It’s no surprise that activism and anger took on a prominent role at Austin City Limits Weekend One — especially in light of a certain Texas law that recently went into effect and got an implicit,[…]
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ACL day two quick recap: girl in red and Dayglow’s party vibes; top song performances of Saturday
“I’m a rambler,” Marie Ulven, aka girl in red, repeatedly acknowledged apologetically during her Saturday afternoon set. But the thing was — while rambling, banter, and philosophical musings can often be an onstage drawback (I[…]
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ACL day one quick recap: The weather says “j/k”; Black Pumas, Miley Cyrus
It’s a style of heady rock music, a pretty successful comedy series, and an approximately ’90s-originated expression to mean “just kidding,” usually in a somewhat mean-spirited way. It was also the operative word that defined[…]
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Shows: Anberlin @ Emo’s
There’s always difficulty in taking declared farewell shows and tours seriously. From “The Last Waltz” to LCD Soundsystem’s big Madison Square Garden finale to bands of more limited general fame like our subjects here, Anberlin,[…]
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Album review: James McMurtry, The Horses and the Hounds
At age 59, James McMurtry still has the fire. The Austin Americana-rock institution still has the voice full of command, pessimism, jaundice and sometimes disgust. His pen comes reliably loaded with stories, observations, and mitigated[…]
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Black Pumas vs. Megan Thee Stallion: Picking a winner in the heavyweight scheduling conflict of ACL Weekend 1
(Photo by Nicole Berlin Photography) Barring a cancellation, I’ll be at Weekend 1 of Austin City Limits, my fifth consecutive year at the festival (as you’ll recall, there was no 2020 edition) and my third straight as[…]
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