ACL Live Review: Fidlar

Three years have passed since punk rock funsters Fidlar graced an ACL stage, so in their third time at the Zilker Park annual, the powerhouse Los Angeles quartet turned up the heat Friday on a typically scorching early October afternoon in downtown Austin.

“Hello, Austin, on this cold morning,” cracked frontman Zac Carper as the mercury climbed toward the mid-90s at 1:46pm.

With that, the Californians ripped into “Alcohol” from LP number three, January’s Almost Free. Two minutes in, the scent of another substance coated the air, its smoke winding straight into the nostrils of every audience member within immediate vicinity of the band, who’d graduated from an intermediate bandstand at their last ACL appearance to headlining the American Express stage. Everyone suitably loose, second song “Stoked and Broke” from the band’s 2012 debut broke out the mosh pit.

And quite the scrum it was, mostly high school and collegiate, with its fresh-faced participants looking as though they weren’t sure they were pushing each other around correctly.

After that, the crowd never stopped moving, its intensity never waning. Even when the tempo slowed down dramatically on “Can’t You See,” the audience change up front crackled. The moment of chill let everyone take a breath, but the the track stayed powerful as guitarist Elvis Kuehn’s reverbed vocals put the audience in a trance.

The jolt of drummer Max Kuehn and bassist Brandon Schwartzel’s driving rhythms on “Drone” restarted the jumping around again, which continued for the rest of the 45-minute, 11-song set. Fidlar’s ability to punch out Carper’s wise-ass hook demons keeps netting the DIY gang invitations back to ACL Fest for obvious reasons.

To the women attendees’ joy, Carper called for an all-female pit. Strictly no boys, he insisted, citing “too much testosterone.” With that, about 30-40 smiling young ladies cut loose during the entirety of “Flake.” For once, they didn’t have to worry about some bro stomping them.

Closing with 2012 single “Cheap Beer” and a single crowd surfer, the outfit left the stage sweaty and smoking. Feedback rose from the monitors. Blame it on the fever caused by Fidlar’s blistering 42 minutes.

Set-list:

“Alcohol”
“Stoked and Broke”
“No Waves”
“Can’t You See”
“Drone”
“40 oz. On Repeat”
“By Myself”
“West Coast”
“Flake”

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Fidlar

Friday, Oct. 4, 1:45pm, American Express stage