-A.S. Wedged in between John Fogerty and Robert Plant & Allison Krauss/Beck was 45 minutes of the Black Keys. Having already seen them twice since the 4th of July, I knew what to except. There is so much rock from just two people. It never ceases to amaze me.Dan Auerbach was feeling the blues here at Lollapalooza.

The mini set was pretty standard compared to the others. “I Got Mine“ and “Strange Times” off the new album. ” They played “Your Touch” again too. I didn’t expect to hear anything that they hadn’t already been doing all summer long, but I was wrong. They hadn’t been playing “Psychotic Girl,” but it sounded great live.

Anybody that has seen these guys knows just how hard they rock. As I walked around trying to find the best spot, I overheard several people talking about how awesome they are.

-A.S. I was right, when I said that John Fogerty’s set at ACL would play like a CCR greatest hits album. He mixed in a few of his solo tunes as well, but it was his classics that stood out.

Fogerty didn’t hold back from the start, opening up the set with “Travelin’ Band.” Before long he had already rattled off a list of hits that included “Bad Moon Rising,” “Green River,” “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” and “Born on a Bayou.”Having warmed up the crowd with what they all came to hear, he eased into one of his new songs, “Don’t You Wish it Was True?” Zack wasn’t digging Fogerty’s country twang, which especially came through on the new material.

Fogerty introduced an instrumental jam with a jaw dropping tapping solo. Even Zack had to admit that while he wasn’t in love with all of that material, that Fogerty could indeed rock. Some more CCR material followed, including “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” and “Down on the Corner.” The cow bell intro to the latter song inspired several “I’ve got a fever” and “needs more cow bell” chants from the crowd, myself included.Fogerty finished up his set with the two songs that you knew he had to play before his time was up. “Fortune Son” was every bit as awesome as I knew it would be. “Proud Mary” was good too, but the soul child in me still prefers the Ike and Tina version.

~Z.T.~ They’re not a great live band. People flock to them because the album is fantastic, but they can’t seem to work the kinds of crowds they’re drawing at festivals.

I blame a complete lack of engaging banter, a limited selection of songs to draw from and a meandering from song to song with no real flow.
They’re usually helped out by opening for my favorite headliners like Radiohead, Of Montreal and Beck, but when they’re out on their own, they look scared.

“Electric Feel” and “Time to Pretend” got the crowd moving in a “Can we moonwalk to this? No? Oh, OK. Just move awkwardly? That works.” kind of way. Then “Kids” got the kids stomping in their American Apparel.

~Z.T.~ Sharon Jones is a spark plug. Just a big ole’ ball of funky soul and lordy can that woman dance. With The Dap Kings behind her (most known for playing behind Amy Winehouse) she got the crowd up and shaking their hips.Just as Andy and I were marveling how well Sharon moved in heels, she announced she was taking them off along with her big earrings so she could really groove. She told us to start shaking our ankles, moved up to knees, hips, arms, neck and head. It was like a hokey pokey of funk and I put my whole self in.

The highlight of the show was when Jones brought a chubby white boy in his 20′s on stage and taught him how to dance. He was a great sport and sashayed over to her, getting as funky as he could. When he said his name was Rudy the crowd erupted in “Ruuudy” cheers.

Sharon said she didn’t want any girl to ever say “Whoa Rudy. Slow down Rudy. You’re goin’ too fast.” Masterfully working her band and Rudy at the same time she taught him to “Make it Easy.”

Making Rudy seem like a sexy dancer wasn’t easy, but Sharon can do no wrong.

-A.S. Other highlights from Sharon Jones included the funky front woman singing to another stranger from the crowd on “How Do I Let a Good Man Down?” She didn’t leave the ladies out either, bringing a handful of girl out to dance for another song. Sharon Jones closed out her set with a cover of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World.”

-A.S. I was ready to get my socks rocked of after being less than impressed by the mellow Fleet Foxes. I knew if the Fratellis could deliver as well live as they did on their new album, that I would get just what I was looking for. Turns out, they’re even better.The brothers Fratelli kicked off their early afternoon set with “Shameless” off the new album, Here We Stand. From the get go I could tell that I was going to enjoy the set. The drumming brother Mince is fun to watch and his fills are great. Guitar player and lead vox Jon Fratelli wails on guitar, and his raw voice delivers on every song.

Jon apologized for the condition of his voice, but reasoned that it was “one in the bloody afternoon.” I still think it rocked. Not as clean as on the album, but the right kind of gritty.

Their set included “Chelsea Dagger,” which until about a minute ago, I only knew it as the Amstel Light commercial song. “Mistress Mabel” is my favorite tune of the new disc, and was probably my favorite song from their set as well. While one of the guys in the band was banging on the keys, Jon Fratelli was playing his guitar while sitting on his brother’s drum riser.

When it is as hot out as it was yesterday, rocking as hard as the Fratellis do might be the only thing to take your mind off it. By the end of their set, Zack needed to go back to the media area to get something to drink. I stuck it out, and was rewarded with “Flathead.”

They have lovely harmonies and their acoustic guitar playing is pretty hypnotic, but it was way too hot to have slow, atmospheric rock at high noon in Austin.

~Z.T.~ Austin City Limits feels like a compact Lollapalooza. Same basic layout, same food sponsors, same stage sponsors, same 90 degree heat, same sign language woman.
The biggest difference is how much closer the main stages are to each other without sacrificing too much sound bleed. It’s easily a third less walking between main stages, which makes catching some of both shows a distinct possibility. Score.

David Byrne was head and shoulders above the rest of the acts. I hope Beck and Plant take the baton.

~Z.T.~ PBS runs some kick-ass ACL specials every year: It’s actually American television’s longest-running concert music program with over 30 years of performances. We got on the list for today’s Gnarls Barkley show.The only problem is it’s far away from the festival and we’d miss John Fogerty, The Black Keys, Robert Plant and Krauss and Beck. That’s a lot to miss for a band I don’t love.

I think we’re gonna have to decline and DVR it.

Bands whose ACL Special would be so cool I’d miss all those shows for it:

Phish, The White Stripes, Flaming Lips, Weezer, Ween, Racounteurs, Beck, Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Of Montreal, Sufjan Stephens, Lupe Fiasco, Jay Z, Flight of the Conchords, LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk, Girl Talk, TV on the Radio

~Z.T.~ The taxi line was wild. It was a maze of fences like a line at Great America. I estimated at 9:02 we’d have a cab by 9:32. It turned out to be 9:40. Fine. We made fans with an Australian Tampa Rays fan. Happy AL East clinch, dad. Excellent first day of shows.

-A.S. Zack and I really only knew bits and pieces about these two bands going into ACL. The Mars Volta started slightly earlier, so we headed over to their stage after a brief stop to check out the debates.

The Mars Volta certainly rock. Great lead singer that looks and sounds like the dude from Wolfmother. They’ve got a wailing guitar too. After a couple of songs it became apparant to Zack and I that while they indeed could rock, we got the point. Zack offered up the idea that they write some catchier songs.The Mars Volta, photo from ACL’s MySpace page.

We got a brief taste of Manu Chao the night before when we had dinner at Stubbs. I really could have yadda yadda’d the Manu Chao, and just told you about the dinner. We stopped by his stage for a few minutes, but his worldly music wasn’t enough to keep these sleepy Festival Crashers going. It was time to go home.