ACL, Night Two

I had to work Saturday, but I got off in time for Jolie, Alyssa, Chris and myself to enjoy plenty:

• The Raconteurs were the highlight of the weekend for me. This is partly because of my familiarity with their debut album and partly because Connor and I "jam" to their songs nearly every day. Mostly, though, I find great pleasure in the way they take obvious rip offs of all things 70s and manage to meld them into very listenable and current pop-rock. Notable mockeries included Rush, Black Sabbath, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and even Sonny and Cher's rendition of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)"; and especially the gritty organ work of Deep Purple. The surprise discovery that Jack White is an incredibly charismatic and energetic performer, his acid balanced beautifully with the baseness of his vocal and 6-stringed counterpart Brendan Benson, certainly didn't hurt either.
• Heard aproximately two songs from Iron and Wine backstage at the Heineken VIP area. Like the beard, love the music -- just wasn't in the mood for chilled lullabies at the time...
• Felt quite conflicted about my opinion of Explosions in the Sky. If I had been drawn in, I'm sure I would have felt differently. They made interesting background music for our fish tacos at any rate.
• Watched the collection of 73-year-old wrinkles known as Willie Nelson from an acre away. Similarly to Van Morrison, I would have like to have heard a more dynamic backup band. Still, it's pretty cool to see hoards of youngsters singing along and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Always On My Mind remains a beautiful ghost of a song; and his last two ditties about being old and being an outlaw were a hoot. No surprise he got caught with mushrooms and reefer in Lousiana 2 days later.