For two weekends in October, over 80,000 people from all over the world gather in downtown Austin to kick up dirt and hear some of the biggest artists of our generation for Austin City Limits.
This year I secured my wristband and a portable charger to join them.
ACL is not new in the Austin music scene. The festival started in 1994 and has continued to grow in size and significance.
This year there were several big headliners, with names including Hozier, Sabrina Carpenter, and The Killers.
My favorite show, the one that I anticipated the most, was the Strokes. Being a decade-long Strokes fan, I decided to barricade, a sweaty and claustrophobic experience. After two hours, Julien Casablancas and the rest of the band finally hit the stage with Bad Decisions, At the Door, Welcome to Japan, and a solid collection of other bangers. As a decade-long Strokes fan, seeing them from ten feet away was an absolute dream. The lights were nonstop, the rockstar vibes were omnipresent, and the crowd was electric.
Empire of the Sun was a close second in terms of visuals and starpower. They were other-worldly. The stage held two gigantic grey heads and insane 3d visuals. Luke Steele, the lead singer, was the most dynamic performer I’ve ever seen. He had seemingly never-ending energy, as did the backup dancers who, at one point, wore head-to-toe mirrorball jumpsuits.
One band that fell short were the Killers. To be fair, I wasn’t able to get too close to the show. Still, I expected more from the closing band of the festival. They played Mr. Brightside first, their most popular song by a long shot. This left an expectant sort of feeling that their other songs didn’t measure up to. I ended up packing up early and heading over to the silent disco, which was a fun change of pace.
The silent disco started with an obnoxiously long and winding line to the front where you got your headphones. The headphones switched between three dj sets and had a volume button to adjust the sound. I’m not really a clubbing kind of music-enjoyer, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had. It’s impossible to not look stupid at a silent disco, so it’s fun to just let go and accept the awkwardness.
Other incredible sets included Magdelena Bay, who blurred Y2K internet culture and portal imagery into one exceptional fever dream of a performance. Gregory Alan Isakov was another standout, a powerhouse of vocals and instrumental prowess that rivaled bigger artists at the festival. He and his band ended the show crowded around a singular vintage microphone with a showstopping performance of The Stable Song. I also can’t fail to mention Rainbow Kitten Surprise, an indie rock band that surprised the crowd with messy front rolls and strong vocals.
There were other smaller artists that put on a good show, and other than the Killers I never found myself too disappointed in any shows. Although, it’s easy to enjoy a music festival that sets such a high bar for itself and exceeds that bar every time.
ACL is a huge spectacle, with so many moving parts it could make your head spin. We’ve all heard stories of failed festivals. Events like the Fyre Festival that ended in mismanagement and frustrated customers. When you pay $400 to see music, you expect a certain level of consideration and care. ACL is a case study for how to do a music festival right.
For one, every show I saw started exactly at or around its anticipated time. This made everything flow and I felt like the time that I spent waiting for shows was respected.
The wristbands were also great, quick and easy to use. The ability to scan them to pay for food and drinks made lines faster and easier to navigate.
On the topic of food, I was once again blown away by the quality and efficiency. Austin City Limits always has a great selection of local, high quality restaurants.
I tried food from different stands each day, and wasn’t disappointed in anything. My favorites were the chicken Mighty Cone and a chocolate covered banana from one of my favorite Austin food stands, Bananarchy.
Once I secured food, the next course of action was finding a good place to sit and kick back. I didn’t have to look far, because there were several places to kick back and relax, including a turf-filled chill area with plenty of shade and places to sit.
The whole thing is also physically arranged well. An event on this scale is bound to be confusing, but after a day or so I got the hang of things and could find my way around relatively easily.
There also wasn’t a lot of sound interference from other sets. The layout makes it easy to focus on what you’re hearing, even quieter songs are easy to make out from a farther distance.
With such a large venue, there are some downsides that are hard to control. The bathroom lines were insane, the dust was overwhelming, and the crowds could be dizzying.
Nevertheless, Austin City Limits was an incredible experience that I will never forget.
If you’ve ever talked to me about ACL at any length, you know my thoughts on live music. It is so incredibly important.
If I’ve said it once I’ll say it a million times, music is the greatest form of connection that we’ve got. Under that Austin sky with an unimaginable number of people, some of which I will never see again, was honestly mind-altering.
We all sang the same songs, breathed the same air, and shared an experience that existed for only a small, microscopic moment in time.
Austin City Limits was a good reminder of the things that matter, the music and the chicken Mighty Cones.
