While I am by no means a music, concert, or music festival expert I am certainly lucky to enjoy Austin City Limits in my city every year. I have been to Austin City Limits 3 of the 4 years that I have lived in Austin and this year was another exceptional experience. With over 65,000 people in attendance EACH of the three days I don't think I am alone in loving this festival.
Essentially there are +130 bands, 8 stages, and 3 full days of music. The music ranges from country to rap with a lot of rock and alternative in between. My favorite shows were Mayer Hawthorne, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Matt and Kim (the literally climbed on top of the stage and danced ON TOP of the crowd). I put a few samples of music that I saw on the side bar so you can pretend like you were there with me!
Besides the excellent selection of music my favorite things about ACL this year were the things that made this music festival unique to Austin. Taking place at Zilker Park; a park inside the city along the banks of Town Lake with beautiful weather and the Austin skyline as the backdrop for the stages. Sunny skies, light breeze and low humidity kept everyone mostly comfortable throughout the weekend. Being within the city allowed people to transport themselves easily to Zilker park via foot, bus, bike, or convenient drop off and parking locations with shuttles around town. I was able to exercise all but the bus portion of forms of transportation used to arrive and depart from the festival all weekend. Lucky for me my friend Emily lives downtown and we were able to bike from her place with ease!
With the sun shining drinking water for festival goers was a priority; and since I personally drink my recommended 8-10 glasses of water daily, I especially appreciated the FREE water refill stations inside the park. Friendly volunteers filled water constantly throughout the weekend. Not only does this limit dehydration and emergencies, but also saves ACL guests money and thousands of plastic water bottles. Yeah Austin for being so ECO Friendly! Beyond the free water*, the food available for purchase is 100% Austin. From Aquarelle's French fare to Freebird's burritos all of the food is brought in from local restaurants for a price point of $5-$8 an item. This is a pretty good deal as many of the vendors don't normally have a meal under $20 on their regular menu. This weekend I got to eat at the Salt Lick, Aquarelle, and Hudson's on the Bend for about 20 bucks in one weekend!
Beyond my basic needs of food, water, music, and great weather, Austin City Limits also provided numerous other amenities that make ACL easy to attend. Tons of beer and freebie tents, fashionable concert t-shirts from American Apparel (yeah hipster), artisans selling their local goods, and of course... police that are really there just for show who enforce next to nothing. What else could I ask for? Oh wait... yeah... almost all of my Austin friends attend ACL! That is the very best part! I know I can buy a ticket and not worry about finding someone to rock out with because everyone is there and having a great time. I highly recommend Austin City Limits and entire package it comes with because I LOVE it. :-)
*yes I realize nothing, including water isn't really free when you pay $185 for a 3 day pass... but I paid for that months ago so it feels like it is free.
http://www.aclfestival.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_City_Limits_Music_Festival
http://austincitylimits.org/
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| One of the best stages... natural acoustics with the rock wall! |
Besides the excellent selection of music my favorite things about ACL this year were the things that made this music festival unique to Austin. Taking place at Zilker Park; a park inside the city along the banks of Town Lake with beautiful weather and the Austin skyline as the backdrop for the stages. Sunny skies, light breeze and low humidity kept everyone mostly comfortable throughout the weekend. Being within the city allowed people to transport themselves easily to Zilker park via foot, bus, bike, or convenient drop off and parking locations with shuttles around town. I was able to exercise all but the bus portion of forms of transportation used to arrive and depart from the festival all weekend. Lucky for me my friend Emily lives downtown and we were able to bike from her place with ease!
With the sun shining drinking water for festival goers was a priority; and since I personally drink my recommended 8-10 glasses of water daily, I especially appreciated the FREE water refill stations inside the park. Friendly volunteers filled water constantly throughout the weekend. Not only does this limit dehydration and emergencies, but also saves ACL guests money and thousands of plastic water bottles. Yeah Austin for being so ECO Friendly! Beyond the free water*, the food available for purchase is 100% Austin. From Aquarelle's French fare to Freebird's burritos all of the food is brought in from local restaurants for a price point of $5-$8 an item. This is a pretty good deal as many of the vendors don't normally have a meal under $20 on their regular menu. This weekend I got to eat at the Salt Lick, Aquarelle, and Hudson's on the Bend for about 20 bucks in one weekend!
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| ACL at night |
Beyond my basic needs of food, water, music, and great weather, Austin City Limits also provided numerous other amenities that make ACL easy to attend. Tons of beer and freebie tents, fashionable concert t-shirts from American Apparel (yeah hipster), artisans selling their local goods, and of course... police that are really there just for show who enforce next to nothing. What else could I ask for? Oh wait... yeah... almost all of my Austin friends attend ACL! That is the very best part! I know I can buy a ticket and not worry about finding someone to rock out with because everyone is there and having a great time. I highly recommend Austin City Limits and entire package it comes with because I LOVE it. :-)
*yes I realize nothing, including water isn't really free when you pay $185 for a 3 day pass... but I paid for that months ago so it feels like it is free.
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| Courtesy of Hill Country Conservancy FB page... View of Zilker from above |
http://www.aclfestival.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_City_Limits_Music_Festival
http://austincitylimits.org/
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