Editor’s note: This post from Gaius concludes our FNL/ACL experiment, and he sends us out in style. Special shout-out to Aimee Teegarden, who turned in a review of N.E.R.D today; sadly, we’ve decided to leave it out because Porter beat her to it. Still, thanks a bunch, Aimee… and everyone who made this dream a reality. We are currently soliciting television casts shooting in Palm Springs, rural Tennessee, and Chicago for the ‘09 festival season.

It was a meeting ten years in the making. Gaius Charles. Erykah Badu. I should preface this review with a little backstory: I have been an Erykah Badu fan from the very beginning. Yes, I was on Baduizm back in ‘97, before the world really knew this soon-to-be-international sensation. See, “Back in the Day” somewhere around 8th grade I had a huge crush on this girl– let’s call her “Keyshia.” Keyshia was a talented singer who hummed these soulful melodies that always caught my ear. When I finally got up the nerve to ask Keyshia about those tunes she gushed and told me all about her favorite new artist, Ms. Erykah Badu. Well, you know what happened next: Erykah instantly became my favorite artist too. Baduizm turned out to be the keystone that brought my 14-year-old soulstress and me together. But sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. Keyshia ended up getting with a varsity football player when we went to high school, much like Smash Williams (define irony). But on the plus side I ended up becoming an Erykah Badu superfan.

Crazy enough, I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing her perform live. So when I found out she was going to be playing at ACL, I had to be there. And though we have been filming Friday Night Lights in Austin for almost three years, this year was my first year attending. In a word, ACL is MASSIVE. As I entered the main gates I was immediately taken aback by the sea of people, literally thousands and thousands gathered to feast on what Austin does best: live music. Waiting for the concert to begin I ran into Minka Kelly and Jesse Plemmons, who were equally excited to see the show. And then, out of nowhere, a soulful riff pierces the air, and it’s on. A stunning Ms. Badu takes the stage in a smiley face tee and stiletto heels and works the crowd like the veteran she is– and oh yeah, she’s pregnant. No matter, if anything her precious “baby bump” makes her all the more mesmerizing. She proceeds to glide through her repertoire effortlessly, like light changing color in a kaleidoscope. Beginning with a sample off her new album, New Amerykah, she remixes chart-topping favorites like “On and On” and “Apple Tree.” Somewhere in the middle of it all she takes a water break and riffs on the words “s–t” and “damn,” a comic reminder that she is only making it look easy. Erykah wraps it all up with her new song “Soldier,” and stresses the need to stand up in the face of today’s unprecedented world events.

I wish I could conclude by saying that I went backstage and was finally able to meet Erykah. But as I made the attempt to profess my love, birthed in the tragedy of adolescence, the heat finally did get to her and she was being attended to accordingly. It’s ok, though– I had an unforgettable experience and enjoyed the performance to the fullest. Besides, I can always catch her when she hopefully comes back in 2009, right? Ten years in the making– what’s eleven?

Ok, here’s the thing. I suck.

Well, the problem is that, as I suspected, my friends from out of town got in to the fest at the same time that Beck was going on. Actually, it was a whole drama because I was at the Black Keys and my phone stopped working and they actually stood outside at the ridiculous red arch and waited for me for 45 minutes before I even knew they were there. So… my perspective of the Beck show is spotty, incomplete, and from a very distant vantage point. Truthfully, my two favorite shows were Spiritualized and the Kills. (Seeing the Kills perform at 1:30 p.m. on a Sunday when both of them looked as if they had seen the sun NEVER was the greatest.) My problem is that I really don’t know either band, so it’s pretty great because I got a new introduction to both… but I don’t think I could very accurately write about them since I don’t know a single song!

On the flipside, I saw the Raconteurs from the side of their stage and then hung out with Jack and Brendan in their dressing room after cuz they are friends with my friends from out of town. I had the set list sitting right in front of me the whole time…I should have grabbed it!…and I’ve seen them twice before and am a huge fan. I could do them if you want, though I don’t know how fast I can get it to you since I’m now in NYC doing an insane two days of meetings and press for our premiere on Wednesday. (And sorry…yesterday I had a 5:30 a.m. calltime, then got on a plane for the airport straight from work to fly to NYC.)

Let me know if you want me to try for the Raconteurs later in the week and I’ll try to pull it off…

Editor’s note: I think we’re not going to force Connie to give us any more than she already has, which I think we can all agree is a lot. And anyway, most people spend 95 percent of these festivals missing sets and trying to find their friends, so this was actually pretty perfect.

Editor’s note: Our ongoing experiment continues to work, as Mr. Plemons here follows his castmates into the fray. I got one last holdout I’m working on, but in the meantime… hey, did you see we put up my pictures today?

First off, I’d like to apologize that I wasn’t able to write about my ACL experience earlier. I went all three days this year, which can be pretty exhausting. If anyone else has done the same, you know that all you want to do after the third day of madness is shower, apply lots and lots of aloe vera to your third degree sunburn, and then sleep. This year was especially good because I managed to make it through the entire festival without getting burnt to a crisp. Who knew that Neutrogena made a sun block with SPF 85! (No, I’m not kidding, that’s the only thing that does the job.)

OK, well with that being said… THE BLACK KEYS! I had planned on only talking about one Keys concert but actually ended up seeing them twice in two days. I saw them once at ACL on Saturday night, and again Sunday night at an ACL-sponsored after-show at Stubb’s, a great venue for live music in Austin (and they have great BBQ, so that’s a plus).

The Saturday show was great. We actually lucked out and got to go on stage for their show, which was pretty surreal. In an hour they played a set with at least one song from every one of their albums, including one of my favorites, “Stack Shot Billy,” with an extended guitar intro/solo that made my face scrunch up… in a good way. They then finished things up with “I Got Mine.” The most amazing thing about seeing them live was hearing all this noise and only seeing two guys playing: Dan Auerbach (guitar/vox) and Patrick Carney (drums).

Sunday night’s show was the cherry on top to a wonderful weekend. This time I was able to see the show from the front, which was completely different. I was able see their faces in a little bit more of an intimate setting. Patrick played the drums so hard you would have thought they had insulted his mother, and he was drenched in sweat by the third song. Dan played most of the songs with his eyes closed and would open them up for a few seconds at a time and look around as if he had almost forgotten where he was. Being a guitar player myself, I love watching different people’s playing styles, and I have to say I have never seen anyone play the way he does. I’ve never seen anyone so comfortable with a guitar in their hands. It seriously seemed the guitar was an extension of his body because you could barely tell that he was playing, it was so effortless. He played a solo on the song “Busted” by beating the saddle of the guitar while he used his slide with his left. Basically, It was kind of incredible. All in all, one of the best live show I’ve ever seen.

After the show, someone made the mistake of letting me backstage, which had me feeling a lot like Patrick Fugit in Almost Famous. I ended up meeting Dan briefly, and all I could muster was a corny, “I love your music, man, and thanks for coming to Austin.”