ACL Live Shot: AVICII

Photo by Gary Miller

ACL MUSIC FEST

• Friday ACL Live Shots

• First Aid Kit

  BY DOUG FREEMAN

• The War on Drugs

  BY LUKE WINKIE

• The Relatives

  BY JIM CALIGIURI

• L.P.

  BY CHASE HOFFBERGER

• Esperanza Spalding

  BY CHASE HOFFBERGER

• Jovanotti

  BY THOMAS FAWCETT

• Umphrey's McGee

  BY JIM CALIGIURI

• Tegan & Sara

  BY ZOE CORDES SELBIN

• The Afghan Whigs

  BY ADAM SCHRAGIN

• Alabama Shakes

  BY ABBY JOHNSTON

• Florence + the Machine

  BY MELANIE HAUPT

• Weezer

  BY ZOE CORDES SELBIN

• AVICII

  BY LUKE WINKIE

• The Black Keys

  BY MELANIE HAUPT

• Saturday ACL Live Shots

• Wild Child

  BY DOUG FREEMAN

• Wheeler Brothers

  BY JIM CALIGIURI

• Zola Jesus

  BY ADAM SCHRAGIN

• Bombay Bicycle Club

  BY ABBY JOHNSTON

• Rufus Wainwright

  BY ZOE CORDES SELBIN

• Father John Misty

  BY DOUG FREEMAN

• Sonámbulo

  BY THOMAS FAWCETT

• Big K.R.I.T.

  BY CHASE HOFFBERGER

• Oberhofer

  BY ZOE CORDES SELBIN

• Andrew Bird

  BY ABBY JOHNSTON

• Lee Fields & the Expressions

  BY THOMAS FAWCETT

• Kishi Bashi

  BY MELANIE HAUPT

• The Roots

  BY CHASE HOFFBERGER

• Antibalas

  BY THOMAS FAWCETT

• Gotye

  BY MELANIE HAUPT

• Jack White

  BY LUKE WINKIE

• Neil Young & Crazy Horse

  BY JIM CALIGIURI

• Sunday ACL Live Shots

• The Eastern Sea

  BY ADAM SCHRAGIN

• Kimbra

  BY MELANIE HAUPT

• Stars

  BY ZOE CORDES SELBIN

• Gary Clark Jr.

  BY DOUG FREEMAN

• Two Door Cinema Club

  BY ABBY JOHNSTON

• Thundercat

  BY LUKE WINKIE

• The Lumineers

  BY DOUG FREEMAN

• Barrington Levy

  BY THOMAS FAWCETT

• Crystal Castles

  BY LUKE WINKIE

• Avett Brothers

  BY JIM CALIGIURI

• Iggy & the Stooges

  BY ADAM SCHRAGIN

• Red Hot Chili Peppers

  BY CHASE HOFFBERGER

The guy next to me was a fratboy meathead sporting a neon green tank-top and a stupid grin. The kid on my other side was a grade-school raver who did his "woo"-ing through braces. I was definitely the only denizen in a Sonic Youth shirt, but AVICII knows no bounds. The 23-year-old Swedish stadium-house DJ took his seat at the top of a giant white-washed plastic head, and pressed play on his laptop. The party started. AVICII makes big loud obnoxious rave, no subtlety or sarcasm; the elder ACL-ers would probably scoff or mourn the day. It probably didn't help that he opened with a fanged "Baba O'Riley" remix. Instead of musicianship, he relied on endless CGI psychedelics projected on his monument. I suppose you need a distraction when the set has been digitally removed from any variables. It was not live music; it was theater, one incredibly popular DJ treating a legion of fans to 75 minutes of hyperkinetic energy. You could call him a phony, but I call it love, because when "Silhouettes" settles into its sunset groove, that's all I can think of.