Austin City Limits Festival 2006 News and Rumors

I have started a blog for this year's fest here:
http://aclfest2007rumors.blogspot.com/

things dont usually start pouring in before mid March, but there you go.

the line up video that is on the festival's website lists the Editors and Ray Lamontagne, but they re not on the printed list. Anyone notice anyone else?

here is the full line up:

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, Massive Attack, String Cheese Incident, Ben Harper, the Flaming Lips, John Mayer, the Raconteurs, Los Lonely Boys, the Shins, Ween, Thievery Corp., Ben Kweller, g. Love and Special Sauce, Matisyahu, Gnarls Barkley, Damien Marley, Damien rice, Catpower, the Tragicly Hip, Nickel Creek, Kings of Leon, Son Volt, Calexico, Deadboy and Elephantmen, jack ingram, the Secret Machines, Explosions in the Sky, Guster, the New Porographers, Brazilian Girls, Gomez, Stars, Wolf Parade, Sparklehorse, Paolo Nutini, Nada Surf, Los Amigos Invisibles, Feist, Phoenix, KT Tunstall; Goldfrapp, Donavon Frankenreiter, Oliver Mtukudzi & Black Spirits, Asleep at the Wheel, Buckwheat Zydeco, Husky Rescue, Jimmie Dale Gilmore; The Subdudes, BoDeans, The Greencards, Guy Clark, Kathleen Edwards, The Long Winters, The Stills, Charlie Sexton, Alexi Murdoch, Pierre Guimard, Matt Costa, Matt Nathanson, Okkervil River, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, Sparta, Benevento Russo Duo, Randy Rogers Band, Federico Aubele, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Jose Gonzalez, Ian McLagan and The Bump Band, New Monsoon, Del Castillo, Fields, Lou Ann Barton, Beto and the Fairlanes, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness., Centro-matic, Marah, Sam Roberts, Rocky Votolato, Murder by Death, The Black Angels, Anathallo, The Rocket Summer, Sara Hickman, Sylvia St. James and The Gospel Stars, Terri Hendrix, Trish Murphy, Patrice Pike, The Durdens , The Jones Family Singers , Sterling Lands and THE WARRIOR GOSPEL BAND , Joe McDermott and the Smart Little Creatures , The Biscuit Brothers, Imagination Movers, Elvis Perkins, The New Soul Invaders, South Austin Jug Band

My old pal, Robert Wilonsky scooped me. On the Dallas Observer's blog he leaked a ton of acts that are playing the festival. From the man himself:

In order of, well, importance (in my crowded head, anyway), here goes: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Van Morrison,

Willie Nelson, Massive Attack, String Cheese Incident, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, the Flaming Lips, Jose Gonzales, John Mayer, the Raconteurs, the Shins, Ween, Los Lonely Boys, Gnarls Barkley, Cat Power and the Memphis Rhythm Band, Secret Machines, Gomez, Kathleen Edwards, Wolf Parade, Jack Ingram, Sparklehorse, Thievery Corporation, Ben Kweller, G. Love and Special Sauce, Matisyahu, Damien Rice, Kings of Leon, Iron & Wine, Kasey Chambers, Aimee Mann, Nickel Creek, Damian Marley, Calexico, the New Pornographers, Son Volt, Guster, Galactic, KT Tunstall, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Centro-matic, Marah, Nada Surf, I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness…, Okkervil River, the Black Angels, Explosions in the Sky, Sara Hickman, Trish Murphy, Asleep at the Wheel and about 50 others acts (among them the South Austin Jug Band and the Palm Elementary School Choir) who’re there to fill space and kill time while you’re reloading your one-hitter.

I can only assume he snuck a peak at the ACL Fest Ad that will hit all of the major weekly rags on Thursday.
Thanks for the shout out, Bob.

I think the line up is strong as all get out, but Im sure a lot of people will hate it so...

Let the bitching begin...

The Touch and Go Records website lists Ted Leo as playing the festival.

The Yep Rock Records website confirms Marah is playing the festival and lists Calexico, Kings of Leon, Nada Surf and Phoenix as well.

Not much at all over the past week.

Nickel Creek are on the pollstar page.

Austin360.com says the line up is pushed to the 18^th, although we all knew that by now.

Ill see what else i can dig up this morning.

Evan passed along the news that at a show in Amarillo last night, Bob Schneider confirmed that he is playing the festival.

With big name rumors like Radiohead and Pearl Jam confirmed as not playing this years festival (and it looking less and less likely for DMB or a reunited Phish), I got to thinking about bands that need to be on this years roster. So here I go with, 4 bands that need to be on the list when ACL Fest releases the full roster, May 11^th.

1. The Raconteurs – How has Jack White gone this long without playing this festival? Now that the Flaming Lips have confirmed for this year, the #1 band that people tell me would “just make sense” is the White Stripes. But lets go one step further. I believe The Raconteurs have yet to play on US soil. Can you imagine the boost ACL Fest would get if it could sport the “first US festival appearance of The Raconteurs”? Seems like a match made in heaven.

2. Outkast – Their film, Idlewild comes out at the end of August. As does their new album that serves as a soundtrack to the film. No tour dates yet. This would be another huge get for ACL.

3. Bruce Springsteen – This tour he is on right now has to be amazing. He has put together an 18 piece band to tour for his new album of Pete Seeger songs and if the live show is half as great as the album, it is a must see.

4. Dixie Chicks – This would be huge as well. New album soon. Somewhat of a coming out party after being so far from the radar for the past year. I am hard pressed to think of an artist or group from Texas that needs this festival more this year.

--edit--
someone pointed out that the Raconteurs are playing Lollapalooza, so blah...
I still think they need to be there.
-- --

The Austin Chronicle confirms that Centro-matic and The Black Angels are playing this years festival.

Tom from Austinist emailed me this morning to let me know that Pearl Jam has announced European dates that will keep them from playing the festival this year.

Tom also informs me that with Pearl Jam being a no go, he is casting his ballot for a certain purple-clad Minnesotian.

Not a lot of news today, but I wanted to thank everyone that has been sending me tips and kind words via email.
Trying to compile a list and sort through all of the trash is tough, and all of your help is greatly appreciated.
As we all know, the scavenger hunt is over, but that doesn't mean to stop checking the site (though I assume traffic will drop over the next week because people won't come looking for the answers).

I will continue to update the site as news becomes available and even after the full line up is released I will continue posting interesting links and such leading up to the festival.

This artist performed "Queen Bee" on an episode of Austin City Limits on PBS.

Kevin sent along a confirmation that I should have put up a week ago and forgot about.
Ben Kweller has confirmed that he is playing ACL Fest on his website forum.
Kweller is manager by CSE, the production company that puts together ACL Fest.
What Made Malwaukee Famous and Blues Traveler are also managed by CSE, so don't be shocked if we get confirmations on them soon as well.

An article on Austin360.com says that Massive Attack have confirmed for the festival.

The article also mentions that promoter Charles Attal says that Radiohead will not be at this years festival.

Read the article here.

From Tom Petty's MySpace.com page:

Los Angeles, CA - Thursday, April 20, 2006 -- Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
will embark on their 2006 North American "Highway Companions Tour" on June 9
in Charlotte, N.C. The band will be joined along the way by an exciting
list of friends and guests that will include a series of very special shows
with Pearl Jam, some shows with special guest Trey Anastasio, and others
with the Allman Brothers Band. Expect further announcements soon of
additional special guests and opening acts who will be on selected dates.

As part of their summer tour, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Petty/vocals,
guitars, Mike Campbell/guitars, Benmont Tench/keyboards, Ron Blair/bass,
Scott Thurston/guitars, harmonica, backing vocals, and Steve Ferrone/drums -
will headline the Bonnaroo Festival on Friday, June 16, and the Austin City
Limits Festival on Sunday, September 17.

This is great news. Thanks for the heads up, Ashely!

Thanks to Andrew S. for pointing out that the grackle is already on the Matisyahu website. I am going to wait till the clue for today is posted to send it in as today’s guess, but at the very least this confirms that he is playing the fest.

Tier 2 tickets are all gone and the price is now $115+$15.

Pollstar.com added John Mayer to the list of performers for Friday.

I just got an email from a friend who is usually pretty reliable saying that the Dave Matthews Band, Robert Randolph and the Drive By Truckers (who are all on a package tour together this summer) will be playing ACL Fest.

Like I said, the source is pretty reliable, but until I see something in stone lets think of this as RUMOR at best.

-Edit-
Still trying to find info on this, but I do see that DMB and Randolph are on tour around the time of ACL fest and there is nothing scheduled the weekend of ACL.
The Turckers are not on that tour as far as I can tell, so I do not know where that came from.

According to his MySpace page, Thievery Corporation co-hort Sleepy Wonder is playing the festival. The info for his show says "Thievery Corporation Tour Feat. Sleepy Wonder", so it looks like they will be there again this year as well.

Also, I wanted to send a shout out to Mainstream Underground, a like minded site baised in Austin. Check it out!

This UK singer's birth roots are a mix of Chinese, Scottish, and Irish.

...

What do ya'll think?
A ton of people are crying because i have been posting the contest answers.
Should I wait a day before letting the cat out of the bag?
I think that those that dont know it will find the answer somewhere, so it really shouldnt matter, but some people are having a hissy fit so...

Please leave your vote in the comments section or post about it on the forum.

We have been getting tons of traffic thanks to Stereogum, The Dallas Observer and Austinist.
I just wanted to remind everyone that the list of confirmed bands is on the left hand side of the page.
Also, the forum is going strong. You don't have to register to post, so get in there and lets talk about the festival!

Big thanks to the Austinist for mentioning us today.
You can read the post here.

As a side note - Ive got some leads that I might put up in a bit . Waiting on some confirmations.

Enough email complaning that I didn't put up the answer.
90% of the world knows its the Shins by now.
I thought adding them to the list on the left would be enough.

This band was once called Flake.

Pretty easy one today and finally one we didn't have already.

I'll put the answer up in a bit, let some of you that dont know it squirm.

On a lark I did a search for shows in Austin on MySpace.com and came across a few artists that list ACL Fest in their upcoming dates.
Here they are:

Melissa Reaves
Eli Young Band
Elvis Perkins

I just got an email from Nathan about his ACL Fest Rumors forum.
I believe that we are going to try to integrate the two sites, so keep checking back here and make sure to post on the forums as well!

This group's latest release cites drum licks copped from Detroit Rock City.

I have no idea, though I have yet to put any thought into it. Too busy at work.
If you figure it out, drop me a line.

-edit-
its the new porngraphers.

I just noticed that the $90 tickets are sold out.
Right now tickets are $100 +$14.

get them quick.

Today's clue is up at the ACLFest site.
A member of this Texas group shares a name with Richard Starkey.

Los Lonely Boys is the answer.

Reader Bill E. dropped me an email to say that Asleep at the Wheel have confirmed on their website that they are playing the festival on the 15th.

more later?

from ACLFest.com:

2006 Festival Lineup Scavenger Hunt
Find lineup leakage and win stuff! Just get your brain on and look for the Grackle.
Here is what you do:
Visit this website each business day between April 13 and April 21. The daily artist clue will be posted at 9:30am (CST) each morning.
Think, ponder, google, and then go searching on official artist web sites for our official spokesbird, the Zilker Park Grackle. You will know you have solved the clue when you find the Grackle image on an artist's website.
Click the Grackle and complete the submission.
You are officially entered to win a daily prize of two 3-day passes to this year's ACL Festival.
The Grand Prize: entrants who discover all 7 artists and complete the contest entry will have a chance to win VIP passes. No lie!
Good luck!

Today's clue is:
The driving force behind this act began his career in a band that shared half of its name with the birthplace of a famous fried-peanut-butter-sandwich-eater.

Obviously an easy one. A band that I listed on here weeks ago.

at least it's something.

Pollstar lists Kasey Chambers as playing on Sunday.

Soon (this weekend) I will start keeping a list of confirmations and rumors on the left side of the page as an easy reference.

Thanks to Kenny for the heads up!

From ACLFest.com:

Three-day passes are on sale now for $90. That's only 70 cents per band.
Tickets for the Austin City Limits Music Festival are priced at three levels. The first allotment of tickets is priced at a special rate of $90, plus service and delivery charges. Quantities are limited at this price. Once each allotment runs out, the ticket price will increase without notice.
One-day tickets will only be available if capacity allows.

It looks like, as in the past, there will be a tier system for the ticket prices.
Right now They are $90 each plus a $13 service charge, Tier 2 is $100 with a $14 service charge and Tier 3 is $115 with a $15 service charge.

Also from Aclfest.com:

Ticket Details:
Additional service charges and shipping charges will apply to ticket orders.
Tickets will be delivered via feeds for domestic shipments and via USPS Global Priority Mail for international shipments.
Tickets will ship July 2006.
There are different shipping options, so please review each option to determine which option is best for you.
Purchases limited to six tickets per person, credit card, or delivery address. Kids under 10 admitted FREE when accompanied by a ticket holding adult.
3-Day ticket wristband are non-transferable and non-exchangeable.

Austin360.com reports here that single day tickets will go on sale after the line up announcement at $50 and the $55.

Get your tickets now!

Our reader, David S., sent this to me concerning taping at this year's festival:

Don't know if this is the kind of rumor you are looking for but they are not allowing audio taping this year. We (group of tapers) had audio taped 90% of all of the artists the last 3 years and posted them for free on the internet. A few little birdies working for the Festival have given us the eimpression that ACL will unfortunately be doing an Instant Live type of thing or selling performances after the fact. These recordings that they sell will be very substandard when compared to the recordings the tapers usually come up with in addition to being sold and not free.. We would love to have your support in helping us to petition the organizers to allow taping again as it benefits the consumers/attendees.

I hope this isn't true.

A couple of people have asked if I gave up on this page.
Of course not.
There just hasn't been much news in the past couple of weeks.
Everyone knows that the ACL Fest crew blew it on the discounted pre-sale, and there isn't much to say that hasn't already been said.

ACLFest.com does say that tickets will go on sale mid-April (any day now?), and for a bit it said that the full line up will be announced the first of May.

The Flaming Lips have confirmed on their website that they will be playing ACL on 9/15.

Pollstar.com lists Buckwheat Zydeco and Jimmie Dale Gilmore as playing the fest on 9/16.

the following acts are listed as RUMORS on the wiki page for acl fest:
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, Fiona Apple, Calexico, Wilco, Bob Dylan, the Flaming Lips, and Beck.
As always, until I can find some kind of confirmation, things like this should be considered a rumor at best.

The New Pornographers have updated their website, and say that they are playing the fest September 17th.

Pollstar.com lists Son Volt playing Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the fest. They listed The Subdudes the same way before a date was set.

Iron and Wine have posted on their official site that the will be playing ACLFest September 15th.

Pollstar.com already lists 3 artists scheduled for this years festival.
Asleep at the Wheel are listed for Friday the 15th, The Greencards are listed for Saturday the 16th and The Subdudes are listed for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Pollstar has been pretty accurate over the past couple of years, but as usual these names and dates are unconfirmed until posted by ACLFest.com.

Last year members of the ACL fest email list woke up one morning to an offer for 3 day passes for under 40 bucks. This year the festival orginizers are promising the same thing, so head over to ACLFest.com or follow this link to get signed up.

2006 Festival Dates Set!

From ACLFest.com:

The ACL Festival has been held in September since its 2002 debut. The specific date is determined by many different factors, including local major events, band touring schedules, and historical weather patterns.

continue...

Over the past couple of years I have grown pretty tired of there not being a one stop news and rumors destination for fans of the ACL Fest. Towards the end of March the rumors usually start, so keep checking back for updates.