Josh Rouse [ tickets ]

It's not an easy task, grabbing the attention of an audience so hot that at least 50 of them have huddled under the only tree in listening distance. But Josh Rouse, whose music brings to mind the best of '70s singer-songwriters such as Jackson Browne and James Taylor, still kept the audience singing and clapping along, saying, "I know it's hot, let's do this together."

Old 97's [ tickets ]

For the members of the Old 97's, Texas is home, so nothing suits their music better than a giant field full of fans in Austin singing along to every song. The band, fully charged and grinning all the way, blazed through a good mix of a few recent tunes ("The New Kid," "Won't Be Home No More") and many of their old standards to keep the hometown crowd happy. After whipping through the lovesick rocker "Big Brown Eyes" ("You've left a big impression/For a girl of your size"), the band ended with the manically paced "Time Bomb," a song with such country licks, it leaves you wishing for a barn floor to stomp on.

Modest Mouse [ tickets ]

Showing up just when the sold-out crowd seemed to be reaching capacity, Modest Mouse came on with little to say, but a solid 45-minute set to jam through. Playing the majority of songs off their most recent release, "Good News For People Who Love Bad News"--including a lighter version of the anthem-like "Float On"--the band provided its unique ability to take songs you're sure are going one direction, and then turn them screamingly on their heads. It's a kind of musical excitement that can prove overwhelming: early on, a teenage girl was carried out by a bouncer--completely passed out, but with a smile across her face.

My Morning Jacket [ tickets ]

Kentucky rockers My Morning Jacket served as a good appetizer for the hoards of newly bereft Phish fans waiting to hear that band's Trey Anastasio playing a double set later in the day. But while frontman and songwriter Jim James' music, with its long intros and big guitar solos (not to mention the band's collective amount of hair), can start to bring on feelings of Neil Young or Allman Brothers classic rock, there's plenty that's new here, and it would be a challenge to find in those artists' lyrics anything like: "So love dawg can't ye see that you only gotta dance with me."

The Pixies [ tickets ]

While the Phish-lovers jammed across the park, the biggest draw of the day was the Pixies, now fully back in form after reuniting last spring. To hear the crowd joining in on songs mostly from the band's early albums--"Doolittle," "Surfer Rosa" and "Come on Pilgrim"--you'd think they were watching a U2-like group that had been constantly touring for decades. The band seemed just happy to be there--Frank Black vigorously talk/singing and yelling, Kim Deal calmly smiling along--and you can't blame them. If you returned to your old job after 10 years to have 70,000 people cheering you on, you'd be smiling too.

Other highlights: The Gourds' insane fusion of country, bluegrass, rock and punk; Los Amigos Invisibles inserting riffs from both "Dirty Dancing" and "Beverly Hills Cop" soundtracks into their tunes; G. Love & Special Sauce bringing out the funky classic "Baby's Got Sauce"; and The Neville Brothers, getting thousands of hot and sweaty people on their feet with hands waving in the air.

Click here to read liveDaily's review of Friday's (9/17) action at the Austin City Limits Festival.

Click here to read liveDaily's review of Sunday's (9/19) action at the Austin City Limits Festival.