ACL - The Party Never Ends.

Day two begins with coffee and blueberry muffins made by my niece. Figuring outour schedule for the day, re-packing our bags, everything just seems to take a bit longer than we had thought. K offers to drive us to the bus stop. We had a bit of a wait so we must have just missed one. Everything going well, we get off at our stop and head over to Jack in the Box to use a real bathroom. We also got some food and then headed down to the entrance.

T still had her food when we went through and security made her stand outside to eat it! Crazy!

Our first stop was the Sweet Leaf Tea booth to show our text message coupons for a free tea. Then over to Old 97s. We sat near the back so we could make an easy retreat in time for Jose Gonzalez. That was another good show, but we keep wondering how come we sit down and then every pot smoker and cigarette smoker in Austin comes and sits near us. It's some kind of strange attraction!

After Jose Gonzalez, we stopped in the Digital Oasis for some AC, a free portable fan, and a free photo. You could also watch concerts on tvs, play Guitar Hero, charge your cell phone, or surf the Internet. We just enjoyed the Air Conditioning until Drive-by Truckers started.

After Drive-by truckers, we went back to the Sister Mister Tent and then re-filled out water bottles at the water taps. By then, we were mighty peckish. We walked down the line of food booths. T was in search of a particular item, I was just trying to figure out what I wanted. Then, I smelled it. Barbecue! We split up and obtained our sustenance.

After that, we made a beeline back to AMD to stake out our spot for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Our plan was to get there in time for Robert Earl Keen, stay put and keeping moving up if we could.

Robert Earl Keen was everything I ever expected. I had seen him last year as well and he never fails to disappoint. He's also a hometown favourite so most of the crowd knew most of the lyrics to most of the songs and we sang along at the top of our lungs.

John Fogerty was next. He played all the CCR songs you would want to hear, plus a few new ones. When it was over, the guy behind us said "I can't believe he didn't play Centerfield - that's his hit". What an idiot!

Two nice guys asked to share our blanket while we waited for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. One just moved to Austin from the same town in Ohio that my family is from. Isn't that funny? The other was a student at UT. We discussed music, concerts, festival etiquette. It was cool! I told UT guy that knowing a young person like himself was so into GOOD music gave me hope for the future. Two older ladies had the blanket in front of us. They proclaimed "Robert Plant is the sexiest man in Rock." A young guy sitting next to them said "Maybe he used to be." One of the ladies said "Honey, he still is" then she ripped off her bra so she could throw it on stage. Ohio guy asked if we had seen Robert Plant and Alison Krauss live before. When we said we had not, he was very excited for us.

I was very impressed by the set list. They did songs from their album, Led Zeppelin, Union Station, and traditional bluegrass. The highlights included Robert Plant talking about how much he was influenced by bluegrass and how that was real music, T. Bone Burnett's solo turn at the mike, Alison Krauss on fiddle for a good portion of the show, Robert Plant on maracas for "I'm In The Mood". The most memorable moment was Alison Kraus, Robert Plant and T. Bone Burnett a capella on "Down To The River To Pray" with the ENTIRE audience singing along IN HARMONY. That was an ACL moment!

After the show, we headed out to the bus with 10,000 of our closest friends. When we got to the stop, we learned that people had been waiting for 20 minutes and no bus had come by. 20 minutes later, one bus went past but did not stop. We spoke with two guys who were going to a stop near ours and were going to suggest sharing a cab when they ran across the street to catch one going the other way. I phoned K and she offered to pick us up at the Starbucks at the top of the hill, about a half-mile away. That worked out so well we plan to do it again after Foo Fighters.

Back at the house, we had dinner (farm-fresh pork roast - nothing better than eating food you grew yourself!) while we warmed up the hot tub. We washed it down with some Texas brew. AFter a good soak in the hot tub, we had some Blue Bell Ice cream and went to bed.

Sunday - Last day. Taking my niece, seeing Joe Bonamassa, sad to be going home, but really happy for such a good trip.