Last year the shuttle busses were awesome! They were quick and constantly moving. Parking is virtually non-existant in and near the park, although last year there were cars parked all along the freeway near the park, I don't really recommend doing that. You can park downtown and walk to the shuttle park, the busses run constantly and any line you stand in moves pretty fast. Leaving the festival was also pretty easy, we left before the final show ended and were able to snag a shuttle and get back downtown very easily! You can also take taxi's, ride a bike or walk to the festival. The shuttles were free with your paid admission (if i remember correctly)... Please check the ACL Website for complete information. Specifically check here: http://www.aclfestival.com/festival/travel.asp
thats insane! i knew they cut attendance by 10,000, but i didnt know there were that many people each day to start with. last year was the first year where it was clearly out of hand though.
death cab...too mellow for my tastes jet...good live performance oasis...great...esp. loved the new songs liam was crazy as hell...i loved it. truly a rock star.
Day one: Thievery Corp -- They're really good Blues Traveler -- meh Black Crowes -- muh To be honest I wasn't really interested in any Fri. bands -- mostly just chatted with old friends etc. Day two: Aqualung -- Nice way to start off the day Built to Spill -- Good, but their sound got old fast. Swimming at Barton Springs Robert Randolph -- freaking awesome as usual Dirty Dozen Brass Band -- Lots of fun. Jet -- just caught the end as I waited for Bloc Party Bloc Party -- Right up there with Robert Randolph as a top show this year. Oasis -- Unintentionally hilarious rock star caricatures -- a few of their big hits were fun though (Wonderwall). Day 3 - Really this is the big day though i'm pretty partied out. Doves Kaiser Chiefs (maybe or Barton Springs) Arcade Fire -- can't wait to see these guys Franz Ferdinand -- should be good Black Keys -- Lets see if these two guys can hold court in front of 40,000 + people. Coldplay -- might actually skip this one...
Damn. My lungs are full of dirt. Zilker Park turned into a dust bowl today, and I must have inhaled a pound of it. On what seemed like one of the hottest days of the year, I caught the following bands: The Bravery - mix between The Cure, New Order, and Depeche Mode; sounded good, crowd dispersed after Honest Mistake Arcade Fire - pretty entertaining band from Montreal, there's like 10 people, including a french horn player and 2 percussionists Jason Mraz - caught the end of his show and it blew, good thing he saved "The Remedy" for last, otherwise people would've left Franz Ferdinand - sounded great overall, although towards the end, all the songs started to sound the same; finished up with "This Fire" Coldplay - an estimated 60K watched this show and Martin was as good as advertised; he has tons of energy and played a full 1.5 hours including: Speed of Sound, Yellow, Clocks, The Scientist, In My Place, and finished with Fix You.
It was a really chill crowd, relatively free of teenybopper/emo kids. This is why Austin is the greatest city if youre aged 18-30. There were so many f*cked up people, but in a good way. We went through so much pot over this weekend. Whenever Oasis was singing Champagne Supernova, he kept repeating the line "Where were you while we were getting high" and you could look around at the crowd and see puffs of smoke everywhere.
This concert was great. At least Sunday was. Only highlite on Friday was Keane. The Black Crowes sucked it up as usual. Saturday- a lot better. Death Cab played some amazing tracks off albums 1,2,3 and 4 Aqualung was great. Later got his autograph backstage. Class act. I missed Bloc Party,and several of my friends said that was the best show of the festival. Sunday was best day. The Bravery simply kicked ass. So much energy. Arcade Fire- Good, not as good as I thought they would be The Decemberists- Wow, very surprised by thier great performance. I missed the Doves, cause I was leanin' the previous night. Franz Ferdinand- Not as good as Houston show, way too many ppl at SBC stage. Coldplay- Awesome, but a little too many ppl as well. Negatives- The dirt. Was I in Iraq? The positives- Oooh, the girls in bikini's. Need I say more. On a related note, I've been to festivals from Europe to Asia to all part of America. I've got to say ppl at the ACL were the nicest and most courteous patrons around. Good job ATX. I came away blown away by two bands, "The Decemberists" and this local Austin band called "What Made Milwaukee Famous"
We caught some Keane, Roky, Blue October, and luckily the Bloc Party (quite good) set, but not much else. Rita screwed up our schedule a bit so we were toting our little ones. Pretty much relegated us to the Ventures and AMD stages. Sunday was blistering hot. We were there a couple of hours then left. And yes folks were extremely polite. Shocking for such a large festival. Food was excellent. Beer was ice cold.
I think it was...about 108 yesterday? Sad when the forecast of 101 sounds downright chilly comparatively.
Here in Austin yesterday it was a record 108 degrees ~ during Arcade Fire we were to the right of the stage facing the sun and I was absolutely roasting (still thought it was a great show). Franz was great as well, but the crowd and the dust was getting to be a bit much at this point. All in all I had a great time at ACL this year, but they must move the festival back a couple weeks into October.
The Arcade Fire show was uncomfortably hot. The sun was beaming down directly on the crowd. Crazy thing was that several of the band members came out in black suits, and one even had on a sweater vest. I knew it was hot yesterday, but I didn't know it was 108. Damn. Definitely agree that this festival needs to happen in October or November. The crowd would've been much more energetic if they weren't so beaten down by the heat.
I'll echo the sentiments on Chris Martin. I saw Coldplay on Sunday, the 18th in Nashville and boy can he sing live! It wasn't until the 2nd song that I turned to the guy next to me and said, "Yea, he is singing live." He sounds very much live like he does on their studio albums. I really enjoyed that show but man there was way TOO many people there. As for Bloc Party, they seem to be an act I would want to see live. I have been listening to their CD off and on for the last couple of weeks and it is really really good.
Sad thing is, they knew it got really hot at this time of year from last year's event. Did I hear 250 treated for symptoms of heat exhaustion? Inexcusable. But then, moving it to a reasonable part of year would give them far less on conce$$ion revenue. It was too miserably hot and crowded to enjoy anything (though crowds could be tolerated if it were at least 20 degrees cooler). I won't be going back unless they make adjustments.
For what its worth Friday Mofro- good swamp music, but when you only have an hour and you are playing to a (mostly) new set of fans, you might want to play more than 4 songs- each jammed for about 15 minutes Steve Earle- nice tight set, you know what you're getting Mates of State- Interesting piano duo, even more interesting that the keyboards (wife) had a deeper voice than the percussionist (husband) Lucinda Williams- Highly, highly disappointed. Please give us something...this was mailed in from the beginning. should've seen Robert Earl Grupo Fantasma- Great to see a local act expose so many new fans to their band of music. Got even the most tired/jaded fan moving Allman Brothers Band- Never a big fan, but thought I should give it a shot. Honestly, good, but not blown away. Blues Traveler- Don't know what I was expecting and am admittedly a bandwagon fan (only own the "Four" CD), but didn't really win me over. Ok, but alot more guitar driven than the few songs I was familiar with. Black Crowes- Last saw at Bonnaroo where they put on one of the best sets of the weekend. No different here, although the sound was spotty (no fault of the band). Saturday Asylum Street Spankers- A ton of fun. Experienced a number of sound problems but overcame. Cover of "closer" with a banjo, fiddle, etc. was nice. Aqualung- Please, put me out of my misery...an agonizing slow painful death, but had to appease the GF Built to Spill- Good sound. vocals similiar to Michael Stipe. Weary Boys- Kicked ass as usual. Like Grupo on Friday, people came to the tent for the shade, but couldn't help but get into the rockabilly/country sounds of these guys. If you're in Austin be sure to check out one of their shows at Continental (usually 'round 3 times a month) Robert Randolph- Seen him a number of times, and no matter how hard I try, just can't get into the music. And if you're going to show off your instrumental skills should you be starting your set with a Micheal Jackson cover? Fiery Furnaces- Honestly, I was not in the best of health at this point, I thought I was going to drop of dehydration right there at the AMD stage. I perserved, but was subjected to what might have been some of the worst music I heard all weekend. Bruce Robison- I've seen him a number of times. Some of the most energy I've seen him muster. Alot of banter with the crowd. No Kelly Willis sighting, but good set nonetheless. Drive-By Truckers- My favorite band playing ACL this year so anything I write would be biased. I had caught the aftershow the night before, and that set was a tad better, but they still brought a wall of sound that likely was not matched all weekend. Oasis- Watched from far-far away. I don't think they got the memo that they no longer have any rock star cred left to be such wankers. Sunday Rilo Kiley- Hard to label, but enjoyable nonetheless. By far the hottest (in terms of temperature) show of the day. They still put forth a good set of alt-county/pop/indie rock songs. Ruthie Foster- Another local that I had to show some love. Amazing voice, if you get the chance try to check her out when she plays locally with Carolyn Wonderland. Arcade Fire- Lived up to the hype. Absolutely blown away. Very complex arrangements, great energy, incredibly original sound. Decemberists- I had seen a few videos on AMN (now defunct Austin Music Network) so I had some idea what to expect. Really enjoyed the show. Alot of interaction with the audience. Strong lyrics. Geek rock in the same vein as Weezer (which is a good thing). Franz Ferdinand- Last year missed their show in favor of Wilco. This year turned the tables. Really crowded and left thinking maybe a repeat showing from Wilco would've been the better idea. The sound was good, but it was hard to get close enough to really appreciate the music. Black Keys- Awesome Blues rock. These two guys from Akron really bring it. This music isn't normally my thing, but there is no denying these two guys brought the energy and sound of a five piece. Coldplay- Could take it or leave it. Ready to go home, but once again the choice wasn't mine. Honestly though, it was a good effort, and they tried to mix things up...not sure though if a wirey brit should be trying to pull off "Ring of Fire"
