Austin City Limits*giveaway is now over
Austin City Limits will be taping a performance by Grizzly Bear on Wednesday, April 10th, 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 Friday, April 5th.
Passes are not transferable and cannot be sold. Standing may be required.
No photography, recording or cell phone use in the studio.
This weekend, ACL brings you Mavis Staples and Bonnie Raitt, two legends and soul sisters with the perfect combination of soul, R&B, blues, and gospel. “We come this evening to bring you some joy, some happiness, inspiration and some positive vibrations,” declared Miss Staples back in June 2012 during the taping, and boy, did they deliver! This was a night full of smoky voices, sassy guitar playing, audience hooplah and ardent exhibition.
This is Bonnie Raitt’s third appearance on Austin City Limits and although it’s been ten years since we’ve seen her last, she couldn’t have been welcomed more warmly. The audience greets the nine-time Grammy Award winner and bestselling artist with much love and admiration. She predominantly plays off of her 2012 album Slipstream, including “Down to You,” “Used to Rule the World” and a bluesy take on the Bob Dylan song “One Million Miles.” She finally exclaims, “Awww man! I love John Hiatt!” before ending with her Nick of Time hit “Thing Called Love.”
Mavis Staples is a clearly a legend. This lady has seen it all from singing songs on the forefront of the Civil Rights movement to being inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Joined onstage with her three backup singers and backing band, Mavis’ energy and famous low register voice charm the audience like we’ve never seen on classics like “Creep Along Moses” and “Freedom Highway.” At the end of the set, Mavis invites her lovingly coined “baby sister” Bonnie Raitt onstage for a couple of songs. On the emotional duet “Losing You,” dedicated to their fathers, Mavis and Bonnie share a moment where they hold hands and look at each other – it’s one of the incredibly touching moments of the evening. They end the night with a rendition of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” that had the entire audience clapping and dancing.
Don’t miss this inspiring and heartfelt episode – you won’t regret it. To find out when and where you can catch this episode check here for local listings. Also, don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or sign up for our newsletter, for more ACL news and info. Next week: Bon Iver.
Join us this weekend for a night of intimate and supremely talented performances from The Civil Wars and Punch Brothers. With zero percussion assistance for each performance, one acquires a clear picture of the depth of musicianship and delicately crafted songs that both of these artists brought to our stage. What you’ll find from both artists is nothing short of moving, inspiring, and wildly intriguing.
With open arms and a bare stage, we welcomed The Civil Wars back in February 2012 as the first taping that year. The Grammy Award-winners proved to be a perfect start to the newest season on so many levels. Their minimalist set with the ever-so perpetual Austin skyline in the background highlighted the voices of Joy Williams and John Paul White as they played hits off their 2011 release Barton Hollow. Included in this performance are two very intense, but true to the original spirit, renditions of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” and Smashing Pumpkins’ “Disarm.” At one moment you realize that Williams and White had the entire audience in their hand when Williams remarked about how quiet and attentive the audience was reacting. It’s true – at many points during this episode you become so captivated by Joy’s sashaying and John’s guitar playing that you forget where you are and immediately realize why these two have garnered their much-deserved praise.
“When you start a band, this is all you ever really want to do – play Austin City Limits,” mentioned Chris Thile in the middle of Punch Brothers’ set. Thile, who is no stranger to ACL (this is his third appearance), brings his all-star band that formed back in 2006 to the show. Again there is no percussion, but unlike the simple quietness that we get from The Civil Wars earlier, we get an influx of sound from the mandolin, fiddle, banjo, guitar, and bass. The progressive rock stars of the bluegrass world take us through their 2012 release of Who’s Feeling Young Now? with a few sprinkles of the 2010 album Antifogmatic. This group’s genre-jumping and incredible musicianship will have you tapping your toes and wishing you had taken up banjo back in 10th grade.
This is something you will not want to miss, but don’t take our word for it – see it for yourself! You can preview the episode and get more information here; check here for local listings and times in your area. Also, be sure to check out our Facebook and Twitter pages for all things Austin City Limits, and sign up for our newsletter for further info. Next week: Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples.
South By Southwest brings thousands of bands to Austin, but only one of them made it to the ACL stage this year. Vampire Weekend is a band we’ve been talking about having on the show for some time, and thanks to SXSW the time was right. The NYC band has been receiving accolades since it first emerged several years ago. Arriving at the ACL stage for its debut taping on the final night of the festival, Vampire Weekend did not disappoint.
One of the things for which the band has become known is its penchant for blending Afropop with British/American jangle pop, and its ability to do that was in full flower tonight. “White Sky,” “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” and the hit “Holiday” displayed impressive musicianship in playing the tricky polyrhythms and intricate melodies, while not stinting on the irrepressible melodies. Afropop is only one arrow in the band’s quiver, however. The quartet mixed in ska rhythms for “M79,” jangled forthrightly in the more straightforward “Oxford Comma” and worked a less genre-specific tropical groove on “Cousins” and the monster hit “A-Punk,” the latter of which brought on the crowd’s biggest roar. The group got even more diverse in the songs it previewed from its upcoming LP Modern Vampires of the City: “Unbelievers” eschewed worldbeat for upbeat pop played on Farfisa organ and nylon-string guitar, “Ya Hey” soaked itself in electro rhythms and otherworldly atmosphere and “Diane Young” simply rocked out.
With sixteen songs in 70 minutes, Vampire Weekend kept its melodies and rhythms flowing with tight efficiency and maximum fun. We can’t wait for you to see this episode when it airs in the fall as part of our 39th Season. Stay tuned.
* ticket giveaway is now over
Austin City Limits will be taping a performance by Vampire Weekend on Sunday, March 17th, 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 Tuesday, March 12.
Passes are not transferable and cannot be sold. Standing may be required.
No photography, recording or cell phone use in the studio.
Texas has more than its fair share of music of every stripe, but one of its most (in)famous strains is the Lone Star singer/songwriter. This week we have two of the best: Robert Earl Keen and Hayes Carll.
The Houston-born Keen is an old ACL pal – this episode is his fifth appearance on our stage. Supporting his album Rose Hotel, Keen runs through a set of his humorous and poignant slices of life, from the statement of purpose “Throwin’ Rocks” to the spoken-word fantasia “The Great Hank” to the Levon Helm tribute “Man Behind the Drums.” Backed by his longtime band, plus guests Lloyd Maines, Danny Barnes and Bukka Allen, Keen reminds us why he’s considered the premier Texas songwriter of our age.
A relatively young buck on the Americana scene, Hayes Carll has garnered multiple awards with his steady country/folk melodies and sardonic sense of humor. Here he draws from both his album Trouble in Mind and his stash of then-unreleased tunes for the unabashed “Wild As Turkey,” the cheeky “Another Like You” (a duet with bassist Bonnie Whitmore that would appear on his next record KMAG YOYO) and the artist’s anthem “Drunken Poet’s Dream,” on which he’s joined by his co-author, Texas singer/songwriter legend Ray Wylie Hubbard.
Check out the episode page for more info, and join us on your local PBS station for the best in Texas songsmithery. Keep up with ACL goings-on with our Facebook and Twitter pages and our newsletter. Next week: The National and Band of Horses.