Sparklehorse
Everyone loves a comeback: Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous took the stage in a straw hat adorned with a pink plastic tiara to respectful cheers. The band then launched into the sweet and poetic “Gold Day,” followed by “Spirit Ditch” and “Sad and Beautiful World.” The rather slow and sleepy tone of the opening three songs threatened to make this a sad and boring set, despite the incongruous beach ball bopping slowly amid the faithful. Then Linkous and his band ripped into the rocking “Ghost in the Sky,” one of the few true rock songs on the band’s fourth album, Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (Astralwerks). Suddenly, that beach ball made a lot more sense. The set was a mixed bag of old and new tracks, including “Hammering the Cramps,” “Painbirds,” and the group’s one big hit, “Someday I Will Treat You Good.” Then on to more new material, which Linkous might not be comfortable with yet. “I usually fuck this one up,” he claimed before launching into “Don’t Take My Sunshine Away,” Dreamt‘s opening track. Sparklehorse brought the mellow to those looking for a warm, fuzzy denouement to their opening evening of ACL.
This article appears in September 22 • 2006.