Austin City Limits Music Festival 2004
Studio: Rhino Home Video
Year: 2004 (2005 Release)
Rated: Not Rated
Aspect Ratio: 1.78x1 (enhanced for 16x9 televisions)
Audio: English DD 5.1, PCM Stereo Surround
Captions/Subtitles: None
Time: 124 minutes
Case Style: Keep Case
Disc Format: 2 disc set
The Feature:
Austin City Limits has been a staple of Public Television for thirty years, a variety show of live music that has run the gamut of every genre against the backdrop of the Austin skyline. If you don’t like an artist one week, tune in next week—there will be someone different, and odds are you just might be tapping your toes.
In the waning days of last summer, Austin, Texas was the host to the third-annual Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Park. This three-day event had multiple stages and a mix of genres, with over 130 bands (many of which are documented in
this old press release), a good deal of local talent, and also some great headlining acts like Ben Harper, Wilco, Elvis Costello, and Sheryl Crow. It was hot (literally—this is, after all, Texas in the summertime).
A sampling of the 2004 lineup is included on the
Austin City Limits Music Festival 2004 DVD and companion CD (which is sold separately). Of the artists included, each one has contributed one song to the compilation. The 2-disc DVD set includes 24 songs; the separate 16-track CD is a subset of that, with the exception of one track that does not appear on the DVD. The track listings are as follows:
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS MUSIC FESTIVAL 2004 DVD:
Disc 1
1. "Gold In The Sunset" -- Bob Schneider
2. "Walk In Jerusalem" -- Blind Boys Of Alabama
3. "Seven Year Ache" -- Rosanne Cash
4. "I Am The Cancer" -- Sloan
5. "Anthem For A 17 Year Old Girl" -- Broken Social Scene
6. "Darts Of Pleasure" -- Franz Ferdinand
7. "Crazy Dream" -- Los Lonely Boys
8. "Light In Your Eyes" -- Sheryl Crow
9. "Sister Surround" -- The Soundtrack Of Our Lives
10. "It's The Nighttime" -- Josh Rouse
11. "The New Kid" -- Old 97's
12. "Ghost" -- Howie Day
Disc 2
1. "The Way That He Sings" -- My Morning Jacket
2. "Streets Are Callin'" -- The Neville Brothers
3. "First Tube" -- Trey Anastasio
4. "Debaser" -- Pixies
5. "Be Be Your Love" -- Rachael Yamagata
6. "Alone Again Or" -- Calexico
7. "Your Lies" -- Shelby Lynne
8. "Wasting Time" -- Jack Johnson
9. "The Day John Henry Died" -- Drive-By Truckers
10. "The One Thing" -- Pat Green featuring Jack Ingram
11. "Wheels" -- Cake
12. "Brown Eyed Blues" -- Ben Harper
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS MUSIC FESTIVAL 2004 CD:
1. "Debaser" -- Pixies
2. "Hands Down" -- Dashboard Confessional
3. "Darts Of Pleasure" -- Franz Ferdinand
4. "Be Be Your Love" -- Rachael Yamagata
5. "Crazy Dream" -- Los Lonely Boys
6. "Walk In Jerusalem" -- Blind Boys Of Alabama
7. "It's The Nighttime" -- Josh Rouse
8. "Anthems For A 17 Year Old Girl" -- Broken Social Scene
9. "Streets Are Callin'" -- The Neville Brothers
10. "Your Lies" -- Shelby Lynne
11. "The Day John Henry Died" -- Drive-By Truckers
12. "Wheels" -- Cake
13. "The Way That He Sings" -- My Morning Jacket
14. "Alone Again Or" -- Calexico
15. "Brown Eyed Blues" -- Ben Harper
16. "First Tube" -- Trey Anastasio
As you can see, it’s a diverse collection of artists and songs—clearly, not everyone in the festival can be represented (Elvis has left the building). I like a lot of it: Rosanne Cash reminds us that the apple did not fall far from the tree; I’ve always been a fan of the “Texican” sound stylings of Los Lonely Boys; Sheryl Crow is also a favorite; Rachael Yamagata is tuneful and mellow; The Blind Boys of Alabama are wonderful with their traditional gospel, as are the Neville Brothers and their brand of funk.
It’s a generous sampling of the 2004 festival. Was it all my kind of music? No. Could it have been longer? Sure. But keeping it short allowed the video and sound quality to be incredible…
The Feature: 4 / 5
Video:
The video quality of this 1.78x1 presentation (enhanced for 16x9 displays) is stellar. This was clearly shot on high-definition and downconverted for DVD. The colors are rich, and the deep blacks—especially during the nighttime concert segments—extend to infinity and beyond (oops, wrong show—can you tell what movie I watched right after this?). I had a spot of drool on my shirt after watching the
Austin City Limits Music Festival DVD.
Daytime shots have a slightly processed look—my guess is that they applied some filtering to it to make it look more film-like. The best quality is achieved when the camera is allowed to focus on the stage; it is not quite as good during the obligatory crane-passing crowd shots (oh, those poor people in the Texas heat… at least the guys could take off their shirts). But the detail, the color, just the overall picture quality are excellent.
Video: 5 / 5
Sound:
You have a choice of two tracks: 5.1 surround or PCM stereo. At least, I think it’s PCM stereo… that’s what the box says, and the need to spread two hours of content across two DVD’s would tend to point towards PCM stereo; but the menus and the track itself are flagged DD 2.0. If you can verify this, let me know.
As for the actual quality of sound, I tended to prefer the stereo version on the smaller (but powerful) THX speakers attached to my computer (the awesome Logitech Z680’s) but when it came time to relocate to the big rig upstairs, the 5.1 mix blew that away. Switching between stereo and 5.1 led to more immersion and separation in the 5.1 mix. Vocals were more distinct in the 5.1 mix, as well.
Sound: 4 / 5
Extras:
A brief still photo gallery is included on disc 1. The extra song that was included on the CD was not included as a bonus.
Extras: 2 / 5
In Conclusion:
Austin City Limits Music Festival 2004 delivers a fine overview of that festival, in the comfort of your air-conditioned living room.
This year’s festival, looks to be impressive. Please, for the 2005 DVD, capture a few more songs from groups like Coldplay, Oasis, and Lyle Lovett. Oh, and include Brave Combo!
Overall Rating: 4 / 5
Release Date: August 30, 2005
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