A Battle Royale For My Soul

Decisions, decisions. Much, but not all, of the "rumored" ACL list that was floating around last week came true. The noticable absences are The New Pornographers, Explosions in the Sky, The Hold Steady, Neil Young, Eddie Vedder and Stevie Wonder. As a result, my choice isn't as clear cut as it would otherwise be. In fact, as of now, the two festivals are just about neck-and-neck for me. A big part of the reason is how much cross-over there is this year between ACL Fest and Lollapalooza.

Here's a quick comparison of lineups, with key differences (for me, at least) in bold.

Austin City Limits Festival
Bob Dylan, Wilco, Arcade Fire, Muse, My Morning Jacket, Bloc Party, Damien Rice, Lucinda Williams, Spoon, Decemberists, Crowded House, Steve Earle, Ben Kweller, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Andrew Bird, Butch Walker, Peter Bjorn & John, Yo La Tengo, Blonde Redhead, Heartless Bastards, The National, Midlake, The Little Ones, Patterson Hood, The Broken West.

(Plus other big names I'm not all that excited about: Bjork, White Stripes, Killers, Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys)

Lollapalooza
Pearl Jam, Muse, Iggy and the Stooges, Interpol, My Morning Jacket, Patti Smith, Spoon, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Yo La Tengo, The Hold Steady, Blonde Redhead, Son Volt, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Peter Bjorn and John, Silversun Pickups, Heartless Bastards, The View, Tokyo Police Club, Cold War Kids, Annuals, Elvis Perkins, David Vandervelde

(Plus other big names I'm not all that excited about: Daft Punk, Modest Mouse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kings of Leon, LCD Soundsystem)

So, at the end of the day, where does this leave me? No idea.