Review by Stacey Lovett
Day 2 rocked more empowerment – an underlying theme of both the times and the festival this year. The sets meshed everything from gentle folk power of English songstress Jade Bird, mixing her upbeat quips with prevailing melodies through high-vibing pop and EDM artists into the heavier electric sounds of White Reaper and The Hu.
This Mongolian metal band combines traditional native instruments and throat singing with the heaviness of the Western side of the genre. Music has always been a universal language and the meditative element to their music, although starkly different than the digital genre, hits in a similar way to the favored EDM sets of the festival and spoke to a wider crowd than who typically favors this heavier electric side of the spectrum. They bring the level of power of the battle cry – reigning in everyone in earshot and worthy of sports arena anthems – and, despite a heavy language barrier, had everyone fluent in the fun of their sonic force by the end of the set.
This year’s festival showcased a considerable amount of new music that was released following this past year. Synthpop trio Future Islands was one such band who debuted their newer tracks while also welcoming back the newfound level of gratitude shared by so many musicians to be back on stage and return to festivals – ACL marking their almost 1300th show and their unwavering passion to the crowd.
Kentucky-bred garage punk rockers, White Reaper, drove their no-frills rock in a mid-day set opposite Spanish-Cuban pop songstress Samantha Sanchez, Americana’s Charlie Crockett, and the colorful sonic pop artist Remi Wolf who delivered an unbound ferocity onstage which also was a growing refrain showing up among ACL festers this year. There was an air of more freedom of expression this year than in years past, something perhaps born out of a year of solitude and online solidarity building communities from adversity and bringing them closer together now in person again. The LGBTQ+ community showed up strong with voice and fashion displaying words of pride on shirts, giant fans, and impromptu homemade signs.
Phoebe Bridgers – a proclaimed gay icon – drew an extremely supportive crowd for her mellow indie rock amping up the volume with their cries of admiration and bawdier messages scrawled on cardboard sides from the cases of free waters that lined the stage. Signs – both literal and crossing over into festival fashion and dance – were blaring of music fueling another round of sexual revolution, especially in pop music. Her set, however, was unexpectedly cut short when the audio was pulled on her last song causing some confusion in the crowd and serenading a forthright tweet, and support, following the show.
With her own insurrection of sexiness, Doja Cat came out onstage flawless in every way and translated every bit of it into her set. She brought in a lot of the crowd and energy spilling over from rapper Freddie Gibbs’ nearby stage to her elaborate floral-themed set. Many of the younger Tik Tok fans sang along to all of the hits that reached viral fame over this last year and Doja put a face – and body – them with her carefully choreographed show.
Another viral favorite drew one of the largest crowds of the festival, really showing “What’s poppin’” in the 2021 lineup of music. Jack Harlow brought a heavily involved younger fan base to his show and interacted with the energy from the stage throughout the show leading them to sing and jump along – it was an all-out party.
Rufus du Sol and Billie Eilish closed out the night as the two headliners. The Aussie electronic trio shared material from their new album, Surrender, which draws on the recurring theme of togetherness and their evolving exploration of more grounded concepts. Silhouetted in front of a giant backlit triptych, they put the vibe of the music front row center as the three were just shadows of suggestions of the men behind it. Eilish gave her more signature intimate performance as she returned to this year’s festival bringing back many of her fans that packed the stage in 2019. Whether she’s covering the stage in a higher energy tune or sitting and connecting with the audience for slower ballads like “Ocean Eyes,” Billie brings a personal, even private, feel to every one of her fans before her. There was no diva status there, just a sharing of soul and an equal love for the music – the one thing inspiring everyone to be there in person that day and the one thing that unified us all this past year when we weren’t. It’s that powerful and was definitely celebrated in every way that day.
