Customer Reviews

Austin City Limits Festival 2004

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Austin City Limits has broken barriers in popular music since 1976. Presenting a wide variety of talented artists from the fringe (Richard Thompson), to cult artists (John Hiatt, The Neville Brothers) and top 40 (Bonnie Raitt) throughout the years. It's no surprise that their "Austin City Limits Music Festival" continues that popular tradition. Featuring the bluesy Ben Harper to the gospel sound of the Blind Boys of Alabama to Franz Ferdinand's popular brand of rock, this set gives diversity a good name. Artists on this two disc set include the following: Neville Brothers, Los Lonely Boys, Pixies, Franz Ferdinand, Sloan, the Blind Boys of Alabama, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Pixies, Phish, Jack Johnson, Drive by Truckers, Cake, Neville Brothers, Sheryl Crow,Rachel Yamagata, Sloan, Broken Social Scene. There's only one or two songs by each performer but there's still a good solid two hours plus of great music here. Recorded over three days in September at Zilker Park in Austin it's a great show to dig into during a hot night or rainy, lazy Sunday.

A top-notch transfer overall although there is the occasional bit of video noise that prevents the picture from being perfect, "Austin City Limits" looks extremely good as presented here. The 5.1 soundtrack sounds flawless with great detail and vibrant.

A great sampler of the three day festival and a better bet than the CD which only collects 16 songs, "Austin City Limits Festival" is a fun dip into a pool music on a very hot trio of days in September. My only complaint is that some of these bands I hadn't heard of were so intriguing that I wanted to see a full concert performance by them. I suppose I'll just have to wait for individual releases by these artists. It certainly introduced me to some interesting music and prompted me to purchase CDs I might not otherwise have heard.

DVD 1:
01. Gold in the Sunset - Bob Schneider
02. Walk in Jerusalem - Blind Boys of Alabama
03. Seven Year Ache - Rosanne Cash
04. I am the Cancer - Sloan
05. Anthem for a 17 Year Old Girl - Broken Social Scene
06. Darts of Pleasure - Franz Ferdinand
07. Crazy Dream - Los Lonely Boys
08. Light in your Eyes - Sheryl Crow
09. Sister Surround - The Soundtrack of our Lives
10. It's the Nighttime - Josh Rouse
11. The New Kid - Old 97s
12. Ghost - Howie Day

DVD 2:
01. The Way That He Sings - My Morning Jacket
02. Streets Are Callin' - The Neville Brothers
03. First Tube - Trey Anastasio
04. Debaser - Pixies
05. Be Be Your Love - Rachael Yamagata
06. Alone Again or - Calexico
07. Your Lies - Shelby Lynne
08. Wasting Time - Jack Johnson
09. The Day John Henry Died - Drive-By Truckers
10. The One Thing - Pat Green featuring Jack Ingram
11. Wheels - Cake
12. Brown Eyed Blues - Ben Harper

This probably does not do justice to these events, but it much more comfortable inmy living room. Great music.

Austin City Limits is known for its musical diversity. That shows through on the CD, and it shows through on the DVD as well.

This is the third year of the festival, and judging from the crowds that can be seen on this DVD, it's going to be around for a while. It's pretty clear from the video how hot it was in Austin that weekend, but people came out to listen to some outstanding bands.

Don't worry that if you've heard the CD you'll get the same stuff on the DVD - while the video features many of the same acts that are on the CD, you'll get to see and hear some different bands. Sheryl Crow and Rosanne Cash make appearances on the DVD, as do Pat Green and Jack Ingram.

The video reinforced something that I'd thought after listening to the CD - Pixies didn't really seem to be into the performance - from accounts I read of the show from people who were there, they had some technical problems at the beginning of the performance, though that's not evident in the video. I found a few more artists to keep an eye on watching the DVD - Old 97's and The Soundtrack of Our Lives, for example.

The video quality is excellent, and the sound is outstanding. I used this video to break the new DVD-ROM drive I bought, and the quality even on my 17" monitor was great.

I'd have liked to have seen more than just one song from some of these bands; maybe next year they can expand into four DVDs! The performances were fun to watch (though watching Howie Day play with the gear on the ground got a little tedious - the song was great, though!).

I have been to the festival many times and considering how many bands there are and how long each of them play, it like a mini-concert by each artist. So why not put more songs out? There were sooo many good songs that where played live and yet not all of them made it to the DVD. Forget the 2 disc set, what ever happen to the 10 or 12 disc box set like the Live Aid DVD or the compilation of Bob Dylan? Even Ericka Clement Robson who is dead has a box set out. Come one, no love for us country loving folks? Figures considering some marketing machine, literally, in New York decided what songs should be allowed. How about being brave and getting some real songs out there in the mix. I don't think anyone wants the junk that Madison Ave deems PC. Come on Austin people, we are progressive, not like some so and so's we know. More songs for next year and more artist that are local, please.

I love Austin City Limits and I respect the way they encompass so many types and genres of music but I am sorry to say that this compilation of performances was way under par for them. I bought the DVD in hopes of discovering some new interesting music along the same lines as Jack Johnson, Cake, and Ben Harper which are awesome performers in my opinion, but there were only a handful of others that were even mildly entertaining to me. Of course that's my opinion. But it wasn't so much that the bands were terrible- some of them were quite interesting and there were some surprise performances by musicians I may not have otherwise heard. It was the WAY they mixed the music together which just didn't flow at all and ended up feeling like a weird-ed out hodge-podge of psychedelic and country-esqe bands with a few hard bands thrown in here and there. They didn't jive at all and left me feeling flat. Perhaps the actual festival merged more smoothly, but on this DVD, they skipped from day performances to night and back again with jarring genre-switching that got on my nerves, and seemed to affect the artists' performances as well which I find regrettable because the potential for a great show was there, just not captured this time. Not worth the money in my opinion. Maybe if I was there drinking as heavily as the crowd it may have been more enjoyable.

I have seen the PBS series, but a co-worker turned me on to this disc. What a different world it is! I am usually not a big concert fan. I like listening to the music not watching it. In fact, if I want to watch something, it would have to be something educational or a romantic comedy.

All in all a good DVD, menus are really pretty, like nice shiny ribbons and art-deco building. Who occupies those offices in the buildings on the DVD menu? Interesting look. Makes me feel like going to the local craft shop and making my own ribbon boutique in gold and blue and orange, etc.

Wish there were more photos or interviews or behind the scenes look. How come there is no extended liner notes with more photos? I vote for more photos! Just bought the Rachael Yamagata CD because of this DVD. She is such a strong, soulful woman. A perfect role model for all ladies. I am happy I bought this.

When you watch this DVD you understand why things are slower in the south. It's the heat dammit! This is a really fun DVD to watch. You can really feel the Austin heat in the daytime concerts. Everyone is sweating and things are so orange. It's like being on the surface of a hotplate glowing orange and red and sizzling. Sizzle, Sizzle.

I wish I had gotten tickets for this years show. My mistake for not planning ahead, but when you have 4 kids age 6-15 it is pretty tough to go anywhere!!!!! I guess I will have to wait another year or continue watching this DVD. It would be nice if this was a yearly release of a DVD. That way gals like me that couldn't make it can enjoy it at home with the ice cream and cookies and the kids.

I recommend this DVD. Also for those of you with children who are 8-10 years old, the DVD: Shark Tales and The Incredibles. See you in Austin, hopefully, next year!

There is so many crap dvd's out there. This is actually one of the good one. Not crap. Watched the Cream DVD and the Crossroads crap with all these old ass "guitar rock" legends crap. They all need to retire. Same thing with the rolling stones. How long are they gonna milk it, probably till they die. So back the the ACL disk. It's a great disc. Lot's of different types of artist and bands, not all just country, indie, or punk. If it was it would be a waste. Was debating about buying either another 50 cent CD or the ACL disc. Took a leap of faith and bought it. Liked it, now need to go visit Austin. Is it really that hot? Doesn't look to bad. I missed this years festival, but with the hurricane and all probably a good thing I stayed home.