I know what you’re thinking. Another music festival?! What can I say, I love ’em.
At least this was a brand new festival that I was trying out! And I got to visit the great city of Austin for the first time (more on that in another post). Let me tell you what, Austin in October is freaking HOT. Even keeping to the shady spots with my friend, I was still sweating until the sun went down. At least at this point in my life I’ve come to expect to be nasty, but it’s still worth noting for fair-weather music fans potentially interested in this festival in the future. Now that we got that out of the way, I am super pumped it didn’t rain because that means no one got cancelled (*cough* Welcome to Rockville)!
Really all three days of the festival was a blast. It always takes me that whole time to orient myself and figure out where everything is. Admittedly, I still got turned around on Sunday, but it was better. There were a ton of delicious food vendors, merch stands, and most importantly, water. I suppose there were also a lot of good Instagram-worthy spots, as well. This park was pretty massive, so that means there were six stages of entertainment and a lot of overlapping slots. Luckily, no one I wanted to see conflicted with anyone else. That made life easier shuffling between stages and staying out of the sun like a vampire bat (intentional reference).
Acts that really knocked it out of the park for me were Wet Leg, Phoenix, Wallows, The Front Bottoms, P!NK, Paramore, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I really wish Djo hadn’t had to drop out of the festival, and Goth Babe from weekend 1 would have been awesome, but overall it was a great selection of music. I think over the course of the weekend I saw most of 22 different sets. A big surprise for me was the awesomeness of Urban Heat. I had never heard of this band before, but they exuded 80s goth vibes and I was digging it! They’ll definitely be getting checked out more now that I’m home. Red Hot Chili Peppers’ set was a bit of a jumble, as the sound wasn’t working properly for the first three or four songs, and then they tried to do an encore. I’ve never seen that happen at a festival before, and apparently a lot of other people hadn’t either because at least half the crowd started clearing out. Not their best performance that I’ve seen, but they still rule.
Overall, this was a fun festival, but for me to go back, I think the lineup needs to be absolutely stellar. The logistics of getting down there was kind of a nightmare. Plus, there are so many other festivals out there still left to attend! I’d say though that ACL has earned its reputation as one of the best and biggest festivals out there!