ACL Festival 2015

So you like the Disclosure set? I thought it was hands down best I saw of the weekend. We did exactly what you did for foo fighters and came away with the same reaction. Dave sounded awful. Like an angry hoarse old man. I thought it could have been just cause we got to the set late and his voice and given out by then but sheeeeeesh. It was bad. The Weeknd impressed me too.

Only went Friday but I saw Royal Blood first. They were sooo loud i could hear them from down the street on Barton Springs Rd as i walked across the bridge. I got to their set at about 2:30 but still was able to get up fairly close. I really enjoyed their set and even bought an RB shirt (the black one with the phoenix or whatever). They were one of the loudest bands i've ever seen at ACL, and they really have great chemistry as a band, i'm excited for what they have coming next since that was their last show on their tour. I made my way over to see Wolf Alice, but was intercepted by Con Brio killing it inside the Tito's tent. Unfortunately for me though it was their last song.
Next up after them i saw Wolf Alice which was good but nothing amazing. The frontwoman is smokin hot tho. They had some technical delays and went on about 10 minutes late but i still liked their show. They also said Austin was the greatest city in the world which is always nice to hear from foreigners.
After they finished i met up with one of my old friends from high school and made our way over to Billy Idol. His guitar player Steve Stevens pretty much stole the show. My mom was super stoked about me seeing them. It was very difficult to take them seriously but i still enjoyed their show a lot too. Crossed them off the bucket list. Made my way over to Run The Jewels next. They were fucking great. I want to smoke a bowl with those guys. It was a little difficult to take the whole Run The Jewels concept serious though, thought it was a little cheesy and cliche, they could've just said fuck the system and we would've gotten the point. Once they started getting all political the crowd kind of cleared out which was kind of a good thing, since most of those people leaving were douchebags. But their songs are sick live and the crowd was lit. I also thought it was hilarious how much they were talking about drugs when the "Kiddie Limits" area is literally right next to that stage, definitely a scheduling error on C3's part. C3 always has sucked at scheduling when it comes to ACL. We left to get a good spot for Tame Impala while they did Early and brought out BOOTS though so i missed Bun B's appearance BUT i did see him backstage from where i was at so i kind of suspected something was up.
Tame Impala. Wow. What is there even to say about their performance. No words.. Tame Impala is amazing live. I can only imagine how great they are in a venue and at night. They're pushing psych rock and alternative music to another level right now. I remember watching them on the Coachella webcast and how speechless they were about the size of the crowd, but they held their own at ACL, proving that they indeeed do belong as a subheadliner on the main stage.
After Tame Impala we went over to Gary Clark Jr, who i had seen twice prior since he's one of my favorite guitar players. This show was a homecoming for him. All his guests were local. He opened with When My Train Pulls In, which is my favorite song of his, then went into Bright Lights. Such a sick 1-2 to start the show. Then he brought out Hard Proof Afrobeat to play horns for about 30 minutes, all on new songs. It sounded amazing. It was the epitome of Austin music right now. They were supposed to leave but Gary wanted them to stay, so they did, and performed Aint Messin Around. The horns added such a nice texture to that song. After they left, he decided to get away from the setlist and performed the always fitting Travis County. This was cool, but it became a special moment when he handed his guitar over, mid song, to Eve Monsees. For those who don't know, Eve and Gary came up together playing clubs in Austin since they were like 14. This brought the show full circle. She shreds too, almost even better than Gary does... After that he brought up his sisters to do backup vocal harmonies on the gospel song Church. That too was a pretty cool moment of the show. He ended with his latest single The Healing, which we started heading out to try to get a good spot for Foos.
The crowd was insanely packed in for this show and to make matters worse, they were not very loud at all. Very disappointing actually. We left after The Pretender.
My friend left but i stayed and went over to see Disclosure headlining on the other side of Zilker. Disclosure was really good. You could actually even hear the bass from their show over the hill at the Foos, which puts some perspective to how quiet the Foos were. They mixed their songs a little differently than what's on the records and made them sound even better. The little interlude between Bang That and When a Fire Starts To Burn was awesome. I need a studio quality version of that. After the did Holding On, i headed back over to see if i could get a better spot for the Foos.
The spot i had the 2nd time around was wayyyy closer and sounded much better. I also got there right when Gary Clark Jr was performing with them which was great. Loved their cover of In The Flesh and always wanted to see them do that one live. I was a little bummed they didn't do any songs out of the ordinary though since it was pretty much the last major US show on their tour (except for 2 shows in LA and Anaheim next week).
On Saturday I went to the Chance The Rapper aftershow at Stubbs. It was the first show of his Family Matters Tour 2015, so i figured it would be a special one. I used to not be too into his music, but it grew on me over time, and now he's one of my favorite rappers out at the moment. The venue was packed with hardcore fans of his who knew every word to every song. The Social Experiment was his backing band, and mannn, they were amazing. Donnie Trumpet gave it a such an old school, acid jazz, Bitches Brew type vibe. The songs all sounded new. In fact, he even debuted a brand new track called They Say. After about an hour, he left, but came back for a 3 song encore. When he left that, the crowd kept calling, and he came back. This time, he said he had a special guest to bring out. It was J. Cole. It was insane. Cole did 2 quick songs, gave a shout out to Chance, and dipped. After all that, Chance ended his epic show with Chain Smoker. That's how you kick off a tour. 

Overall, my order for Friday (with the Chance aftershow included) would be:
1. Tame Impala
2. Gary Clark Jr.
3. Chance The Rapper
4. Royal Blood
5. Disclosure
6. Run The Jewels
7. Con Brio
8. Foo Fighters
9. Billy Idol
10. Wolf Alice

Flo is my mermaid goddess. In a way, I'm a one-woman cult.

Where did you find this tree? I was on the Hike & Bike trail behind the stage as well. I was sitting on a bench, but not on the seat part- I was sitting on the arm of the bench with my feet on the seat and I was on the phone. I say this in detail because I thought I heard someone climbing a tree near me but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Could you actually see anything? I could hear her perfectly but didn't even bother trying to actually see.

Next time I listen to a set from there tho I'll be sure to bring bug spray. I got bit the fuck up.

Also, I was so bummed they were checking wristbands on Sunday night. I got one off a friend of a friend who went back to Houston a day early. She cut it close to the clasp and I was able to tie it around in a way that it just looked like I tucked the excess in. But when I got to the gate they were tugging on wristbands to see if they loosened. Of course mine did and the guy grabbed me by the wrist and took me over to the registration tent. It was really unnecessarily aggressive. Anyways, I was disappointed about that, especially since I got there at like 8pm. At that point, why bother checking to see if it's been cut? I just wanted to see Flo....

I came from........ Barton Springs side.... Idk my cardinal directions well here yet. I'll keep that in mind tho in case next year's HL are someone worth climbing a tree for.

I'm still so sad I didn't get to see Drumming Song live. It's really the only song I heard that really stung to miss. And it was her closer. Salt meet wound.

Had a great time for my first visit to Austin.

First off the city is definitely the best in Texas. Clean, nice and progressive. I can see why it's the fastest-growing city in the country. Only downside was it was relatively expensive and hot as hell.

This was my first big city festival of this size with the only closest comparison being Voodoo. Zilker was cool but the space seemed cramped but well laid out. Dug the vibe, design and artwork. The bleed from the bass coming from the opposite stages was the only real negative. It was IMO way worse than the Le Plur stage at Voodoo (which is bitched about incessantly).

Friday, checked out Nate Reuss, Wolf Alice, Moon Taxi, Tame Impala, Floss and Disclosure. Reuss sounds great live but show was ok. Never even heard of Wolf Alice but they were ok. Moon Taxi was solid as always. Ending with Wake Up was fun. Tame Impala, even during the hot of day, was an amazing show. They deserve all the praise they get. It's like a nostalgic trip back in time visually and musically. Like TI, Disclosure also deserves all the praise they get and they've polished their show into something great. Floss was Floss.

Saturday, checked out Glass Animals, Twenty One Pilots, ASAP, Bassnectar and Drake. Glass Animals was a good show and the frontman was a weird dude but definitely felt like they needed to be seen in a small club at night and not main stage at 2pm. Even in the dead heat and middle of the day, 21 Pilots put on one of more upbeat, involved shows of the day. They've upped the production as well from the last time I saw them and had a blast. Just a great change of pace from most normal bands you see at festivals and just a fun atmosphere. Disappointed as hell he only climbed the small soundstage tent and not the stage near the Texas flag like he did weekend one. A$AP was A$AP. I've seen him multiple times and also other Mob rappers and they bring the same loud energy. Always a good time. The fact he had a diner on stage and had a dude making milkshakes the entire show was hilarious. Bassnectar on the Homeaway stage was very disappointing. It's refreshing to see a DJ mix it up and play sets that are never the same, but super boring and I say that as a big fan. Drake is headliner-worthy of any festival. There isn't another contemporary big-time DJ besides Kanye who brings production on the level Drake did and has the crowd going like that. A little weak he can't stay on stage most of the time but I wasn't mad at all he brought out J Cole.

Sunday, checked out Kaleo, Lord Huron, Ben Howard, Vance Joy, Of Monsters and Men, Hozier, and Florence and the Machine. Kaleo has potential. Good little show. Lord Huron was ok. Only knew one song going in. Watched from afar. Group I was with wanted to see Ben Howard bad so I watched. It was alright. Not my cup of tea. Vance Joy was great. Dug his Fleetwood cover. Of Monsters and Men were also really good. Perfect sing-along pre-headliner. Hozier was average to me. Dude is a great singer but for all his hype, I thought the show was boring. Dug his Beatles and Ariana grande cover though. Florence and the Machine was hands down the best show of the day. She's unbelievably good and arguably the best
female frontman I've ever seen in person. Didn't matter if you were a redneck male or a 12 year old girl, everyone was singling along and having a great time. She's amazing. Sad she didn't have the choir with her.

Some other random things about the fest. Thought the prices in the fest were fair and the beer selection wasn't half bad and the food was great. Just so damn hot and the vibe for a city fest was reasonable. Lots of kids and teenagers and older people as well. Was a little douchey but not as bad as Music Midtown. Getting in and out was a little difficult considering how progressive the town is with technology. Uber was impossible on Friday unless you walked well down the road which ended up being the case and easier.

My band rankings for the ones I saw:

1) Flo
2) Drake
3) Tame Impala
4) Disclosure
5)Twenty One Pilots
6)OM&M
7) Moon Taxi
8) Vance Joy
9) A$AP
10) Floss
11) glass animals
12) kaleo
13) Nate Reuss
14) Lord Huron
15) Wolf Alice
16) Kaleo
17) Hozier
18) Nectar
19) Ben Howard

Overall, I thought ACL was a top-notch city fest and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is even casually into festivals. If it wasn't for the heat and the crowd, I'd give it higher than a 7/10 but it was fun.

Just like falling from the sky?