I glanced at the headliners at first, and I was mostly unimpressed:
Mostly kinda meh. I mean, Beck’s cool, and of course so is David Byrne – if you will even be able to hear some of his more delicate arrangements. I wouldn’t mind seeing Spiritualized again, if they could somehow magically reinvent themselves as they were a decade or more ago. Band of Horses is decent. Foo Fighters would be ok to see in a big outdoor setting. And don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind seeing a lot of those acts, but I’m not jumping up and down to see them either. Upon looking further down the list:
Some decent smaller acts, really, and finally some modern relevance (if you don’t count Vampire Weekend above – and I don’t). But I’m not sure how some translate to the festival scene. I mean, Stars was great at Stubbs outdoors, so that might work. Jose Gonzales fit perfectly on the intimate Parish stage, but outside, during the day getting drowned out by Hot Chip thumping a few hundred yards away? It’s going to be an interesting ACL, good in ways I’m sure, but one I probably won’t mind missing this year.
Blendor 