(Sure ACL was a couple of months ago but better late than never!)
Never again. Well, not unless Thom Yorke and company are there. Never again will I attend Austin City Limits and maybe my boycott will extend to all music festivals. I haven’t decided yet. It’s not that I didn’t have a “good time”. I have just come to the conclusion that I would rather spend the $160 I spent on a 3 day pass (This is not including the cost of food. $3 for a coke? I think I’ll pass) on individual shows. It really boils down to the fact that I simply don’t enjoy the music festival atmosphere/experience. Your day consists of running from stage to stage in attempt to see as many of the bands you WANT to see as you can, while hopefully securing a spot close enough to where you can distinguish band member from equipment. All the while you are surrounded by 15 year olds who are either drunk or high or both and who, by the way they are dressed, are apparently under the impression that they are hippies. They probably don’t even know what a hippie is or should I say was. By the end of the day, if you managed not pass out from the heat, your feet are covered in calluses and you find that you have never been in area with such a high concentration of douche bags, because I’ll tell you this right now: All the cool hip people who really care about music are smart enough not to go to these things. They, my friend, are at the after shows. The ACL crowd DOES enjoy the atmosphere. I’m sure half those people would go to ACL if the headliner was Hannah Montana.
I don’t regret my decision to go to ACL. I met The MARS VOLTA for heaven’s sake. It took a lot of determination and let’s be honest luck. The tour bus was conveniently located by one of the exits. This brings me to another one of my points in the case for shows over festivals. At shows not only are you more likely to be front and center, but meeting the band is much more likely. One more thing worth noting, I personally don’t find a performance enjoyable unless I am fairly close to the stage and have room for dancing. At ACL, Beck was a raisin from my point of view and I was a sardine amongst all those people. Come next year or any year for that matter, don’t expect to find me in that sardine can unless Radiohead is performing exclusively there. I only really went this year to see my main men Omar and Cedric anyway.
(I saw some awesome artists but I missed twice as many. That’s the cruelty of festivals, knowing that yards away from you is a band that under normal circumstances you would give you sister’s right arm to see. It’s pick and choose mates. Here’s a list of bands that where on the line up but do to the fact that I didn’t see them I have decided they were never in Austin to begin with.Hot Chip, The Swell Season, Jenny Lewis, Yeasayer, Manu Chao, Iron and Wine, The Raconteurs, Okkervil River, Band of Horses, and the list sadly goes on.)
I don’t regret my decision to go to ACL. I met The MARS VOLTA for heaven’s sake. It took a lot of determination and let’s be honest luck. The tour bus was conveniently located by one of the exits. This brings me to another one of my points in the case for shows over festivals. At shows not only are you more likely to be front and center, but meeting the band is much more likely. One more thing worth noting, I personally don’t find a performance enjoyable unless I am fairly close to the stage and have room for dancing. At ACL, Beck was a raisin from my point of view and I was a sardine amongst all those people. Come next year or any year for that matter, don’t expect to find me in that sardine can unless Radiohead is performing exclusively there. I only really went this year to see my main men Omar and Cedric anyway.
(I saw some awesome artists but I missed twice as many. That’s the cruelty of festivals, knowing that yards away from you is a band that under normal circumstances you would give you sister’s right arm to see. It’s pick and choose mates. Here’s a list of bands that where on the line up but do to the fact that I didn’t see them I have decided they were never in Austin to begin with.Hot Chip, The Swell Season, Jenny Lewis, Yeasayer, Manu Chao, Iron and Wine, The Raconteurs, Okkervil River, Band of Horses, and the list sadly goes on.)
-Y
Photo: Best Friends-Me, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, and Diane
Oh hot damn!
ReplyDeleteYou didn't see Hot Chip, The Raconteurs, IRON AND WINE?!?
160 for 3 days? That's amazing!
Well dang. Maybe I shouldn't shell out what I wanted to for ACL. Really, my only reasoning was that I would somehow get into the after shows... and it seems that doesn't happen often.
poop!