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N.E.R.D. and Mars Volta Kick off A.C.L.

The seventh annual Austin City Limits festival began Sept. 26 and Mars Volta, N.E.R.D., Vampire Weekend and the Swell Season were among the bands playing on the opening day. Among the Mars Volta set list were “The Widow” and “Goliath,” as the band took the stage as the first day-headliner. N.E.R.D. brought fans up on stage earlier that day, urging them to dance along to “Lapdance,” “Everyone Nose” and “She Wants to Move” in a melody that fused the two latter songs with the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” tune. N.E.R.D. frontman Pharrell Williams also urged fans to vote, regardless of their party affiliation, in the upcoming election.

The until recently unknown act the Swell Season (who gained notoriety for the film Once) proved themselves to be worthy to perform at A.C.L. with “People Get Ready” and a rendition of Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks.” Indie darlings Vampire Weekend drew a huge crowd with performances of “Oxford Comma,” “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” “M79” and “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance;” the band also debuted a new song tentatively titled “White SKy.” M. Ward appeared solo (taking a break from touring with Zoey Deshanel as She & Him) and Yeasayer also took the stage earlier on, as did Hot Chip. The festival continued the following day with Beck, Conor Oberst, MGMT, the Black Keys and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss.

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