Issue date: 9/15/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment

At some point during the Bonnaroo music festival last summer I had a revelation. Perhaps it transpired during the encore of the Bela Fleck and the Flecktone's set when Victor Wooten laid down a numinous bass groove that simultaneously induced me into a frantic dance of bacchanalian revelry while bringing my very soul to a standstill; or maybe it emerged during the euphonious build-up in "2+2=5", just before Thom Yorke's squeal and Johnny Greenwood's guitar burst forth over a sea of swooning lighters. Either way, I left Bonnaroo entirely sure that on the seventh day God truly did create music festivals.

There is simply no other way to explain my veneration - man is fundamentally incapable of creating something so glorious. And thus, I beseech you to accept my effusive diction concerning the Austin City Limits music festival as truly sincere and heartfelt.

For three days this weekend, on eight stages, 130 bands and nearly 40,000 people will make a pilgrimage to Austin, Texas, a city that home-bred Longhorn Fraser Holmes calls, "the Shangri-la of live music."

The musical acts featured this year are of such a high quality that the first thing that pops into one's head after a cursory glance of the schedule is simply "How in God's name do I choose between this band and that band?" Forget global warming, forget that nasty rash in your nether region, choosing whether to see TV on the Radio, The Shins, or The Secret Machines, all playing the same 3:30 to 5:30 time slot, is the true overwhelming crisis facing any rational individual.

Other conflicts between bands and the immutable linear passage of time: How about String Cheese Incident or the Raconteurs? Cat Power or Okkervil River? Brazilian Girls or Iron and Wine? Wolf Parade or Stars, for Christ sake!? The conflicts at Austin City Limits alone attest to the sheer excellence of the musical acts this year, as do these other bands: Galactic, Calexico, Damian Marley, New Pornographers, Flaming Lips, Muse, Gnarls Barkley, Nickel Creek, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Massive Attack, and oh yeah, if you're not already salivating like a Pavlov dog, how about mother flipping Van Morrison closing out Friday night from 8:30 to 10:00 (just pray John Mayer's guest appearance is as long lasting as a Gnarls Barkley wardrobe change).

Continued...

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