We love to rock and it shows

The Delta Spirit - October 12th @ the Rock n Roll Hotel, $10

San Diego's quintet squeezed themselves on stage at the RnRH Sunday night, bringing to the nation's capital their loud, impassioned brand of rock.

We saw the Delta Spirit perform at Austin City Limits, and arguably, they were the best of the acts that we saw. On day one of ACL, Delta Spirit played the Austin Ventures stage and were the first band Rock Club saw after our refreshing mid-day swim in Barton Springs. They didn't hold back then, and they didn't hold back on Sunday night either.

This is a band that reminds me of 5 other bands rolled into one. And I'm good with that. Having only heard them once before, it wasn't tough to feel like I've seen them, I dunno, three times already. Solid rock, musicians that play multiple instruments - switching around on the keyboards and drums; dude on the harmonica, and another on a trash can lid.

Here's a look at their crowd pleaser, Trash Can:

Delta Spirit at the RnRH 10/12/08

To be critical, Delta Spirit were better at ACL than at RnRH. Despite having a small squadron of superfans at RnRH, singing along, knowing what was up, sacklunch and I agreed the performance at ACL seemed more genuine somehow. Maybe because we had already seen them perform, or maybe because the stage at ACL offered them more room to strut their stuff, but I preferred the Delta Spirit after a few hours of dehydration, a nice redish dust coating, seeing them in broad daylight, and surrounded by indie rock chicks in tank tops.

For their last song, Delta Spirit got the crowd so involved, I started thinking I was at Ireland's Four Courts. And that's meant to be a compliment. For the record, I own a Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brother's cd and enjoy it every other March 17th.

Haven't seen the Delta Spirit? Loser. Comparing their stuff online to what I've seen in concert, I suggest checking them out in person. I think they have that Allman Brothers thing working.

Autism City Limits

ACL Recap: Day 1

Rock Club is as always devoted to bringing you recaps of things that happened weeks past, long after anyone is interested. And in that spirit of obligation, here's a recap of Day 1 at Austin City Limits.

We all left Jumbo Slice's gated community and headed for the bus stop. "This bus will take us straight to Zilker Park. It's the best way to get to the festival," assured Slice. We got on the fucker, and 100 yards later it dropped us off, as the route to Zilker was shut down for the day. No matter, we'll walk the mile on the Barton Greenway, which looked pretty brown to me, but whatevs. Did you know that in a scenario where a bunch of guys are walking in the woods on a trail, the longer they are on the trail, the odds of someone making a Vietnam reference approach 1.00. As my brains began to boil under my boonie hat I muttered something about watching out for booby traps, thus proving my own rule. Other idle chitchat during the 45 minute walk included Sacklunch proposing to capitalize on the reality porn craze by shooting a movie called Austin Titty Limits. Sounds like a winner, but I would call it Austin Titties Unlimited, because why would you limit the titties? That would be foolish. But that title loses the connection to ACL, so it's a conundrum. No one said adult entertainment was easy.

First Band: Yeasayer

Not too bad. "2080" sounded cool. The bass player braided his hair like some sort Aryan Brotherhood guy, while the guitarist work a pink polo shirt. There's no logic to anything these days.

Second Band: Vampire Weekend

We were at Barton Springs lounging in the cool water while these guys played. Best adjective to describe VW: inoffensive. Speaking of Barton Springs, that was an unlimited titty scene. We tried to act all blase and European about it. As we were leaving a girl who was climbing out of the pool lost her top for a split second. So you're probably thinking, what's the big deal, you already said there were a bunch of topless girls there, right? That just shows how stupid you are, to say that. It's the illicit nipple that trumps the deliberately exposed breast. Now stop making stupid comments and allow me to get to the next band.

Third Band: Delta Spirit

These guys were the best band I saw all weekend, although Spiritualized was a close second. We've had two readers--Preeti and Amy--who have recommended this band to us over the past year and now I see why they were so high on them. Preeti and Amy, I dedicate all the above breast-oriented comments to you, in return for your superior taste and your efforts to make us see good bands. More on Delta Spirit to come, as Potsy and Sacklunch saw them last night at the Rock and Roll Hotel.

Fourth Band: Hot Chip

English dorks Hot Chip were the last band we saw on day one. After Pitchfork last year we made an executive decision to see fewer bands per day but to try and concentrate on seeing full sets and getting in early to get a good spot. The Chipsters gave an upbeat set, and the lead singer wore a white jumpsuit. By the end of the day my brains were beginning to slow-cook inside of my cranium so I'm glad we left when we did. Jesus, Texas is hot.