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.
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.
For the past decade, Austin City Limits has been the best source for indie rock on television. This spring, we’ll keep that particular brand of goodness coming with new tapings featuring Grizzly Bear and Jim James. Grizzly Bear has been on the rise for all of their decade-long existence, and we’re happy to finally bring their visceral, majestic indie rock to our stage on April 10 as they support their acclaimed latest LP Shields. Brilliant My Morning Jacket leader James is no stranger to ACL – this May 5 show celebrating his eclectic, atmospheric solo album Regions of Light and Sound of God will be his sixth appearance on our stage.
We’ve got more great music on the way to our studio – stayed tuned for information on how to be in the audience for one of these tapings by following us on Facebook and Twitter and in this space.
Alright, slackers, vacation time is over. We’ve already booked some artists for the next season of Austin City Limits, which will be our 39th. We’re thrilled to announce that we’re kicking off our new taping season on March 17 with indie rock heroes Vampire Weekend, a longtime “ask” that’s finally a “get.” On April 16 we’re bringing current radio faves the Lumineers to our stage, accompanied by fast-rising critical faves Shovels & Rope. On May 6 we welcome French alt.rock troupe Phoenix to ACL.
Not a bad way to kick off an exciting new year in ACL TV history. This will be just the tip of the iceberg, of course – check in frequently with our Facebook and Twitter pages and this here blog for more taping announcements as they happen.