ACL Fest 2022 - It Warrants a Thread

[Chad Fuck 17659]

Do y'all know the price difference when buying early bird tickets.  I'll be honest... I'm fine risking the lineup since I will go all in on bands I don't know and I'm sure there will be good ones.

I always buy early bird. But I know I’m always going to go.

[texasdago 7568]

1 hour ago, Chad Fuck said:

I always buy early bird. But I know I’m always going to go.

That's my thought.  Much of a price difference?

[Chad Fuck 17659]

That's my thought.  Much of a price difference?

You typically get a discount. It isn’t huge. But it’s better than nothing and I really don’t like messing around with scalpers. For me that’s worth it.

[South Austin 52454]

I always buy early bird. Even with the meh lineups the last few years (although this year’s was much better than I expected), I still love the experience and it’s one of those things that keeps me young.

[Chad Fuck 17659]

I always buy early bird. Even with the meh lineups the last few years (although this year’s was much better than I expected), I still love the experience and it’s one of those things that keeps me young.

This. I also get to put it on the home & work calendars very early in the year and brook no complaints from anyone about anything that weekend:

“I will be standing in a field drinking beer with my friends, listening to bands and not checking email. This has been known to all who need to know since 2002. No fucks will be given.”

[MirrOlure 14760]

Attended Tyler Rose Featival Friday, departed at 6 am for game. Went directly from game to ACL, caught Boy George, some food and beer, Diplo, and part of War on Drugs then thoroughly enjoyed Pink. About all my 57 year old ass can handle.


Today catching Wilderado, Oliver Tree or Spoon and then probably bounce around in between all the rest of the shows.

As mentioned….we’re all about the experience regardless of who’s performing

[Chad Fuck 17659]

Attended Tyler Rose Featival Friday, departed at 6 am for game. Went directly from game to ACL, caught Boy George, some food and beer, Diplo, and part of War on Drugs then thoroughly enjoyed Pink. About all my 57 year old ass can handle.


Today catching Wilderado, Oliver Tree or Spoon and then probably bounce around in between all the rest of the shows.

As mentioned….we’re all about the experience regardless of who’s performing

Spoon was one of the great shows last weekend. Hard to believe I’ve seen them go from local heroes to edging into the elder statesmen of rawk.

[South Austin 52454]

2 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

Spoon was one of the great shows last weekend. Hard to believe I’ve seen them go from local heroes to edging into the elder statesmen of rawk.

I saw them at ACL a few years ago, maybe 2018, and they were great. I don’t know if it was the band or production quality, but this year musically they were even better.

[texasdago 7568]

1 hour ago, MirrOlure said:

Attended Tyler Rose Featival Friday, departed at 6 am for game. Went directly from game to ACL, caught Boy George, some food and beer, Diplo, and part of War on Drugs then thoroughly enjoyed Pink. About all my 57 year old ass can handle.


Today catching Wilderado, Oliver Tree or Spoon and then probably bounce around in between all the rest of the shows.

As mentioned….we’re all about the experience regardless of who’s performing

Oliver Tree is something.  I mean that in a good way... he puts on a show and it cracked me up but he's polarizing.  Enjoy!

[Homercles 10205]

Friday:
 

Well it finally happened, got busted trying to sneak in vodka for my wife.  At the Barton entrance they made everyone take the chairs out of the bags and legit opened the motherfuckers…so my ‘hide it in the padded headrest’ trick fell on its ass.  Never seen security so serious before.  
 

Grounds were a hot mess.  We all prefer W1 but schedule around the RRS most years, but from what I’ve heard it wouldn’t have mattered…heard it was nasty last weekend too.  That mulch down by the wine/mini-craft beer area just leaves the area in a perpetual fog and walking through it can taste it.  Fuck.
 

Genesis Uwusu - Man that’s what I get for only listening to a song or two on an artist new to me…was loving on Gold Chains all week and figured a nice head-bobbing R&B kinda thing would be a chill way to kickoff Friday.  The rest was awesome energy but not what I expected at all.  
 

L’Imperatrice - Lot of fun, and one of those acts I really wish played later because 5p and 93F isn’t quite where I wanna dance but I did anyways.  That tune they closed with was a stellar EDM jam.  
 

Lily Rose - great energy, you can tell she could put out some hits with a little more time and possibly a better band around her.  Love that little BMI stage 

Phoenix - A lot better show than the last time I saw them out there.   You can tell they’re an experienced, professional band.   Everything was tight and you know you have a good catalog when you can open with one of your biggest hits (Listomania) without losing the crowd right after.  Some trippy tunes in there too, went well with my D9 gummy

Purple Disco Machine - well he’s a dj playing mashup disco tunes and hosted the best people watching so far.  After three songs we ended our grand tour of the west side of the park to go back to home base for a bit. 
 

Billy Strings - Right by our home base, and I’d heard of the awesomeness but the incredible talent of that band was still a shock.  Not my cup of tea but I can still marvel. 
 

The Chicks - whatever.  My wife was a fan of their catalog but said their set sucked, yet the group stayed until the end so we got stuck in the dirt death cloud leaving the Barton exit.  
 

I understand momentum is a thing on a bike, and they gotta get they swerve on if they want to make money…but pedicabs are some aggressive bitches, combined with a hundred zombie folks walking down the middle of the road makes driving Toomey back to Lamar a scary thing.  

[nolongerU2horn 761]

Barton Springs entrance Saturday afternoon was the most lax search I've ever encountered. Handed clear bag to security and they just passed it right back as we walked through the metal detector

[TXSG8R 3362]

L’imperatrice was an absolute blast, probably the highlight of this year.  Spoon, Phoenix, the Front Bottoms, Paramore, and Wet Leg were all awesome. RHCP sounded great but I’m still annoyed they only did 90 minutes including their encore. The Maria’s and Death Cab sounded fine but just weren’t exciting. Larry June, Isaac Dunbar, and Josh Fudge were unknowns that caught our ear.  We skipped the headliners Friday and attempted to listen to Flume for a couple of songs and bailed early Saturday as well.  I think I caught the olds.

[TXSG8R 3362]

25 minutes ago, nolongerU2horn said:

Barton Springs entrance Saturday afternoon was the most lax search I've ever encountered. Handed clear bag to security and they just passed it right back as we walked through the metal detector

We had a guy at the shuttle entrance that was auditioning for TSA on Saturday. Didn’t help that there was an older couple trying to go through with massive ass bags just full of bullshit, but he was digging brought little clutches and shit too. He looked between cards in my dango wallet.

[Homercles 10205]

Saturday:

Were planning to tailgate with my horn friends but we got a late start and the usual parking place filled up right as we got there at 945…so no stopping by Surly tailgate this time.  Dropped my friends off near DKR then parked on Barton, got to the gates at 1015 and just waited.  So we went the distance that day   

Security was a lot easier but I wasn’t trying to sneak anything except gummies in my wallet.  They never checked pockets.  
 

The day started off great as I won a Tito’s Fanny pack and two wristbands for their tent, hung out for about two hours watching football.  Turns out they let anyone in before noon, but we enjoyed it anyways for a couple hours…yet when we came back later they were closed for a private event and the wristbands became useless.  Stupid. 

The second ‘craft beer’ tent near BMI miraculously sold us bags of ice for $5.  Full on 16lb bags.  Cheapest thing in the park and saved my crews ass all weekend long.  Stay a lot more hydrated when I have ice water. 

Lido Pimienta - Heard this song “Eso Que Tu Haces” on a somewhat famous scene from the tv show Tuca and Bertie, and my 9yo fell in love with her music so figured I’d hang at the Barton area for awhile listening to her.  Wife went with me, we got up real close and enjoyed her whole show.  That little pocket over there is one of the better additions to the park over time…easy drinks, food, pisser.  
 

I got caught up watching OSU shit the bed against TCU at the beer tent, and walked out to a wall of people jammed between Honda/Miller Lite.  Listened to a little Boy George, and bolted back to our home base near the T Mobile handicap platform.  
 

Death Cab For Cutie - been loving these guys for almost twenty years, was grateful to hear a few favorites like Black Sun, Cath, and I Will Follow You Into The Dark.  Performance wasn’t anything amazing, still miss Chris Walla.  
 

During Death Cab my wife and I are pretty sure we saw someone who was literally dying.  Dude comes cutting through, dragging his rag doll friend who was randomly grinning at everyone but my wife said ‘he doesn’t look good’…suddenly rag doll stops moving, stares up at the sky, goes a scary ashen gray/yellow and stops breathing right there.  Went from yelling ‘set him down’ to a group of us hauling/shoving him into the med tent where I lost sight of him.  Be careful out there…think he needed narcan.  
 

The War On Drugs - after that shitshow of a crowd and watching someone OD, we did the long March back to base to listen to these guys.  Told my friend they sounded like a mix between Bryan Adam’s and The Heartbreakers.  Beautiful songs with great lyrics, just the thing to veg out to and hydrate up.  Gummies give me cotton mouth which is actually good, I drink a ton of water and take an alcohol break for 3-4 hours.  
 

Pink / Flume - Crowds were full tilt boogie at this point.  I turned around to move a water bottle and by the time I turned back, whole crew had vanished into the ether.  After twenty minutes of ‘we are by the tall guy with the pink hat, near the Amex thing’…I gave up and walked to check out Flume, who I’ve heard over the years on Pandora.  
 

Yeah no thanks.  I only caught three songs and am a huge EDM fan, but what I heard was the worst of glitch/bro step stuff that is not in my wheelhouse.  
 

So eventually caught up with wife/friends and really enjoyed Pink’s performance, including the wire act.  Everybody loves her and I can see why, consummate professional performance and at least pretended to want to be there.  Not quite bubblegum of course, but a good pop show and I didn’t need to be wowed by artistry in music by that point.  

[Homercles 10205]

Sunday 

Woke up late, cooked breakfast and left about 1230p from RR.  Obviously getting in was a hot, crowded mess but was able to walk in with a soft flask of tea vodka for my wife.  No more ice bags at Karbach tent sadly.  We were all drained anyways so not much serious partying to be had anyways. 
 

Bitched at the Tito’s tent about my useless prize and was in for a drink + piss in the AC but the drinks just weren’t the same.  We left after about 20 minutes and I finally tried some of the kimchi fries.  
 

Got up close for Oliver Tree and had some fun with him, but crowds were already uncomfortably crazy so left at 420 to cross the park for Spoon.  
 

Spoon always puts on a good show and as someone else noted it’s been fun to watch them become a big act.  Wanted to hear Can You So Next To Me but still caught Camera and a few other tunes so all good there.  
 

Big Wild was another act where I thought k knew their music well but were a whole other animal live.  Great, chewy jams and one of those excellent ‘too hot to get crazy but enough zoom to keep me awake during peak heat/crowds’.  Walked back for…

Paramore.  Ain’t It Fun and Misery Business are about all I know, but heard they were great live and found our base almost overrun with teenagers…mostly bitching about their poor choice in footwear.  At 42 I dress in cargo shorts, hiking shoes, hat and t-shirt so will never understand wearing white boots and jeans out there.  
 

Marcus Mumford was good, was actually surprised how much Mumford and Sons stuff he played but made sense.  Just another chance to sit down for a bit before catching…

ZHU was awesome.  Opposite of Flume in that I was pleasantly surprised by the set, and was jamming out quite nicely while watching the Cowboys implode.  
 

Group heard a few RHCP songs and decided we were out.  I was done at that point myself.
 

Overall the undercards really carried the weekend, the grounds were 2005-levels bad and my first thing each night was a shower + heavy nasal rinse.  This was my 16th ACL, missing only 2013 when we were still in maternity ward with my son, so I’ll go whoever is on the lineup.  Standing in a field with beer, music, my friends and wife is my happy place. The rules keep getting tighter and the prices keep rising though, but I spend more on 3-days of childcare than the tickets themselves so whatever.