Austin City Limits Music Festival

Having just recovered from the 14^th ACL Music Festival, I suppose it’s time for an update to my review from 2009. A lot has changed since then, but the many important parts remain the same:
— People who are open to new bands/​sounds have the most fun at this event. Try out the smaller stages!
— Yep, it’s gonna be hot & dusty (even with the better grass & later dates); plan to find shade at strategic points in the day, and take good care of your sinuses each night.
— Yep, the food lines are going to be long late in the day, so eat early and try to pack emergency snacks (knowing that these may be confiscated at the gate).
— Yep, parking is a challenge, so make other arrangements to get here.
Read Heather F’s comprehensive review for some other great tips. Read Karol M’s review for a warning about some of the negatives.
For the past few years, I was fortunate to enjoy VIP passes to this festival and I figured it would ruin me forever (Unlimited Titos! Clean bathrooms with AC! No lines!), but I was pleasantly surprised with my general admission 3-​day pass experience in 2015. Based on that, here’s my best advice to keep annoyance down and enjoyment high, especially if you’re old and light on patience:
— Plan to arrive early. Gates open at 11am and the first band usually starts around 11:30. The early birds have the easiest time parking, get to experience the park before it’s trashed, have their pick of souvenirs, and get to try any or all of the food options (and everything else) when there are no lines. Our tradition is to always be there when the Star Wars theme music signals the gates opening, get some lunch in the shade, and then proceed directly to Asleep at the Wheel (or whoever is opening that day). The earliest sets offer opportunity to be front & center (even at the big stages) without being crushed, an almost intimate experience with the performance that becomes rare as the day goes on.
— Pack light. The less stuff you have, the easier it is to get into the park and the less hassle it is to move around when things get tight later on. My oldie essentials: ultralight (less than 1 lb) collapsible chair by Alite (fits in my daypack); thin sari for shade, sitting, flag waving, warmth, or many other uses; bandana (ditto); tiny umbrella (for shade, sometimes rain); big collapsible hat; collapsible Shark Skin water flask; nutrient dense snacks in hideable packages; beer can koozie; and travel sized versions of the usual health & safety comforts like lotion sunscreen, lip balm, baby wipes, tissues, hand sanitizer, eye drops, pain relievers, etc. This year, I even packed a large ziploc with a swimsuit & microfiber towel for a quick cool-​off dip in Barton Springs, but my small daypack was still super light and never felt like a burden even after 3 days.
— Observe the sweet spots and utilize them. After many years of experience at this event, I’ve come to learn the flow of day (which is a bit different on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), and I avoid the areas likely to be trouble when the park hits peak capacity. For example, you NEVER want to be caught in the space between the Miller Lite and Austin Ventures stages around 5pm on Friday; that space becomes impassible and scary as the latecomers flood into the park AND some great hot band is starting that draws in everyone else from around the park. Sometimes your easiest path is not a direct line from A to B, but a wide arc around the perimeter, usually hugging the Barton Springs side of the park.
— Put your phone away. Enjoy the sights & sounds around you. Rather than using the festival app during the day, I prefer to go old school and use the fold-​up paper schedule & map that they hand out at the Info Booth, as I like to keep these as souvenirs AND paper can’t run out of battery power or bandwidth. Just remember to keep it with you all 3 days. Oh, and pick-​up a free Austin Chronicle on your way toward the park, as it has some nice information about the bands, interviews & whatnot to entertain whenever you’re in a lull.
— Always bring your ID (and one friend if you want wine) to the drink line. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) is forever on the rampage here and the poor 18 year old servers are just following their rules. Even if you were clearly born in the 1970s and have a 21+ years wristband on from the last time they checked your ID, they will still card you, open your beers before you leave the counter, and refuse to sell you a bottle of wine unless there are 2 people with IDs in on the transaction. It’s a pain in the ass, but it’s a Texas law enforcement thing, not a policy the festival has any control over. This aspect makes me long for the freedom of New Orleans Jazz Fest, where they’ll gladly sell you a case of beer and even ice down the box for you, lol.

My tenth year with a 3-​day pass to ACL Fest, so it’s time for an update. The experience, like most of Austin, has changed a lot with the enormous influx of people. This year’s fest sold out all passes for both weekends, and the crowds were uncomfortably huge. Apparently, there really is no limit to how many people you can cram into a park space.
The positive:
* Fairly organized systems for getting people in and out of the grounds
* Everything runs on time
* Food vendors are local, and favorites have added an extra booth or two
* Arts vendors are local, and have interesting wares
* Waterloo Records maintains a store and artist signing tent on site
* The artists they book are, for the most part, interesting, and occasionally, outstanding
* Usually, you will find at least one new act that you love
* Free filtered water! Bring an empty stainless drink bottle to fill up
* October is arguably the best two weeks’ worth of weather in Austin. Arguable only because the other two great weeks happen in the spring during SXSW.
The negative:
* The sheer number of people there often makes it feel like swimming in a public pool without the water, or fighting for a seat on public transportation without actually going anywhere
* No decible limit on EDM shows, so when they’re onstage, you won’t be able to hear any other act
* Not enough security detail, especially at EDM and rap/​hip hop shows, so the crowds are very tight and feature lots of shoving
* And while we’re at it, an entire evening of EDM shows isn’t really variety
* Parking and transportation are a nightmare. Take Über or Lyft or park downtown and ride the shuttle buses. Just don’t plan to stay until the very end, because the lines to board are super long at the end of the night
* Because the festival runs two weekends, unlike most large US festivals, you won’t see major touring acts that might be playing other festivals in the same year. That’s because they can’t really hang around a week for the next show. Touring is expensive.
* More people = more bad behavior. This year, wedged tight in the crowds, two of us narrowly averted bold backpack pickpockets with their hands in the goods (yeah, we were wearing the backpack purses). Several crazed concertgoers plowed through where we were standing or seated, throwing chairs, pushing people, and acting generally unruly
* No smoking rules are tough to enforce, unfortunately, and I’m talking about cigarettes here
* They still do their major ticket sales months before they book or announce the artists. This doesn’t leave them much incentive to go for quality.
So our fun little local festival is now kinda overgrown and bossy for its britches at times. Live music is a lot of the reason we live in Austin, so it’s tough to say we aren’t going anymore. But when going to our home-​grown festival starts to feel like trying to ride a writhing, dusty dragon, it makes you question whether it’s worth it to do the whole three days anymore. You’ll have to decide that for yourself.

This was my first time at ACL and not only did I thoroughly enjoy it but, I also learned a lot of do’s and don’ts.
Samsung was my spirit animal because they really had a bunch of great things in their tent that made the experience better for me. They had a game that everyone was a winner and the prize was free food and I enjoyed the free lockers that also had a charger in them so you could leave your phone and come back to get it. It’s a plus knowing your phone is safe and not having to stand at the portable charging station and wait for it to charge. They had hammocks, virtual glasses simulation, etc.
It’s good to note that this is supposedly non-​smoking but, I think that is open for interpretation apparently. Also, you can go out and re-​enter 3 times but, make sure they scan your band for re-​entry on the way out. Also, have your bags open for them to check but, you can leave your chair in the bag because they just pat it down.
Do:
1. Bring an empty or factory sealed water bottle because they have free filling stations and you will get thirsty
2. Set up your wrist band before you get there and hook it to your bank account to make paying easier for merchandise, food, water, etc.
3. Embrace having to use a portapotty
4. Bring a chair, umbrella, sunscreen and dress in light breathable festival wear
5. Get dropped off or take an Über because parking isn’t only a nightmare but, it will cost you $ 30+ per day.
6. Eat a large meal before you go in because all the fried food isn’t enough to satisfy your hunger.
7. Grab a group because it’s more fun
8. Have a plan and get to the stage a bit earlier to get a good seat
9. Sit towards the back to get out faster for the headliner performances
10. Be adventurous and see a band that you have never heard of and you will be surprised sometimes
11. Grab a fan from anyone trying to give one away
12. Get there early if you want to take your photo in the ACL frame because the line is short and moves quickly while people are sober
13. Park yourself in the shade every now and then to cool down
14. Ditch your shoes and go barefoot; it’s more comfortable
15. Be prepared if you plan on staying all day. Bring everything you could possibly need because you don’t want to have to leave, come back and pay to park again.
Don’t:
1. Do not try to bring a blanket because the crowds for most bands are large and you will get trampled.
2. Don’t be a rude idiot and walk through parts of the crowds pushing people out of the way, stepping on blankets, phones, people or knocking people’s drinks over.
3. Don’t liter; seriously people there are a million garbage cans. Let’s keep our beautiful park clean and beautiful
I was blown away by Walk The Moon, Echosmith, Boom Forest, DeadMau5, Brandon Flowers and Billy Idol. I wasn’t blown away by their headliner line up. The Samsung stage sound quality was so terrible that we left 2 songs into the Foo Fighters because you couldn’t hear the vocals. During the day when they had a band that didn’t have loud instrumentals it was fine but, you think you would want it to be awesome for the headliners too. My favorite stage was the Honda stage.

What a day! Just saw Nate Ruess from Fun and he lets get a selfie! Then Brandon Flowers and of the Foo Fighters rocked the house for two hours straight!!! What a day! We have Platinum passes so it’s even better! Great service. Golf cart rides to each stage and a special section right near the stage. Well worth it.
Still freakin Awesome! Day two… a little band called Twenty One Pilots! Wow is all I can say.

I love ACL and have been going for years. Every year is unique.
I have endured the days of dust, mud and flooding but thought this was the best weekend in recent memory.
Perfect weather, great bands and overall a very friendly crowd especially made it a great weekend.
Can’t wait for next year!

As someone who went to Coachella in the early clusterF&%%& years, and countless shows in my lifetime, and I have to say Austin City Limits is actually one of the better organized music festivals in the country.
Here are some of the pro and cons:
PROS:
–They time it so that two stages in the same vicinity won’t play shows that overlap and drown each other out. What’s cool is that when one show ends, and you’re interested in seeing the band in at the stage close by it literally starts a few minutes later. All you have to do is turn your head/​chair. Well timed and organized.
–Lots of food vendors. They’ve got ice cream, frito pies, bbq, funnel cakes. You name it they have it. Some of the vendor included:
Amy’s Ice Creams
Austin’s Pizza
Chef Love’s Woodshed Smokehouse
Chi’Lantro BBQ
Children Of The Kettle Corn
East Side King
Frank Sausage & Waffle Fries
FREEB!RDS World Burrito
GoodPop
Hat Creek Burger Co.
High Brew Coffee
JuiceLand
Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Austin
Maine Root
MAX’s Wine Dive
Mighty Bird
mmmpanadas
P. Terry’s Burger Stand
Shadtree Fresh Squeezed Lemonade
Snowie
Southside Flying Pizza
Stubb’s Bar-​B-​Q
Tamale Addiction
The Mighty Cone
The Peached Tortilla
The Salt Lick
Tiff’s Treats
Tinos Greek Café
Torchy’s Tacos
–In and out privileges with the wristband passes. There’s lots of neighboring restaurants nearby that you can take advantage of and take a break
–It’s as hot as Hades, and they have an abundance of water (that’s cold) at refill stations with no lines. It’s not like Coachella were I resorted to basically conserving saliva.
–The wristbands can be tied to a credit card and you set a pin, so basically this frees you from carrying a wallet. Although, the drink vendors card.
–Free chair check. Just in case you get tired of carrying them around.
–This is one of the few concerts that was kind of petite person friendly. I’m pretty used to missing on seeing the stage and performers of 90% of all concerts I attend, because anyone over 6’3″ will cut through the crowd and then decide to stop right in front of me. People in Austin are definitely a way more courteous.
–This is the world’s cleanest musical festival. They set up an incentive program where you can get a free tshirt for a bag of trash. People are really eager to pick up trash.
–Tons of free swag. Sunscreen. Hacky sacs. Free rides in electric vehicles. Gift certificates to Toms.
CONS:
–Lines for practically everything, it’s just fact of life. It did suck that we lined up for merchandise and the cashier decided to take a break without telling anyone, and we stood there for over 20 minutes, and the manager didn’t even set in to assist customers, and we could totally see the cashier eating pizza in the back.
–Parking is not close but not that far either. We decided to forego the shuttles (which based on reviews seemed like a good call) and park at the $ 10 lots and walk a country mile over. For this reason you should wear sensible shoes, cause your feet will be hurting on the way back.
–Lots of «smoking’ in the park. I have to be honest, I don’t care, but put that up there cause people seem to complain about that alot.
–It’s hard to leave after the last show due to crowds, I recommend just hanging around.
TIPS:
1.Bring a refillable water bottle.
2.Security thoroughly checks bags, but not the bags you keep your chairs in ;)
3. Speaking of chairs, buy the cheapo $ 5 ones at Walmart so then you’ll be ok with ditching the chairs after a day/​weekend of hauling them around
4. Bring hand sanitizer and toilet paper
5.Bring Sunscreen.
6. Wear comfortable shoes!
7. Bring a sweater, something light, as it can get chilly at night.
8. Have the event map on hand or download the app.
I would definitely return to Austin and this music festival.