!!! and Airborne Toxic Event Embrace the ACL Rain
- Posted on Oct 5th 2009 10:45AM by Charley Rogulewski
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The rain didn't ease up much by the time Sacramento, Calif. punk dance act !!! (aka Chk Chk Chk) took the stage Saturday at Austin City Limits. Frontman Nic Offer didn't let the weather slow him or his outlandish dance moves down. The enigmatic vocalist even borrowed a purple umbrella from the audience to sing with from the pit. Other festival revelers would take refuge from the rain to watch the Texas Tech versus University of New Mexico college football game set up on a giant screen from Zilker Park's tented Rock Island Hideaway. Nothing goes better with a live !!! set than some college ball."It's nice to be back here when it's not SXSW," the Airborne Toxic Event's singer Mikel Jollett told the crowd as the band followed !!!'s set onstage. Jollett promised the crowd that the L.A. band, best known for their pop radio hit 'Sometime Around Midnight,' would deliver a rock 'n' roll show. "This is a song Lou Reed stole from the Drifters and we're gonna steal it back," he said before launching into a cover of 'This Magic Moment.' It was fitting considering the song's final lyrics "Why won't you dance with me 'til the end of time" actually got the crowd dancing.
In addition to their most popular track, the band dished out tunes like 'This Losing' and 'Happiness Is Overrated' which Jollet confessed was about "a girl who was a good kisser." Judging from the lyrics things didn't work out well for him and the girl. The band also sampled songs off their self-titled '08 debut like 'Gasoline' and 'Does This Mean You're Moving On?'
For the most part the set was high energy, backed by video pulsing and changing to the beat of each song. Keyboardist/violinist Anna Bulbrook notably added to the fever by dancing around on stage while playing her instruments, recalling a lively yet more commercial Arcade Fire or Ra Ra Riot set. All things considered, Airborne Toxic Event probably get more commercial radio play than any other acts performing during the fest's Saturday 3PM slot, and they surprisingly delivered the promised roll 'n' roll show, leaving the crowd thinking there was more to the band than just their hit single.
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