Today would have been the beginning of Austin City Limits (weekend2). A fantastic music festival I attended five of the previous 7 years. The global shutdown has been a real bummer in terms of entertainment since March, and it’s crazy to think it will be well over a year before we can get out to the fields with thousands of others celebrating the power of live music. If – a massive IF – all goes absolutely perfectly, ACL 2021 might actually take place in about 365 days. IF so, I will certainly be there, experience like little else.
In honor of the occasion, I compiled through the archives a sort-of-best-of photographs captured from the five ACLs I attended. I bought my first legitimate ‘point-and-shoot’ camera just before my first ACL in 2013, super stoked. It’s fun(ny) to see the growth in photography skill, and sneaking in much better camera equipment over the years. It’s also fun to see the list of awesome/legendary/some forgotten/some exploded acts over those years. Here’s a list witnessed and photographed below, in chronological order:
2013
BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA
LOCAL NATIVES
JAKE BUGG
ARCTIC MONKEYS
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
MUSE
JUNIP
SILVERSUN PICKUPS
WILCO
BON IVER and the shouting matches
KENDRICK LAMAR
THE CURE
FOXYGEN decent into madness
TWIN FORKS
PAPER DIAMOND
FRANZ FERDINAND with a gorilla suit
TAME IMPALA with a fluffy tiger
ATOMS FOR PEACE (Thom Yorke and Flea)
2014
TEMPLES
JIMMY CLIFF
JON BATISTE AND STAY HUMAN
LAKE STREET DIVE
ST.VINCENT
CHILDISH GAMBINO
OUTKAST
BENJAMIN BOOKER
MAC DEMARCO
TROMBONE SHORT & ORLEANS AVENUE
tUnE-yArDs
POLICA
INTERPOL
LUCIUS
BROKEN BELLS
EMINEM from a far distance
JENNY LEWIS
PHANTOGRAM at the last minute
THE REPLACEMENTS
PEARL JAM
2016
BANKS & STEELZ
CHAIRLIFT
FOALS
FLYING LOTUS
RADIOHEAD
ANDRA DAY
LL COOL J featuring Z-Trip
KHRUANGBIN
ANDERSON.PAAK & THE FREE NATIONALS
AMASA HINES
ST. PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES
WILLIE NELSON and friends
HAIM from a distance
L.C.D. SOUNDSYSTEM
2018
DAVID BYRNE and his american utopia
THE NATIONAL
PAUL MCCARTNEY
IKEBE SHAKEDOWN
MON LAFERTE
CURTIS HARDING
THE BREEDERS
HIGHLY SUSPECT
BLOOD ORANGE
SHARON VAN ETTEN
DEFTONES
METALLICA
JUSTICE
SAILOR POON
THE TEXAS GENLTEMEN
AMEN DUNES
FLOR DE TOLOACHE
KHRUANGBIN (2nd time)
THE REVOLUTION
PHOENIX
2019
CHERRY GLAZER
BLACK PISTOL FIRE with Blackillac
TYLER CHILDERS
THE RACONTEURS
JENNY LEWIS (2nd time)
THOM YORKE with tomorrow’s modern boxes
TAME IMPALA
MEN I TRUST
BRITTANY HOWARD
BONES UK
BILLIE EILISH
CHILDISH GAMBINO (2nd time)
THE CURE (2nd time)
IDLES
GOGO PENGUIN
BANKS
BILLY STRINGS
BRUCE HORNSBY and the noisemakers
LIZZO from a forced distance
CARDI B fromadistance
2013
2014
2016
2018
2019
