ACL Weekend 1 Review:
After walking around the first weekend of the ACL festival, I’ve got a couple of tips, observations, and objections for those who plan to brave weekend number 2.
Leave the flags at home – No one wants to see you waving your custom Moroccan flag with a pot leaf on it, especially when you’re in the front row of Muse and are not only obscuring thousands of people’s views but are ruining countless photos and videos as well. We live in a mobile age where keeping your friends updated on your whereabouts has outgrown waving a 30 foot pole in the air, alas this is also an imbedded part of music festival culture, so the idiocy will most likely continue.
California Invasion – It happened when I was in a media happy hour, it happened while watching the Texans game, it happened in the middle of HAIM’s set when lead singer, Danielle Haim, asked the crowd “ Who here is from LA?” and every hand in sight shot up. Evidence of a Cali invasion has left us asking ourselves “Do I really want to recommend our favorite breakfast taco place to half of California? And how many digital media agencies can there be in LA? #JustDon’tMoveHere;)
Get to the Fest early and stay out late! – Some of the best shows on the schedule were in the 11am and noon time slots, when festival crowds were not yet overbearing and, the heat hadn’t peaked. The intensity only doubles for the after-shows, which begin around 11pm, and this week it featured Mario Cuomo of the Orwells, taking a crowd nose-dive off a ten foot amp, to end his Friday night set at Holy Mountain.
Ride Yo Bike Sweaty throngs of pedestrians and endless lines of cars might seem inconvenient as they all try to inch closer and closer to the ACL fest grounds, but its after riding a bike to the fest, chaining up, and walking into the fest without any delay or hassle, that you really start to appreciate how breezy, biking to the fest, makes it for all of us.
Leave Your Kids at Austin Kiddie Limits – As clouds of weed smoke billow over our heads and a drunken frat boy falls backward spilling his beer everywhere, I realize that the two confused toddlers to my left could benefit from better parenting choices. Granted I don’t have children, so maybe I’m way off on this one but don’t festivals have: A) High-decibel, loud music that is damaging to children’s ears. B.) An unrelenting sun that give child festival-goers a dangerous amount of sun exposure, that can lead to heat stroke and dehydration. C) Lots of other weird exposure to adult things that fall within the frame of drugs, sex, and rock and roll.
I’m no Dr. Lipschitschz*, but outside of Austin Kiddie Limits, the regular festivities don’t seem to be very inviting for the newborn crowd.
5 Fave Shows this past weekend:
Electric 6 – Lead Singer, Dick Valentine, and his five other band-mates who have made nine, yes nine, studio albums and are more American storytellers than rock band, destroyed Austinites in a hilarious and dance-filled set at the Austin Ventures Stage on Friday.
Wild Nothing – The absolute first band to play at ACL on Friday, Wild Nothing got things off on the right foot with a Shoegazed, hit-laden set that eased festival goers into the day.
Joy Formidable – A Welsh trio that packs punch, these guys oscillated from sounding like Two Door Cinema Club to Black Sabbath within the same song and are an absolute tour de force
Bright Light Social Hour – Theses local longhairs had the perfect setting for their psychedelic up-tempo set as the sun went down over the Austin Ventures Stage.
FIDLAR – These L.A. skate punks took it to another level in their raucous set, the band blew out an amp mid-set, but finished strong with songs like “Cocaine” and Wake Bake Skate”
5 Fave Shows for this weekend:
Atoms For Peace – Word on the street is that these guys blew the rest of the headliners out of the water. Thom Yorke and Flea may be too much to miss this next Sunday night.
Deap Vally – A heavy-hitting rocker chick duo that brings back elements of Zeppelin and the Ramones, you can see them melt faces at 1PM at the Bud Light Stage.
Muse – Their big production of a show had a hiccup last Friday when an outage caused a fifteen-minute delay, but these guys more than made up for it with a set of hits that paid tribute to Jimi Hendrix. I’m down for a part Deux this Friday night.
Jimmy Eat World – I heard these guys in the distance on Friday and was disappointed that I couldn’t see them. They might be a guilty pleasure due to their unabashed sugary pop hooks, but the band is still the soundtrack to many childhoods, and for that, they deserve at least a nostalgia listen. 2:30 PM Friday at Samsung Galaxy Stage.
Franz Ferdinand – Speaking of nostalgia! Franz Ferdinand is coming back with all of their mid 200’s hits and adding some newer tracks in there that aren’t half as bad as you would think. A high-energy performance and the ability to hear all of the old hits makes me a sucker to see them at 4 PM Sunday at the Samsung Galaxy Stage.
By: Lee Ackerley
*Rugrats Reference
