Austin City Limits Music Festival Recap

Austin City Limits Music Festival, my absolute favorite yearly event is back! After navigating our “new normal” and refraining from spending time in large crowds, I cannot begin to explain the joy and excitement in my heart to have been able to attend a music festival again. It was truly like a breath of fresh air, and acted as a moment where all this chaos the world has been enduring didn’t exist. I have been going to ACL since 2013 and only missed one year between then and now, with the exception of the 2020 festival that got canceled, so I like to refer to myself as an avid ACL festival attendee. That being said, let’s dig into the recap!

Friday, October 8, 2021

The first day of the festival is always the most exciting of the three days, and boy did it live up to the hype. At first I was a bit concerned about the policies put in place due to COVID-19 slowing down the security process but surprisingly, it didn’t really create too much trouble with entering the festival. I have also learned over the years that it is best to get to the festival a couple of hours before the first show you want to see on that first day to give yourself time to get the lay of the land and get all of your merch booth purchases out of the way.

The first show of the day for us was the Best of ATX Drag Show. I was absolutely thrilled that ACL had a drag show because over the pandemic, I have become a massive fan of drag queens. Plus, this was actually the first time drag has ever been an event at ACL so it was fun to be a part of it. The show was exciting and fun, and made even better by the audience having so much energy. We also were at a smaller stage so no matter what, you had a good view and could enjoy the show. It was also nice to see local drag performers since I am someone who is a newer drag fan.

The next show we attended was Leann Rimes. I have always been a fan of Leann Rimes and was really happy to see that she made the lineup because I hadn’t really had any other chances to see her perform. She sounded wonderful and had such a positive vibe. She shared anecdotes to many of her songs and even performed a good cover or two. After Leann, we headed to the Megan Thee Stallion show. Honestly, Megan Thee Stallion was one of my favorite performances of the whole weekend! She was so fun and just radiated a party-like energy, while proving what a genuine person she is. She brought many audience members on stage to dance around and even the people in the audience were a blast. It felt like being at a giant house party just dancing around to fun music. Megan Thee Stallion is an awesome performer as well and while at times it seemed a bit chaotic, it was such a blast. I literally was telling my husband after her show “oh my gosh, Megan Thee Stallion is just so cool, I love her!” If you have the chance to see her, highly recommend. Also, that woman can DANCE!

After Megan, we waited for Erykah Badu’s show to start. I had been really excited to see her because I have never been to a performance similar to her genre before and she is truly such an icon. Unfortunately she was about 20 minutes late so I didn’t get to see too much of her set since we also had to head across the park early for the headliner, however, the portion I did get to see was phenomenal. Erykah Badu’s stage presence and energy is so fun and chill and she appeared on the stage with her iconic hat and fringe coat of many colors. Everyone in the audience was on the same wavelength and just vibing along to her music and enjoying life. After we enjoyed a few of her songs we started to head to the other side of the park for George Strait. Now let me tell you, it was truly a tough decision to have to choose between Miley Cyrus and George Strait. I totally believe that either one would have been a great choice, but we ended up going with George. I have actually seen both George Strait and Miley Cyrus in concert before but my husband is a big George fan and had never seen him. Plus, it is also easy to rationalize that I will likely have plenty of other opportunities to see Miley.

Once George Strait stepped on that stage, the whole energy of the crowd was on cloud nine. He has such a charm to him and you can’t help but grin from ear to ear when you see him. There was a very large crowd so we weren’t too close but we had a decent view and plenty of room to dance around. Of course when you have been in the game as long as him, you know how to work a crowd and he really did. He played songs for all ages and gave everyone a bit of what they came there to hear. I got to two-step to “Amarillo By Morning” with my husband at my favorite festival and I was over the moon. The audience was so fun and everyone was so kind and just happy to be there. I will say, very few things can make a native Texan’s heart swell with pride like seeing the King of Country Music perform in our state’s capitol. Something I also enjoyed about his performance is whenever he played “Troubadour”, the screens showed old photos of his entire music career. It was so cool to see photos of him I had never seen before and to have a chance to truly take in what an insane contribution he has made to country music. Once his set ended the crowd immediately started chanting for an encore and he really gave it to us with the first song of the encore being “All My Exes Live in Texas.” I am telling you, I have never seen so many people erupt in excitement like the moment the audience did when he played “All My Exes Live in Texas.” Everyone was dancing, singing, and pretty much shouting the lyrics. It was such a fun performance and experience as an audience member. It felt as if we were all just celebrating good country music together.

Saturday, October 9, 2021

Although we were feeling a bit tired from the exciting day before, I entered into day 2 of the festival with excitement and eagerness for what the day held. Upon arrival, we got to catch the majority of Surfaces’ performance and I was so happy we made it in time. Before the festival, I was reading Reddit posts from people who attended weekend 1 and many people said that Surfaces was a show to see and they were right! Surfaces had such a fun and upbeat energy, which definitely helped pull me out of my exhaustion from the night before. The energy of the crowd was so carefree and happy so it was honestly a very enjoyable show. After Surfaces, we headed over to see an artist who I have actually seen recently but have become such a huge fan of that I had to catch again, Charley Crockett. Charley Crockett is doing great things for country music and I was happy to see that he was playing at ACL. Of course his set was wonderful, but even better, the audience was so fun and diverse. I saw so many people who I would never expect to be a fan of country music singing along and cheering on Charley Crockett.

After Charley Crockett, we headed over to catch Phoebe Bridgers’ show. I have actually been a day one Phoebe fan back when she literally had only one song on Spotify. I also saw her at Antone’s in Austin a few years back when tickets to her show only cost $15, so it was so rewarding to see her success and the huge crowd she drew. I will say, based on the type of music Phoebe sings, I don’t think a music festival is the best setting to get the full Phoebe Bridgers experience, but it was still enjoyable. There was a bit of controversy with her going over her set time limit to the point where the festival cut off her sound in the middle of her last song and she got pretty upset. Her band continued to play without sound a bit but eventually stormed off stage. And while I do feel for Phoebe and her frustration with wanting to finish her song, I do know that it isn’t anything personal to her and that the festival has to stick to a strict schedule and her band was surely told the time they had to work with ahead of time. Plus, I have witnessed that happen to many other bands and it causes problems with the next performer because they cannot start until the one before stops. I do think that the incident was blown a bit out of proportion but then again, I am no expert on the types of contracts and schedules they have set up.

After Phoebe, we had a chance to grab a bit to eat and chill for a bit while we waited for Doja Cat. I was really excited to see Doja Cat because I have heard many people say she is an excellent performer. For someone who wasn’t a headliner, she drew a huge crowd. Doja’s performance was an absolute blast to watch. Not only is she herself just fun and gorgeous, but her whole dance crew was on point. The choreography was so clean and exciting to see. Not only could the dancers dance well, but Doja Cat herself is an insane dancer. She interacted with the crowd and showed a bit of her fun personality through her performance. I also was surprised at how unique her sound was. Of course she is known for more of a hip hop or pop sound, but she even gave us some rock sounds as well as rapped the hell out of some songs. Seeing Doja perform was so enjoyable because she truly is very talented and you never knew what she was going to do next. If she wasn’t keeping you moving with her music, her dancers had you mesmerized. I highly recommend catching a Doja Cat show if you get the chance.

After Doja Cat’s performance, we waited for the headliner of the evening, Billie Eilish. I have also been a fan of Billie’s for a while and have been so fascinated with her rise to stardom. To be such an international phenomenon at such a young age is so crazy and I feel like she truly blew up. I was not surprised at all, but Billie drew an absolutely massive crowd. I’m talking, that thing stretched so far back I didn’t think we would ever get out of it when we were leaving. She was so fun to see and she exudes such confidence while on stage that you couldn’t help but be excited to be there. She used fun lights and graphics to go along with the various beats that make you want to move your body. Since the crowd was so large, when she would perform, it was as if the whole entire park was singing along with her. And although I was so engulfed in her performance, we did decide to leave about 30 minutes early to beat the insane crowd. Like most ACL weekends, the Saturday is always the most crowded day so it just made sense for us, especially after I got to hear her perform my favorite song of hers, “When The Party’s Over.” Since we did leave early, we missed the part where she got up in this metal bucket-like thing and performed over the crowd. All in all, her performance was such a fun time and it was truthfully an honor to experience a Billie Eilish performance after the way she has become such a star over the last few years.

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Now I will be honest, come day 3, my body was feeling the toll that the long days of walking in the Texas heat had taken on my body. After a pandemic and not attending an ACL weekend since 2018, I was certainly reminded that not only am I not in shape at all, but that I am in my LATE 20s and not the spring chicken I was when I initially started attending ACL. That being said, my husband and I were draggin’ that Sunday morning. Lucky for us, we had a shorter day for the last day of the festival because I was not really too interested in seeing either of the headliners for Sunday. Absolutely no shade to them, I just have not gotten into either of their music so I decided I was okay to miss out. However, Stevie Nicks was originally going to be the Sunday headliner and she was truly who I was most excited to see at the whole festival so you can imagine my heartbreak when she announced she had backed out of all her festival appearances for the rest of the year. Of course I understand her caution at her age, but if you have read any of my other articles, you would know I am a Stevie Nicks super fan so that news was hard to take. I will say, I wasn’t the only one heartbroken about Stevie’s decision because I ran into other likeminded individuals:

So the first show we caught on Sunday was Cam. Now I have known who Cam is for a while and really love her song “Burning House,” but I hadn’t really given the rest of her work much attention. When I saw her name on the line up I thought to myself that it would be interesting to hear the rest of her work and catch a performance of a song I really enjoy, but it turned out to be much more than that. Her show was great! It was perfect for an easy Sunday afternoon and she truly is such a light that she instantly puts you in a good mood. I also was so pleased to hear her voice live because her vocals are fantastic. She shared little anecdotes with us and gave song writing credit to those who she had written with which included a selection of many wonderful songwriters such as Lori McKenna, Jack Antonoff, and Harry Styles. She had such positive and uplifting vibes that it made for a perfect first show of the day. She even covered “Zombie” by The Cranberries and she blew me away with that performance. I didn’t expect such an intense performance to come out of her but she really showed us the range and talent she is capable of. I left her show a bigger fan of hers than I was before.

After Cam we headed over to catch the Band of Horses show. I have been at other festivals where Band of Horses played at, but never had a chance to see them because they always played at the same time as someone I was dying to see so I was thrilled to finally have the chance to see them perform. Of course, they met every expectation and delivered a great performance. Their performance of their song “Funeral” was electrifying with the entire audience standing up and singing together. It felt like such a unifying experience. As much as I enjoyed Band of Horses, I was also anxiously awaiting Greta Van Fleet’s performance. I have not only been a Greta Van Fleet fan for a few years now, but I have also been a Greta Van Fleet defender as well. You can read more about the controversy surrounding them and their sound on a previous blog post of mine, here. Greta Van Fleet was one of my most anticipated performances of the festival and the show I chose to be the perfect ending to my ACL weekend. Although the crowd for their show was pretty large, we ended up in a pretty good spot for the show. The moment they came on stage, I was overcome with exhilaration. I had heard from many people that they were a show to see but holy shit, I did not expect them to rock that hard. They were absolutely in synch and you could just tell they were having a blast up there together enjoying the moment. The lead singer, Josh, absolutely killed it on vocals and he was better in person than I expected. The audience was also a delight because everyone there was just happy to be rocking out and appreciating good rock music with a throw back sound. Their performance was definitely one of my favorites and I would 100% buy tickets to see them on tour so I cold have a chance to experience a longer set of theirs. Definitely recommend!

After the Greta Van Fleet show, we made our way towards the exit and called it a wrap on the music festival. I always feel a bit blue after music festivals because after three days of constant live music, fun people, and just an abundance of positive energy, it is hard to go back to normal life after a weekend like that. I will say, after not having the opportunity to attend a music festival in so long, you could tell it really made those of us in attendance very grateful to be experiencing that moment. Usually at ACL, or any concert that is, there will be a few people who are just rude or inconsiderate, but not this time. There was truly such a positive energy surrounding the whole park and the people were so fun and friendly. The fashion, the food, the freedom to just be yourself was at 100% and no one seemed to be judging or disrespectful.

As for the performances, I would say my top three favorites (in no order) were George Strait, Megan Thee Stallion, and Greta Van Fleet. Of course I loved so many more shows but I will give those the top three spot. I had a chance to see old favorites, see performers experience success after following them from day one, and even come across performances that left me surprised and a bigger fan than before. All of this to be said, Austin City Limits was a delightful weekend filled with everything I had been missing during this pandemic and I am looking forward to the next. Let’s just hope miss Stevie Nicks is a shoo-in for 2022 since she was supposed to be there this year, fingers crossed!