ACL Review, Photos: Kurt Vile and the Violators, Friday, Austin Ventures
Kurt Vile and the Violators, Austin Ventures Stage-Austin City Limits Music Festival 2011. Photo by Sean C. MurphyKurt Vile broke out this year with Smoke Ring For My Halo, an album that highlights the Philadelphia songwriter’s fractured folk-rock. Vile took to the Austin Ventures stage Friday evening with just an acoustic guitar, focusing on the folk aspect for the first half of the set. But with his backing band the Violators in tow, he appeared to get more comfortable as the sun wound down. Songs like “Hunchback” and “Ghost Town” benefited immensely from the three-guitar assault, while “Freeway” blasted off with ragged energy, eliciting cheers from the mixed crowd of hipsters and Baby Boomers. Vile’s baritone easily cut through the feedback, and his breezy nature was pretty infectious in the similarly breezy evening.
- Art Levy
Photos by Sean C. Murphy
