510 Miles & 2 Days 2 ACL: 3 Must-See Artists @ ACL 2011 on Day 3

Arcade Fire's Win Butler @ Jazz Fest 2011 - Photo by Jimmy Grotting

Go here for Day 1 and here for Day 2

It’s almost time to pack it up — ACL is now a mere two days away. With Gary Clark Jr.’s amazing show last night at House of Blues and tonight’s FUTUREBIRDS/J. Roddy Walston and the Business bill at One Eyed Jack’s, the mini-ACL that goes on here in New Orleans every year on ACL week has already begun (also, ACL performers Pretty Lights and Chromeo will be in town this weekend). Although we’ve featured mostly lesser-known artists for Days One and Two on here, for Sunday, it feels necessary to endorse the rare American festival sets of Manu Chao and Randy Newman and the fact that Arcade Fire may be disappearing for a bit after an extremely busy year of major shows headlining Coachella, Jazz Fest, Bonnaroo and now ACL, and that’s just in the United States. Continue on for artist videos, set times and a quick blurb to hopefully gear you up for these three major shows on the festival’s final day.

Sunday, September 18th

MANU CHAO & LA VENTURA :: 6:30-7:30 p.m. :: AMD Stage

One of the best daytime sets I’ve ever seen at a music festival was Manu Chao’s performance in the sweltering Tennessee heat at Bonnaroo in 2007. In what will surely be similar circumstances playing for a weary late-festival crowd, this is one of the few artists in the world to absolutely blow it out of the water and get the crowd moving like it’s Friday afternoon.

RANDY NEWMAN :: 7:30-8:30 p.m. :: Vista Equity

Not too many 5-time GRAMMY Award winners in the bunch. Along with Stevie Wonder, Newman is in rare territory at this fest as far as critical accolades go. Not positive here, but I’m guessing this is also Newman’s first time playing at the ‘Big 4′ of American alternative music festivals (Bonnaroo, Coachella, Lollapalooza and ACL), which will surely make this a first-time show for a lot of folks in attendance (including yours truly).

I Love L.A. (Live at Jazz Fest)

Arcade Fire :: 8:30-10:00 :: Bud Light

Not much to say here other than the fact that AF’s May Jazz Fest set was one of the best and most energetic shows I’ve ever seen and that these guys are 100% deserving of all the huge bookings, Grammy Awards and high praise thrown their way over the last 9 months. Also, if the balloon drop at Coachella (see below) or Cyndi Lauper’s appearance at Jazz Fest are any indication, there’s no telling what’s in store for this festival-closing set that also happens to be the final U.S. date listed in 2011 for the band.

Arcade Fire – Wake Up (Live at Coachella 2011)