Afraid of the commitment that comes with a three-day wristband? You can catch many of your favorite band coming to Austin for ACL in October in the days between the first day of WE1 to the last day WE2 at venues around town thanks to ACL Fest Nights. Highlights for me include The Walkmen 10/7 and the The Breeders 10/13 at Stubb’s and Yves Tumor at Scoot Inn 10/7.
Check out the list off to the side here and then get your clicking fingers ready for Thursday morning at 10am when tickets go on sale.
Austin City Limits Festival has announced the 2023 lineup. To be honest, I’m down for weekend one. Sure, the headliners are not the ATH cup of tea, but there are real heavy hitters in the middle lineup. I mean Bass Drum of Death, Chromeo, The Walkmen and The Mars Volta? At ACL? OK. Talking my language. In general, we get Death Grips, Poolside, The Breeders, Yves Tumor and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Weekend Two highlights M83 and Tegan and Sara.
Wristbands are on sale in a couple of hours, but AMEX card holders get early access. CLICK HERE to learn more and shout out to ACL for finally putting the real price of the wristband on the storefront, no more fees and delivery and surcharges at checkout.
We know ACL may not always be our cup of tea top to bottom, lineups drifting towards tiktok stars and Youtube trends in recent year. That does not mean you won’t be void of awesome goodness and refreshing moments of zen along with a big dose of nostalgia to come over the top and sneak up on you having a good time. Here comes a list of things you should consider if you happen to find yourself with a wristband for Austin City Limits 2022 Weekend One.
Nation of Language – Friday 1pm @ Miller Lite – First thing I will see, they might be my favorite band on the lineup. This duo, now fully fleshed out as a four piece, bring together so much of what I love about synth pop and 80’s wave hits. Songs sometimes build, sometimes simmer darkly, but their set at Levitation last year was so good.
Genesis Owusu – Friday 4pm @ Tito’s – I make it a point to hit the tent midday at some point to see something I wouldn’t normally pursue. Owusu blends elements of R&B, hip-hop, disco slow jams and straight up hype jams. I’m curious. Check out “Whip Cracker” and try to categorize.
Big Boi – Saturday 6:15 @ Honda – Big glasses, bounce.
The War on Drugs – Saturday @ T-Mobile 7:15 – These songs want wide open spaces to expand out towards, find a spot out by the chair line, reflect on the days events. This stage tends to deliver in the later hours somewhat isolated from the crossover of noise as Diplo floods the hill at Miller Lite.
Dehd – Sunday 1:15 @ T-Mobile – A tight trio delivering well-crafted lo-fi pop songs locked down with underlying synths and an ever present catchy chorus. The only bummer is that locals Darkbird and Caleb de Casper are at the same time. That would have been a nice one-two-three punch, but I am going to take Dehd this round.
Buffalo Nichols – Sunday 1:45 @ Tito’s – Carl “Buffalo” Nichols did some moving, both geographically and musically. Where it has landed him is Austin, trying to rebuild the foundation of the blues, a noble effort to connect the history of the music to a new generation. #tenttheory
MUNA – Sunday 3pm @ Barton Springs – Buzz
Spoon – Sunday 4pm @ Honda – Why not?
ZHU – Sunday 7pm @ Miller Lite – Who knows how this will go, but there are some really strong deep house jams by Zhu lately, so go check it out, get your shimmy on and I’ll report back for next weekend.
Here’s a fancy playlist with some of these artists and more —-
Looking back, no matter how upset we were, cancelling SXSW prevented a potential super spreader event. Now, because of the failed attempt at reopening, we have to continue waiting for life to resume normalcy as other countries start to allow venues and festivals to resume operations. ACL made the right decision. We’ll see you on the lawn next year.
Happy ACL day to all! Many of you are probably heading out the door soon for the first day of weekend one, but before you do, I’ve got another Gimme 5 playlist to jump start your morning. I’m very excited about this one because it comes from a personal favorite of mine, punk rockers FIDLAR. And hey, they play today! So hit the jump for some tunes hand picked by the band.
Austin City Limits Festival has decided to hold on to the momentum established last year making some bold choices for artists from top to bottom. Guns and Roses are the truly random selection that will be either a spectacle or a spectacle; I’m hoping for the best, but the random thing would be seeing “Live Or Let Die” two years in a row with fireworks. Other artists we will be locked in on – The Cure, Idles, Tame Impala, Thom Yorke Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, The Raconteurs, FIDLAR, Cherry Glazerr, Men I Trust and randoms.
Admittedly, all the huge buzz leaks out as all the kids party on Weekend One, so attending Weekend Two for the first time, I was curious as to whether or not it could keep the same vibe from its predecessor. Surprisingly, the fest didn’t seem to miss a beat.
We have photos from around the grounds, randoms and portraits, friends and colleagues, bootlickers and signs. We also have plenty of notes rehashing last week’s favorites and highlighting the changes, so read on for highlights.
The Final round from the photo pit, but first a love letter…
Hopefully, you know the feeling you get when you are on a good team, when all types of different people come together and get things done. Now, my fellow Austin music photographers weren’t shooting for the same outlet. In fact, we mostly compete for your views, but the reality is that each in the group takes care of the other. Whether it is an extra water, pepto tabs, pickle run or a spare memory card, it makes festival life awesome. Truly talented and happy to have them as colleagues and, more importantly, friends. When the Sound on Sound announcement landed, we were crushed, not just for the organizers, but also to lose that chance to just be together all doing what we love.
…and bitching about something the whole way.
Today’s gallery features Deap Vally, Melat, Middle Kids, Charlotte Cardin, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Whitney, Caitlyn Smith, DRAM, First Aid Kit, Run The Jewels, Portugal. The Man and Gorillaz.
I got photo coverage started with a little gallery in our ACL Weekend One Recap. For me, Weekend One was all about the head down grind of chasing photos. Modern problems, I know, but it is hustling from pit to pit, sweating, lining up to make sure you gain access, attempting to keep everything clean enough and not have dirt ruin “the shot” and not having a panic attack knowing you have three songs to get it all right. It is a strange way to take in a music festival, often oblivious to the actual music as sensory depravation takes over and you enter a tunnel through the viewfinder.
…and loving every minute of it.
The Friday edition includes The Wild Now, Methyl Ethel, (Sandy) Alex G, The Aces, Hamilton Leithauser, Mutemath, Crystal Castles, Lukas Nelson, Bonobo and The XX.
Here come some big updates to the festival. Austin City Limits Festival made some rather big layout changes last year and they were warmly received. By moving the Cirrus Logic stage (rock island) away from that central location, a big traffic jam was removed and the addition of wine lounge was a hit for my wife-product.
Those changes have now led to more changes. The park is getting bigger for the first time. The Cirrus Logic stage is going to actually closer to Barton Springs and getting the Barton Springs moniker. The Barton Springs Rd. entrance will now be split, east and west and the Barton Springs stage tucked in between adding acreage to the grounds. Along with this bigger change, the other smaller stages are getting shuffled around a bit in hopes of cutting down sound spillover down and improving sound quality. They are adding another merch area and increasing the Eats in the park. Finally, we have the added Silent Disco in the Tito’s tent that used to sit idle late in the evening and during headliners. If you think the headliners suck, but you have to wait for your friends to share the Uber back to the car, you can dance with fest provided headphones.
Full details (plus platinum band changes $$$) here.
The other big update is the list of Official Late Night Shows. Go peruse the available bands and locales to decide your purchase at 10am on Friday.
Afraid of the commitment that comes with a three-day wristband? You can catch many of your favorite band coming to Austin for ACL in October in the days between the first day of WE1 to the last day WE2 at venues around town thanks to ACL Fest Nights. Highlights for me include The Walkmen 10/7 and the The Breeders 10/13 at Stubb’s and Yves Tumor at Scoot Inn 10/7. 
We know ACL may not always be our cup of tea top to bottom, lineups drifting towards tiktok stars and Youtube trends in recent year. That does not mean you won’t be void of awesome goodness and refreshing moments of zen along with a big dose of nostalgia to come over the top and sneak up on you having a good time. Here comes a list of things you should consider if you happen to find yourself with a wristband for 
