Day 3:
I woke early to catch the bus with the new Childish Gambino single in my headphones and headed straight for the Honda stage for my new friend WAX’s set.
Photo by Matt Ellis
The set started with a modest crowd, it was 11:45 a.m. after a Saturday night, but as the bass-knocking beats and WAX’s pinpoint delivery began echoing throughout the festival grounds, the crowd continued to build. Most of the bands at the festival would lose a portion of the crowd because of other band’s set’s beginning. WAX was one of the artists whose crowd became three times as big as when he took the stage. “Two Wheels” announced to the people in attendance that the loss of automobile transportation would not keep him down and an ode to the distaste of social media, “Stay Off My Facebook,” had all the makings of a cheesy cut that most artists would create, but it totally worked and by the end had everyone singing, “don’t be posting nothing up on my wall.” He then had another surprise when he pulled out a stool and acoustic guitar. Think Lil’ Wayne when he finishes songs with three notes on his electric, and then think the complete opposite. WAX proved he’s an all around artist by masterfully strumming along to his own beats and harmonizing messages to ex-girlfriends. For those who didn’t know WAX before, they do now. For those that don’t, go find out before your friends do.
I worked my way up to the front of the Google + stage. As producer, and half of Chiddy Bang, Xaphoon Jones took his place behind his drum kit, Chiddy came out to an uproarious crowd with the hit “Fresh Like Us.” With a stage presence that would be foreign to most, Chiddy rocked his classic gold mic with bangers like “Good Life,” “Never,” “Baby Roulette” and “All Things Go.” Jones stepped out from behind the drums shirtless and asked for some crowd participation. He needed a snap-back, tank top and sunglasses. After putting on an ironically-thrown Detroit Red Wings snap-back, he proceeded to take Big Sean’s place on the mixtape cut “Too Fake.”
The highlights of Chiddy’ set were when Xaphoon told the crowd of Chiddy’s proclamation that he can rhyme any word. He then asked for a list of 10 topics, wrote them down on paper and manned the drums again. Chiddy then laced an incredible freestyle that covered topics like Texas, marijuana and “Saved By The Bell,” proving why he’s the Guinness World Record holder for “Longest Freestyle” at around nine hours. Then they declared their original claim to “I Can’t Stop” from Peanut Butter and Swelly (you might know it from Watch The Throne), which almost shut down ACL a few hours early. They closed, of course, with the MGMT sampled, “Opposite of Adults” which brought more of the MTV fans into the mix. I spoke with Chiddy for a brief moment and he couldn’t have come across nicer or more genuine.
As the weekend wound down we kicked it with guys from The Kingston Springs a little bit more who were at the time on cloud nine after just seeing Fleet Foxes’ set from the stage area. As we wrapped up the press side of things and put down a few more libations, we caught the end of the Empire of the Sun’s unique set as all 80,000-plus audience members took their places for Arcade Fire. Though Arcade Fire played almost a perfect set, the most overwhelming thing was the sheer mass of people taking this beautiful masterpiece in with the city of Austin as the backdrop. The band powered through tracks from The Suburbs, closing with the amazing anthem “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” as they played the festival to a fitting end. As I walked toward
the path that led back to the bus stop, I passed a sea of parked bikes and thousands upon thousands of pedestrians all high on the past three days. New friends were made, new bands were discovered and new memories were cemented as I walked thinking of just those things, and not of the 20-hour Greyhound ride that was to come in a mere six hours. This was a weekend I’m forever grateful for, one I won’t forget and one that I cannot wait to trump next at next year’s fest.
Photo by Matt Ellis
Photo by Matt Ellis
Here’s a quick video of some of the artists we talked to:
And to relive my weekend tweet by tweet, feel free to check out my Twitter page: @mattwink
