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Modern rock rules ACL Season 44 this weekend with Arctic Monkeys and Wild Child

Austin City Limits showcases the best of music from near and far to cure your January blues: UK modern rock icons Arctic Monkeys and Austin favorites Wild Child.

One of today’s biggest live acts, Arctic Monkeys perform highlights from their 2019 Grammy-nominated album, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, which topped many critics’ 2018 year-end best lists. The acclaimed Sheffield, UK quartet received a coveted 2019 Brit Award nomination for Best Band and they deliver the goods in their ACL debut with a sultry, stylized, captivating six-song set. The Arctic Monkeys play as their movements are captured not only by the ACL cameras, but allegedly, as well, by the cameras of a faux documentary crew filming their every move. Frontman Alex Turner revels in the persona of a rock ‘ roll superstar, oozing charisma on dramatic set opener “Crying Lightning” from 2009’s Humbug before checking into Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino for a lush three-song opus. Turner then checks out with a stone-cold classic, “R U Mine?” from the band’s 2013 chart-topping, platinum smash AM, thrilling the Austin audience.

A band with Central Texas roots, the Austin-based ensemble Wild Child wow in an irresistible ACL debut filled with their wistful-yet-spiky love songs. The Austin-American Statesman raves, “Four albums in, the Austin indie-folk band-that-could has become increasingly confident without losing the sense of childlike wonder that’s so central to the spirit of their music.” The road-tested septet, anchored by perpetually smiling singer Kelsey Wilson and her soaring vocals, perform songs from their recent Expectations. Wilson and co-writer/vocalist/ukelele player Alexander Beggins intertwine vocals on the playful set-opener “Alex,” before the tempo slows for the lush ballad “Eggshells.” The band is joined by a guest set of horns to augment the pop swell of “1996,” and the lovelorn “Back & Forth.” They strip down to guitars and vocals for the harmony-laden fan favorite “Sinking Ship,” before closing out with a crowd-pleaser, the funky, melodic charmer “Expectations.”

photo by Scott Newton

“Every season we include at least a couple of bands that represent the best of Austin, and Wild Child captures the spirit of Austin indie music better than any other,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona, “and Arctic Monkeys is exactly what you would expect – their hardcore fans won’t be disappointed!”

Tune in this weekend for this episode, and, as always, check your local PBS listings for the broadcast time in your area. Go to the episode page for more info, and don’t forget to click over to our Facebook, Twitter and newsletter pages for more ACL info. Join us next week for another brand new episode, featuring the return of American music legend and ACL pilot star Willie Nelson.

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Mitski and Rainbow Kitten Surprise bring fresh sounds to ACL 45

photo by Scott Newton

Austin City Limits showcases a pair of innovators in a captivating double bill: acclaimed indie songwriter and performer Mitski in a rare television performance and eclectic alt-rockers Rainbow Kitten Surprise. 

Critically acclaimed as the vanguard of indie rock, Japanese-born American Mitski Miyawaki performs songs from her stunning fifth album Be the Cowboy alongside career highlights in her ACL debut. The singer-songwriter pulls the curtain back on her emotionally raw songs in a spellbinding 8-song set backed by her 4-piece band. The innovative artist has a singular performance style that plays out like conceptual art; the stage is set with a white wooden table and chair, basic props that are repurposed as a platform, a screen and a shield as the show unfolds. Wearing black shorts, knee pads and dance shoes, and armed with a stone-cold stare, Mitski moves slowly, deliberately, opening with the passionate, throbbing “I Will,” from her 2014 debut Bury Me At Makeout Creek, climbing atop the prop table victoriously at the song’s climax. With velvety tones and incisive poetry, she raises her voice on love and loneliness, coaxing the rapt audience to enter the darkest parts of her mind, to swirl in her insecurities, to stand at her side as she vanquishes residual longing from love gone wrong. On her knees on the table as guitarist (and longtime producer) Patrick Hyland strums the chords to the anthem “Your Best American Girl,” from her 2016 breakout Puberty 2, Mitski rides the gorgeous swells of sound, whipping her hair, before delivering a gut-wrenching performance of “I Bet on Losing Dogs” that leaves her curled in a fetal position on top of the table. The performance is a meticulously detailed exercise in vulnerability and cathartic release, for one of the most compelling performances ever on the ACL stage.

“Performance is as much a part of Mitski’s show as the songs are – maybe even more so,” said ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “I guarantee that if you’re a longtime fan of ACL,  you’ve neve seen anything quite like this.”

Nashville-based five-piece Rainbow Kitten Surprise formed at Appalachian State University in 2013 and make their ACL debut drawing heavily from their acclaimed third album How To: Friend, Love, Freefall.  Opening with the fan-favorite “Hide,” the song is amplified by singer Sam Melo’s soulful vocals and bitter cries of “You better hide your love!” The high-spirited alt-rockers deliver a blissed-out free-for-all, with charismatic frontman Melo engaging in unpredictable bursts of physical expression, from high kicks to swirling twirls to near-leaps into the crowd and bassist/sparkplug Charlie Holt often mirroring his jumps and dips. This joyful vitality and powerful camaraderie infuse the music’s kaleidoscopic sonic palette with inventive arrangements and indelible melody. Set highlights include “Cocaine Jesus,” augmented by a cappella harmonies and “When It Lands,” an ambitious, multi-movement composition that showcases each member’s talents. Melo is behind the piano as he croons the intro to the dramatic “Holy War,” before retaking the mic at center stage for the tumbling folk of set-closer “Painkillers.” 

photo by Scott Newton

“If you haven’t experienced seeing Rainbow Kitten Surprise, you are missing something in your life,” said Lickona. “The combo of jump kicks, their original electro-folk sound and ghostly harmonies will carry you away to psychedelic Neverland.”

As always, check your local PBS listings for the broadcast time in your area, and don’t forget to click over to our Facebook and Twitter pages or sign up for our newsletter for more ACL info. Join us next week for another new episode, featuring wild-eyed rockers Cage the Elephant and eclectic R&B ensemble Tank & The Bangas. 

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Miguel brings eclectic soul to the ACL stage

Standing proudly in the vanguard of contemporary R&B artists, Miguel has garnered massive critical acclaim since his emergence in 2011. The Los Angeles native describes his eclectic sound as  “fly, funkadelic, intergalactic-hip-hop-meets-sexy-orgasmic crazy, dope shit,” and that’s a fair approximation of the sonic waves Miguel brought to the Moody Theater stage for his debut ACL taping, which we streamed live around the world.

With his four-piece band (clad all in white), Miguel took the stage in a trench coat and launched into the rocking “Criminal,” from his latest album War & Leisure. He stepped back to his breakthrough LP Kaleidoscope Dream for the equally vibrant “The Thrill” and the bouncing “How Many Drinks?,” updating classic R&B sounds for the twenty-first century. Ditching his trenchcoat, he and the band went immediately into the poppy “Banana Clip,” keeping the groove and melody flowing. After that uninterrupted salvo, Miguel paused to hail ACL and the audience, who came out in force on a Sunday night. After explaining how his bi-ethnic heritage formed his perspective and how he writes songs about his experiences on the journey to his current success, he cheekily followed with the sardonic “Do You Like…” (drugs, that is), frosting it with reggae, his soaring falsetto and a quick snippet of Musical Youth’s “Pass the Dutchie.” Then the singer jumped all the way back to the beginning with “Sure Thing,” from his first LP All I Want is You. That set the stage for the Grammy Award-winning “Adorn,” his anthemic breakthrough hit that became a dynamic call-and-response singalong.

Miguel kept the widescreen feel going with the power chord-driven “Simple Thing,” taken from his wildly extolled third record Wildheart. Most of the band exited the stage, leaving just Miguel with guitarist Josh J. strapping on his acoustic for the stripped-down “Now,” a politically-charged tune about cultivating positivity in troubled times. “Now back to our regularly scheduled programming,” he said as the band returned. With his musicians laying down some atmosphere, Miguel talked about growing up with a foot in two different cultures and the lessons he learned from it. After instructing the audience in the song’s interactivity, he ripped into the blazing “Waves,” encouraging everyone in the house and on the web to ride their own wave. After that explosion, the only thing to do was to bring things down with the sexy ballad “Come Through and Chill.” “Nasty,” he smiled after the audience indulged in some provocative call-and-response. Miguel followed that with “Pineapple Skies,” a clear audience favorite. But that was merely a scene-setter for his current smash hit “Skywalker.” You gotta stay up!” he exhorted the eager crowd, and they did through the course of this powerhouse, show-closing anthem. The audience went nuts by the end, chanting “One more song” – to no avail, alas. Still, it was a hell of a show, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs this fall on your local PBS station.  

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Episode Recap Featured News

Miguel and Alessia Cara spotlight contemporary R&B and pop in ACL’s 44th season

Austin City Limits presents an uplifting hour showcasing two standouts from the worlds of contemporary R&B and pop: Grammy Award-winning R&B phenom Miguel and hitmaker Alessia Cara in their ACL debuts. Miguel performs cuts from his acclaimed album War & Leisure and Alessia Cara, the 2018 Grammy Award-winning Best New Artist, shines with mega-hits and new songs.  

“I’ve watched many episodes of ACL and to be on this stage, this legendary stage, and share it with you tonight means the world to me,” says Miguel from behind his fringe-covered mic stand.  Los Angeles-raised, with black and Latino roots, the singer-songwriter—born Miguel Jontel Pimentel—is one of the most adventurous voices in contemporary R&B. A magnetic performer, he sends a message of love through a soaring set that inspires sing-alongs to his biggest hits.   Opening with fan-favorite “How Many Drinks?” from his 2012 breakthrough Kaleidoscope Dream, Miguel moves across the stage with style, showcasing his signature falsetto.  He delivers a solo acoustic version of the social consciousness anthem “Now,” saying, “I can’t think of a better time or more fitting place to sing this song…now is the time when we have to stop looking at other people for the answers and every day take a moment to do something ourselves to move things in a positive direction.”  Miguel closes out the thrilling set with his euphoric smash “Sky Walker,” chanting the refrain “You gotta stay up!” as the willing Austin audience is on their feet.

22-year-old pop breakout star Alessia Cara earned the coveted Grammy Award for Best New Artist this year,  and delivers a crowd-pleasing set of her irresistible songs in a sparkling ACL debut. The Toronto native catapulted onto the charts in late 2015 with her spellbinding smash “Here,” from her platinum debut album KNOW-IT-ALL.  Cara performs the number in her ACL set, saying “This is the first song I ever released, and it changed my life, so sing along,” even dropping a bonus new verse on the eager audience.  The vocal stunner performs show-stopping versions of the mega-hits that have earned her legions of fans, including her emotional ode to self-love, “Scars To Your Beautiful,” and “How Far I’ll Go” from the Disney blockbuster Moana.  Her band exits the stage as she dons an acoustic guitar for a soulful solo performance of her new song “A Little More”.  With smoke effects and flying confetti, Cara closes the set with an ecstatic rendition of her #1 pop collaboration with renowned DJ/producer Zedd, “Stay,” sparking an instant crowd sing-along as she playfully urges the enthralled ACL crowd to jump along.

photo by Scott Newton

“Miguel and Alessia Cara represent the best of a new generation of contemporary singer-songwriters,” said ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “Rather than wallow in self-pity or self-indulgence, their songs aren’t afraid to confront the challenges and realities of life today, but always with hope for a better world.”

Tune in this weekend for this episode, and, as always, check your local PBS listings for the broadcast time in your area. Go to the episode page for more info, and don’t forget to click over to our Facebook, Twitter and newsletter pages for more ACL info. Join us next week for a brand new episode featuring Americana stars Kacey Musgraves and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real.

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Featured News

Michael Nesmith R.I.P.

Michael Nesmith on Austin City Limits, 1993. Photo by Scott Newton.

Austin City Limits was sorry to learn of the passing of singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, music video pioneer and, of course, Monkee Michael Nesmith. He died of heart failure at the age of 78. 

The Houston native was a creative lynchpin for the Monkees – the first member to pen original material for the group and the first to insist that the band play its own instruments and choose its own songs. After the Monkees ended in 1970, he formed the First National Band along with steel guitar pioneer Red Rhodes, and became one of the pioneers of country rock with the early seventies albums Magnetic South, Loose Salute, and Nevada Fighter and the singles “Joanne,” “Silver Moon” and “Rio.” 

While he continued to record throughout his life, he eventually turned his attention to visual arts, pioneering long-form music video with the Grammy-winning Elephant Parts and forming the company Pacific Arts, which produced, among others, PBS’s acclaimed Ken Burns miniseries The Civil War. Nesmith also produced the cult comedies Tapeheads and Repo Man, produced records for singer/songwriters Iain Matthews, Bert Jansch and Texas’ own Carolyn Wonderland (whose wedding he officiated), wrote a pair of novels and served on the boards of the Gihon Foundation and the American Film Institute. He also participated in Monkees reunion tours, with the band playing its final show in November of this year. 

In the midst of all those accomplishments, Nesmith also appeared on Austin City Limits in 1993, opening Season 18. Here’s his closing number, “Rio.” 

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News

Michael Kiwanuka – June 10

Michael Kiwanuka may not be a household name – yet. But we predict that, following his debut taping on June 10 for Austin City Limits, the British singer/songwriter more