FT5: 5 Things From ACL 2010
So it’s time to wrap up our ACL festival coverage finally and I thought a great way to do that would be too look at my favorite things from the weekend. Now we’ve already posted our thoughts on the best bands from the weekend so I’ll stay away from repeating myself about my favorite acts. I would however like to touch on a couple things I noticed this year that really stood out as good moves on the part of festival planners and promoters. You might even see a knock or two about how said things could be made even better… Follow the jump for full list.
5. New Food/Drink Choices
Upon arriving to the festival bright and early around noon on Friday, I decided to celebrate my 9th ACL with a tasty brew amongst friends. Now normally I’d have to settle for some gross Bud Light or Heineken, so imagine my surprise when I see that Imperial is one of my choices! From that point on, that sweet Costa Rican nectar became my beer of choice throughout the whole weekend. While I didn’t partake of any myself, I was also excited to see sweet new food items this year like Torchy’s Tacos, Galaxy Café, and non-alcoholic drinks from Maine Root. From what I hear, the Torchy’s Tacos were outtasite. I’ll also give a round of applause to festival planners for their green choice in water containers which also worked real well as easy to conceal flasks… just sayin’.
4. Something for everyone
While I may not be in to Texas Country or house DJs, I’ve always appreciated this festival catering to all tastes of music better than any other. I won’t hate on you Pat Green or Robert Earl Keen, but I’m fine if people are into your style. Creating a lineup with different genres of music also helps aide in smaller crowds for that new blogger band you’ve been wanting to check out for the last 6 months. And who doesn’t secretly want to see a fight between the 70 year old man posting up in his chair for The Eagles and the high school kid wearing a pink bandana in the “pit” for Vampire Weekend.
3. No Huge Lines
Based on the massive crowds of Friday, festival promoters obviously oversold large amounts of tickets whether they want to admit it or not. That being said, I felt like the lines for beer and bathrooms stayed really short this year. Sure you had to climb over a sea of people to get there, but did you ever feel like you waited an obscene amount of time for beverages or pee times? I was pretty amazed by the amount of people behind the bar rushing around trying to keep the lines as short as possible this year. Most every time I just walked right up to a bartender and didn’t have to wait behind a single person. Can anyone comment on the food lines?
2. The Eagles
WHAAAAAAAATTTT!?!?! A member of the ATH writing staff is putting some old tired out band in their top 5 list!?! Hear me out people. I’ll quiet your fears by saying that I do not dig the Eagles tunes and I also did not in fact stay for their festival closing set on Sunday. So why are they here you ask? I dropped these boys in this spot after wandering over to the Budweiser stage on Sunday for a 2:30 set by Portugal. The Man. My friend and I immediately regretted that decision when we saw the huge sea of old hippie types on their homemade quilts and massive chair circles. When we returned to the opposite side of the festival (AMD/Honda stage side) we were relieved to see much smaller crowds and significantly less chair monster people. This helped me post up super close for later sets by Yeasayer, Flaming Lips, and that sweet closing set by The National. So ACL promoters and planners, please continue to book huge bands that I don’t give two shits about so the huge crowds can be on the opposite side of the festival from me. I’m selfish.
1. Weather
I think everyone would agree with me when I say that this weekend had to be the best weather we’ve ever had for a festival weekend in 9 years. Gone were the brash heat waves of those August festivals. Gone also were the rampant dust storms of years past. Better yet, gone was that horrendous rain from last year. I live in Texas for those 80 degree days in the sun so days like that filled with sweet jams make it even better. Hell at night some of us broke out long sleeves because it even got a tad chilly (for Texans anyway). Bottom line, the weather was INCREDIBLE. So I ask you festival promoters, why in God’s name are you moving this thing back to mid-September? Was it just too perfect this year? Maybe the lack of excruciating heat cut back on the money from beer sales?
So that’s a wrap. Feel free to drop me a comment with your thoughts. And for further reading on why C3 has moved the festival a month back next year, see this Austin 360 article. I call B.S. Make money money.
I saw The Eagles and said, “whhhaaaaaaaa???” So it would good to read through it and realize it’s placement. It’s getting bigger and bigger each year, so at least there are still good surprises to counter act the crap.