Brian "The Groovemaster" Jobe and myself hit the Austin City Limits music festival last Sunday. After morning worship at Redeemer, we hopped in my little "W"-sticker-wearing Civic and made the drive in cool, sprinkling, overcast weather. Arriving into Austin I heard a honk from just behind; when I turned to see the car passing me, all I saw was a big middle finger sticking out the driver's window. So much for hospitality and tolerance and all, A-town.

My first impression of the crowds (which were everywhere, a couple hundred thousand people in Zilker Park) was "Wow, look at all these hippies!" But the more I saw the tie-dyes, the dreadlocks, the typical Austin hemp fiber/dirty flipflop/bandanna wearing look, it seemed like these were fairly white-bread people who came out all dressed up for the fest. These were bank tellers and students with tuition paid by daddy and retail clerks and teachers, out for a dressup ball...on a muddy Sunday afternoon. By the way, the ubiquitous dust, the bane of ACL years gone by, was nonexistent this year due to the rain.

We got there too late to hear Kathleen Edwards, so first on the docket for us was the Sam Roberts Band, a rockin' (and sweaty) Montreal quartet. Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley was next on our stops, with a surprise appearance from brothers Stephen and Julian. Lots of Rasta flags flying with the Lion of the Tribe of Judah on them...doubt anyone really knows what that means, but syncretism never really goes out of style, I guess.

Later in the afternoon, we caught Jack Ingram, an Austinite who has played at every ACL festival so far; the stage size keeps moving up, though. His radio hit, "Wherever You Are" is probably his most popular song. His sound is country rock, and is quite good.

Matisyahu, the New York Hasidic Jewish reggae-rap artist, was our next must-see. What a fun show, to see him out in his black hat/coat/tallit with funny tails on it, singing and twirling in his Adidas tennis shoes. Maybe it's the novelty of so many seemingly dissonant elements juxtaposed, but I was intrigued by this guy, singing about the Lord being “right inside of me … right inside of that British flag over there, right inside of that cowboy hat, right inside of those people sitting on top of the Porta Potties."

We were down front for the next show, Son Volt, about 10 feet from the stage; the hearing loss is only temporary, I keep assuring myself. Jay Farrar, the frontman, has an unusual concert affect described by a prominent music review magazine as (to paraphrase) intense and unusually sincere. I actually found his stage presence a little aloof, as if he were looking at the crowd through his half-shut eyes and wondering, "Are they really here singing along with Tear-Stained Eye, or is this the only band playing at the moment?" At other times, though, as he stonefacedly pounded the pickguard on his acoustic and held it right in front of the tower of amplifiers in search of a wail of feedback, I guess I would say he was, well, intense.

As their last song echoed from the amps, behind us we heard the roar of an expectant crowd as Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips rolled out, literally, inside of a giant clear plastic beachball into the crowd. Thus began an hour of music, confetti guns, puppets, giant inflatable astronauts, and Santa Claus dancers. Opening with "Race for the Prize" and closing with the popular hit "Do You Realize?", Coyne is the diametric opposite of Son Volt's Farrar. He draws his energy from the crowd and is in continual conversation with them.

The evening wrapped up with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The crowd of 100,000+ converged on the AT&T stage for the closer, though the demographic seemed to have shifted to fifty-somethings all around us. About four songs into his set, the whipping wind and drop in temperature prompted us to skedaddle back to the car (about 2 miles off) just as the rain started pouring, lightning flashing.

As Brian and I left the park amidst a throng, we were accosted by a group of well-meaning (I'm sure) but rabid, screaming fundamentalists, dressed in suit & ties and dresses telling us that the broad way leads to destruction, but Jesus saves. I'm not sure what they thought was happening inside the park, but I hope they did some good, or at least didn't do harm, to Christ's kingdom.