Audio By Carbonatix
Before this weekend, I’d never been to Austin City Limits Music Festival. Actually, I’d never been to any outdoor music festivals the scale of ACL. I’ve probably been to eight or nine South By Southwests, and, before heading down to Austin this weekend, I hypothesized that ACL wouldn’t be my thing.
In many ways, I was right.
But the festival had some redeeming qualities. In fact, I enjoyed myself
the entire time. I just prefer the smaller, more exclusive feel of
SXSW, during which there are more opportunities to get behind the
scenes, sneak in places you technically aren’t supposed to be, and rub shoulders with the artists.
At
ACL, you’re in a giant field with everyone else, and the only exclusive
place to get into is the port-a-potty, after standing in a 10-minute
line. There weren’t any small performances, either. It was rare to a
band play a set to less than 1,000 people. But with the big audiences
came the feeling of togetherness that I mentioned in my Arcade Fire
review.
Seeing all those music fans together in one place
confirmed a suspicion I’d long had, that indie rock has gone mainstream.
If ACL isn’t a mainstream festival, I don’t know what is. It’s not
necessarily a bad thing, it was just a little shocking to be standing
there with over 5,000 people watching The Walkmen — especially
considering the heat.
With an outdoor festival, it’s impossible
to escape the hot sun. Zilker park had a few large trees, but you’d have
to fight off a shanty town of chair people for a square foot of shade.
Thankfully, though, it rained sporadically, and the weather dropped to
cool, comfortable temperatures during the nightly headlining sets.
Another
observation I made was how readily available weed was. The scent was
constant throughout the park as folks lit up out in the open with no
fear of getting busted. Walking into the festival, the pathway was lined
with make-shift vendors selling pipes and other paraphernalia. Can you
blame them for trying to make a buck? That’s basically what was going on
inside.
Anheuser-Busch was one of the festival’s top advertisers
and vendors. Unfortunately, their watered down grasp stretched all the
way to the craft beer tent, where Michelob Ultra and Shock Top frothed
over the sides of plastic cups. A lot like the festival, it’s a
corporate take on a pure product. Still, who wants to drink a stout beer
in the unrelenting heat of Thursday and Saturday? I was plenty happy
with Bud Light.
The biggest issue I take with the festival is
stage proximity. Getting a good vantage point was one of the more
difficult tasks of the weekend. Often times, I had to camp out in front
of the stage in order to get a good spot. But even if you got a bad
spot, other than the issues over at the Stevie Wonder show, the sound
was impeccable. The mixes for Elbow The Walkmen, Kurt Vile,
Phosphorescent, My Morning Jacket, Coldplay, and everyone else I saw
sounded exactly as they do on record. You can’t say the same about SXSW.
In
a lot of ways, ACL impressed me. The organization, the quality of the
stages, soundsystems, and a lot of the bands, made for a fun weekend.
I’d go back again, but if given the choice between a wristband for SXSW
or ACL, it’s a no brainer.
