ACL Fest Live Shots
Sunday, Sept. 17, Zilker Park
By Audra Schroeder, Fri., Sept. 22, 2006
José González
It only made sense for it to start drizzling during José González's set. The dark clouds had been approaching, and soon the sun disappeared. It's here that González asks, "What would Nick Drake do?" His spare, slightly foreboding guitar and vocal drawl is the meat of latest Veneer, a dish of Tropicalia with European sensibilities. Alone on the stage, he looked miniature (and also a little like David Blaine), but to watch his dexterous fingers pluck up and down the neck of his acoustic and pull out dark and often sensual tunes made him loom a bit more. "This sounds like the song from The OC," said one blonde college girl in a bikini. She's right; González's song "Crosses" is on The OC soundtrack, but it was hard to tell which song it was since they all started to sound the same after 20 minutes. He strummed his cover of fellow Swedes the Knife's "Heartbeats" – the one in the Sony commercial – and it was sweet. However, González's sound, which is better suited to the clubs on his recent tour with dream-hoppers Zero 7, will reach its lofty lullaby heights in two weeks when he plays the Parish.
