ACL Music Festival
The ever-popular Austin City Limit Music Festival took place this weekend... I have always wanted to go check it out but the previous couple of years it always fell on a football game weekend. This weekend was sorta different, although I was going to the game, it isn't a home game... so I could actually make it (the game was in San Antonio, that's another post!)...
So, my schedule works in favor of going to it, but the problem was, I didn't have any ticket! I suppose normal people got their tickets months ago... not two days before the festival starts... anyways... I checked the website... seems like I still had some hope... so I got really excited... but by the time I checked with Pam and went back to the website, they were sold out! Luckily, Louise came to the rescue! I casually asked her about the Festival and she volunteered to help me find some tickets, and boy did she do a wonderful job! She got us a pair of tickets, for free! For your information, you can get a 3-day pass between 90-110 bucks...while single-day tickets ran about $55 plus $8 service fee... yeh... we got the Friday (single-day) for free! Hooray!
By the way, Louise didn't quite know the person who gave her the tickets for free... so I didn't press on.... I am curious though, because the envelope that the tickets came with had the name 'Gnarls Barkely', who happens to be a pretty cool band that had that popular hit 'Crazy' this year and who was playing on Friday afternoon... so I suppose I need to thank that band :)
Anyways... Pam was in Johnson City for a field trip, so she didn't get into town until around 6pm... and we immediately headed for downtown to catch the shuttle to Zilker Park because there's no parking on site. Anyways, after we finally found a parking sopt in a garage (paid 5 bucks), we winded (literally) our way through the zigzags of walkways for a looooooong time until we finally got on the bus... of course, we thought that was long until we were going home... at which time we walked for at least a mile of zigzag path (for like 45 minutes) until we got on the bus! One thing we can say for sure, we got enough exercise just walking in line to get on the busses!
Anyways... the people at the shuttle stop gave us a glimpse of how crowdy this Festival was going to be... when we got there... there was a sea of people... I can't really tell how many people were there... but my gauge was... it seemed like there were more people there than a typical Aggie Football game... which means there's gotta be 80,000 to 100,000 people there!
Well, before we got there, I had checked out some of the bands online to see whom I wanted to see... but by the time we got there, it was like well after 7pm... which means we are left with the headliners... which was a pretty good collection itself... start with Ray Lamantagne, Los Lonely Boys, John Mayer, and Van Morrison... well, we quickly discovered that even though the bands aren't playing at the same time, we couldn't really see all the bands because there are way too many people there to move around, and if you want to get a good seat, you better be there waaaaay early than the start time... so we decided to listen to Ray Lamantagne and Van Morrison... as much as we love John Mayer, we've seen him in concert before... and well, Los Lonely Boys isn't one of our favorites... but they aren't bad. We ended up hearing the songs anyways as we waited in line for food, which took half an hour! The food was delicious as we got some chopped beef sandwich from Salt Lick! There were a lot of good food that we couldn't get to though!
After we ate, we just sat there and listened to Ray Lamantagne play... it was great to just soak in the atmosphere... and people watch... it's a crazy sight... all these people... mostly of crowd between 20-30 or even 40's... but once in a while you see older crowds, some even with their children. Most of the folks are in summer outfits (it was hot that day)... and you can tell who has been there all day by the sunburned skin... and there was definitely a lot of skin we didn't care to see - people were hot and so they would either be shirtless (guys only), or the ladies have their shirt-tail tied up, or tugged under the bra, or whatever... anyways... interesting to say the least!
We then moved ourselves to the stage where Van Morrison was going to play... it was still a long way before the show would start, but we could barely move! We finally found a spot sorta dead center, about middle of the pack from the front... but then the guys in front of us started smoking... so we decided to move... and boy, that was not easy... we were basically surrounded by lawn chairs and people in blankets on the ground that we had to say 'excuse us' about 100 times (and hop over heads and legs) before we finally got to some opening in the back... then we just decided to stay there. Van Morrison put on a good show... I wonder how old he is... must be pretty old, but he still has 'it'!
Well, we didn't want to stay til the end to fight with the crowd to leave the park, so we started walking toward the exit a little after 9pm (he was supposed to play til 10)... on the way out we passed through John Mayer's stage, so we just kinda stood there for a little while... oh, he needs a hair cut! And speaking of which, this morning at Doctor's office I found out he was dating Jessica Simpson? Didn't know that... but at work my co-worker told me John actually ditched Jessica Simpson... hmm... I am definitely way behind on the celebrity lives!
Anyways... we exited the park with John Mayer in the back ground... well, not exactly background because the music is loud! In fact, we continued to hear his songs as we walked for 40 minutes in the line to get on the bus, so that wasn't too bad!
My low budget review for ACL Music Festival for a newbie: It's worth the money if you are there all day... it's a shame we couldn't be there earlier... if I were to go again though, I would get the 3-day pass, and I would take Friday off so I can get there as early as I could! As for quality of music... obviously there are always gonna be top-notch artists there, but unless you wait in the front at least an hour before the show, you won't get good seats... granted it's a good show no matter where you sit, but since several stages are going at the same time, you will not get the best concert compared to going to a concert exclusively made for the said artist. With that said, the atmosphere is what you go for... and it was definitely wonderful... The crowd was wild... and waaaaay to many people for my taste... but it's one of those things that you just have to try it to know it :) And... next time, we are riding our bicycles there!
So, my schedule works in favor of going to it, but the problem was, I didn't have any ticket! I suppose normal people got their tickets months ago... not two days before the festival starts... anyways... I checked the website... seems like I still had some hope... so I got really excited... but by the time I checked with Pam and went back to the website, they were sold out! Luckily, Louise came to the rescue! I casually asked her about the Festival and she volunteered to help me find some tickets, and boy did she do a wonderful job! She got us a pair of tickets, for free! For your information, you can get a 3-day pass between 90-110 bucks...while single-day tickets ran about $55 plus $8 service fee... yeh... we got the Friday (single-day) for free! Hooray!
By the way, Louise didn't quite know the person who gave her the tickets for free... so I didn't press on.... I am curious though, because the envelope that the tickets came with had the name 'Gnarls Barkely', who happens to be a pretty cool band that had that popular hit 'Crazy' this year and who was playing on Friday afternoon... so I suppose I need to thank that band :)
Anyways... Pam was in Johnson City for a field trip, so she didn't get into town until around 6pm... and we immediately headed for downtown to catch the shuttle to Zilker Park because there's no parking on site. Anyways, after we finally found a parking sopt in a garage (paid 5 bucks), we winded (literally) our way through the zigzags of walkways for a looooooong time until we finally got on the bus... of course, we thought that was long until we were going home... at which time we walked for at least a mile of zigzag path (for like 45 minutes) until we got on the bus! One thing we can say for sure, we got enough exercise just walking in line to get on the busses!
Anyways... the people at the shuttle stop gave us a glimpse of how crowdy this Festival was going to be... when we got there... there was a sea of people... I can't really tell how many people were there... but my gauge was... it seemed like there were more people there than a typical Aggie Football game... which means there's gotta be 80,000 to 100,000 people there!
Well, before we got there, I had checked out some of the bands online to see whom I wanted to see... but by the time we got there, it was like well after 7pm... which means we are left with the headliners... which was a pretty good collection itself... start with Ray Lamantagne, Los Lonely Boys, John Mayer, and Van Morrison... well, we quickly discovered that even though the bands aren't playing at the same time, we couldn't really see all the bands because there are way too many people there to move around, and if you want to get a good seat, you better be there waaaaay early than the start time... so we decided to listen to Ray Lamantagne and Van Morrison... as much as we love John Mayer, we've seen him in concert before... and well, Los Lonely Boys isn't one of our favorites... but they aren't bad. We ended up hearing the songs anyways as we waited in line for food, which took half an hour! The food was delicious as we got some chopped beef sandwich from Salt Lick! There were a lot of good food that we couldn't get to though!
After we ate, we just sat there and listened to Ray Lamantagne play... it was great to just soak in the atmosphere... and people watch... it's a crazy sight... all these people... mostly of crowd between 20-30 or even 40's... but once in a while you see older crowds, some even with their children. Most of the folks are in summer outfits (it was hot that day)... and you can tell who has been there all day by the sunburned skin... and there was definitely a lot of skin we didn't care to see - people were hot and so they would either be shirtless (guys only), or the ladies have their shirt-tail tied up, or tugged under the bra, or whatever... anyways... interesting to say the least!
We then moved ourselves to the stage where Van Morrison was going to play... it was still a long way before the show would start, but we could barely move! We finally found a spot sorta dead center, about middle of the pack from the front... but then the guys in front of us started smoking... so we decided to move... and boy, that was not easy... we were basically surrounded by lawn chairs and people in blankets on the ground that we had to say 'excuse us' about 100 times (and hop over heads and legs) before we finally got to some opening in the back... then we just decided to stay there. Van Morrison put on a good show... I wonder how old he is... must be pretty old, but he still has 'it'!
Well, we didn't want to stay til the end to fight with the crowd to leave the park, so we started walking toward the exit a little after 9pm (he was supposed to play til 10)... on the way out we passed through John Mayer's stage, so we just kinda stood there for a little while... oh, he needs a hair cut! And speaking of which, this morning at Doctor's office I found out he was dating Jessica Simpson? Didn't know that... but at work my co-worker told me John actually ditched Jessica Simpson... hmm... I am definitely way behind on the celebrity lives!
Anyways... we exited the park with John Mayer in the back ground... well, not exactly background because the music is loud! In fact, we continued to hear his songs as we walked for 40 minutes in the line to get on the bus, so that wasn't too bad!
My low budget review for ACL Music Festival for a newbie: It's worth the money if you are there all day... it's a shame we couldn't be there earlier... if I were to go again though, I would get the 3-day pass, and I would take Friday off so I can get there as early as I could! As for quality of music... obviously there are always gonna be top-notch artists there, but unless you wait in the front at least an hour before the show, you won't get good seats... granted it's a good show no matter where you sit, but since several stages are going at the same time, you will not get the best concert compared to going to a concert exclusively made for the said artist. With that said, the atmosphere is what you go for... and it was definitely wonderful... The crowd was wild... and waaaaay to many people for my taste... but it's one of those things that you just have to try it to know it :) And... next time, we are riding our bicycles there!