Austin City Limits Music Festival

Tunesmate had the chance to talk to Cleveland native Steven Geiger about his recent trip to ACL. If you’ve never had the chance to attend the festival Steven gives a great overview of his experience. Personally I’m hoping I get the opportunity to go one of these years. It definitely seems like one of the best music festivals.

Here’s what Steven had to say:

ACL was three days – Friday thru Sunday.  The first bands usually started around 11:30 and performances lasted until 10pm.  Along with the music there were plenty of vendors selling the usual  T-shirts, beaded necklaces and glass pipes for “tobacco use only.”   The festival is just long enough but the amount of rain and the subsequent mudpit tested my love for music.  By Sunday my friends and I were exhausted but no one was disappointed.

I decided on a 3 day pass which ran about $185.  That plus airfare made it a bit expensive but having friends to stay with is a definite bonus.  I would recommend leaving an extra day or two in order to see Austin.  I’m not sure the state of the economy had any effect on the number of attendees. I didn’t really notice a difference in attendance compared to last year.  If the other concert goers were like me money is tight but it is an affordable trip.  

ACL is held in Zilker Park which is the Austin equivalent of Central Park.  Bands performed with the city skyline as a backdrop.  This year a private company that puts on ACL invested a few million in order to put in turf and an irrigation system to keep the park  a bit more green.  In years past the festival put such a strain on the park that it would end up a dustbowl for the following weeks.  After all the rain the investment seemed to be moot but officials claimed that the grass would recover.  The park seemed to be pretty clean considering the number of people in attendance.  In fact the most common piece of litter were errant sandals that were stranded in the 2 inches of mud.  There were plenty of recycling bins around and volunteers walked around the crowd collecting bags of trash (a Honda promotion to have a chance to win an Element encouraged the trash collecting).

I believe there were around 130 bands that played and I saw only 20 of them.  The headliners were Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews, Kings of Leon and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs who replaced Beastie Boys.  There were 4 main stages and 2 stages would be used at the same time.  Each day you had to sacrifice seeing one performance for another (I regrettably missed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in order to see Kings of Leon).  Having a lineup in hand and a plan is a good idea.

I was most looking forward to seeing The Dead Weather, Pearl Jam, Kings of Leon, Grizzly Bear and Bon Iver.  Most of the other bands I was familiar with but hadn’t heard any songs until the festival.  The Heartless Bastards (originally from Dayton and signed on the Black Keys label), Dirty Projectors, Avett Brothers and School of Seven Bells.  My top ten:

1. Bon Iver 
2. The Dead Weather
3. Avett Brothers
4. Pearl Jam
5. Blitzen Trapper
6. KOL
7. Dirty Projectors (My friend and I saw them at the Austin airport and had a quick conversation)
8. Heartless Bastards
9. Phoenix
10. Bon Iver (he’s in here twice for good measure – absolutely fantastic)

This was my second time at ACL.  I have been to Lollapalooza in Chicago a few years ago and a few one day festivals at Blossom.  Lollapalooza was great and Chicago is a great town but if I had to choose between the two festivals ACL would win.  The laid back atmosphere @ ACL is the different maker.  Austin is such a vibrant, creative and tolerant town and the crowd at the festival is representative of the Austin attitude.  I didn’t see any fights or drunk guys who seem to be there to kick someone’s ass.  The police presence was minimal and they seemed to be forgiving of any reasonable illicite activity.  It is hard to imagine Cleveland hosting an event like this and recreating the atmosphere that abounds at ACL.  I don’t think Blossom could support such a large festival and if it could it is too far away from downtown Cleveland or any other worthwhile attractions.  Downtown Cleveland would be much better than Blossom but I can’t think of any areas that would be condusive for this type of event.  

This was my second time at ACL.  I have been to Lollapalooza in Chicago a few years ago and a few one day festivals at Blossom.  Lollapalooza was great and Chicago is a great town but if I had to choose between the two festivals ACL would win.  The laid back atmosphere @ ACL is the different maker.  Austin is such a vibrant, creative and tolerant town and the crowd at the festival is representative of the Austin attitude.  I didn’t see any fights or drunk guys who seem to be there to kick someone’s ass.  The police presence was minimal and they seemed to be forgiving of any reasonable illicite activity.  It is hard to imagine Cleveland hosting an event like this and recreating the atmosphere that abounds at ACL.  I don’t think Blossom could support such a large festival and if it could it is too far away from downtown Cleveland or any other worthwhile attractions.  Downtown Cleveland would be much better than Blossom but I can’t think of any areas that would be condusive for this type of event.  

All in all ACL was worth the money and the pair of shoes that I lost to the mud.  Even if you can’t make ACL, Austin is still worth checking out.  I try to make it down there at least once a year and if I can work ACL into my schedule next year I would definitely go back.