TRACE, Blitzen Trapper and Belle & Sebastian ACL Live
the daughter and I stopped by TRACE for some pre show cheap and good happy hour eats ($5 per plate). Executive Chef Nadine Thomas got word I was at the bar and made her way down to introduce herself to me. the daughter was impressed and I was thankful.
I always show up early for a show I really want to see. we stood there for over an hour before the first band took the stage. and TAKE that stage they did!
Blitzen Trapper has a few songs that we really like. the daughter likes to play Black River Killer on her guitar. although we renamed the song Black River Fisherman so it's less troubling for her mother.
I was really surprised as to how hard they rocked those songs! a strong southern hard rock element to their live show. they're a hard sound to nail down with descriptions, a bit hard rock, a bit folk grunge with a southern mountain man funk quality... but they sounded great.
I tried to keep my expectations low for Belle & Sebastian. they have a large catalog with so many songs I wanted to hear. and, they're a big band. much to my surprise, they sounded better live than recorded! and the show was great fun.
Stuart (lead singer) sang one song from down in the audience. another song had a spoken word part performed by an audience member (dirty dream #2), and they even brought several people up on stage to dance along with them.
I was worried that the daughter would become tired or bored, but it never happened. she danced, clapped her hands, and laughed a lot. as the house lights came on she HAPPILY exclaimed, "THAT WAS FUN!"
