Care, Take Care. In this show you’ll hear them supporting their excellent records The Crane Wife and All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, respecitvely. It’ll be a great night of indie rock at the Ritz.

Reel Rarities: Handpicked Gems from the ACL Vault is an ongoing series at the Alamo Drafthouse. Tickets are $5 and the sales benefit our friends at the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.

Watch The Decemberists “Down by the Water” on PBS. See more from AUSTIN CITY LIMITS.