ACL Music Festival Day Three

Leave this music festival a day early and you'll end up missing some of the best music of the whole thing. A little rain scared some folks out of town, but those that hung in were in a for a treat of day.

Canadian folk-rocker Kathleen Edwards helped open the slightly damp day with some achingly beautiful vocals. She was scheduled to appear last year but wasn't able to make the trip because of hurricane weather.

Austin's Black Angels carry on the tradition of Texas psych-rock and if you like the sound of the darker side of the Doors you should definitely check them out.

Finland's Husky Rescue had a singer that would win any "cutest girl in pigtails" contest. She had every man within earshot and eyeball range ready to marry her by the end of the band's set. And they played some pretty great music besides.

KT Tunstall, a super talented Scottish singer who really knows how to use all aspects of her guitar, turned in a great set. She created a loop out of pounding on her guitar's body, then proceeded to render "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" to an approving audience.

Jack Ingram showed that a country boy can rock. His guitar work was excellent and much more rock like than cowboy.

The New Bawdville might be a genre the White Ghost Shivers would fit into. Fronted by a very tall banjo player who has an incredible range of goofball expressions, the group has so much fun playing that it is impossible not to be sucked in to their good-time Vaudeville, hokum blues and wacky jazz.

Neko Case rejoined The New Pornographers after her solo appearance last week at the Hollywood Bowl. And English band Muse showed why they headline festivals all over Europe with some mighty rock.

Tom Petty's set was interrupted by a shower, but he made it to the crowd by playing lots of old hits and going overtime. Those who stuck through the thirty-minute long rain delay called his performance "legendary."

All in all another great year at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Several problems from last year were fixed, chief among them the dust problem. If they could just figure out a way to do revolving stages ala the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, maybe one wouldn't have to end up with blisters on the toes.

That said, the lineup of this festival of music just seems to keep getting better and better. It almost seems that everyone that is happening in the summer and fall can be seen by going down to Texas once a year. See you there next year. Til then, be sure to check out the photo galleries of all three days at dailynews.com.

David Sprague