The sky wasn’t just crying on Day 2 of ACL Fest, it was sobbing in big wet gulps. Flogging Molly embraced the day like beautiful Irish weather, but as the afternoon went on and the rain didn’t relent, it prompted an audience member during The Decemberists‘ electrifying set to comment, “What are they singing? The hazards of mud?”
Even the relative cushiness of the VIP Grove washed away, as the coveted seating was drenched and everyone banded under the food tents and in the Dell Lounge tent. Worse still, was the media area, where the only the tent was where the press huddled to file on their laptops. All the festival’s good planning couldn’t stop Mother Nature’s guest appearance.
That didn’t stop the music or the special moments. “Hey, Bill Kreutzman is playing with Papa Mali in the media area.” News8’s Andy Langer pointed me to the KGSR stage where sure enough, the Grateful Dead drummer was keeping time as Papa Mali sang, “Friend of the Devil.”
And Levon Helm got lucky, with a dry spell to perform (but not sing due to recent surgery) favorites such as “The Shape I’m In,” “The Weight,” and “Chest Fever.”
By the time my beloved Decemberists took the stage, however, my inner Festival Weenie had kicked in and I was antsy to leave, shooting out of there as they closed their Hazards of Love performance. Upon departure, the ground was so squishy my Nikes were suctioning in the mud. The parking lot where I’d been routed was an overflow one and a mudpit by the time I left.
Tomorrow? It’s Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, coming off the killer CD Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is! and one of my all-time favorites, the B-52s.
This article appears in October 2 • 2009.