By Alexa Scott
There are few things that bring me as much joy than ACL Music Fest in the fall. The feeling of anticipation starts creeping up on you far before you walk through the lit arch. I would argue it even begins before the trek to Austin. It happens the moment the schedule drops – suddenly you have to be tactical, artists are pitted against each other in epic listening sessions, breaks are planned, and sacrifices are made. Whether all of that planning largely goes out the window once you arrive is another story entirely.
At least that’s how the trip to Austin started for us anyway.
For us, ACL kicked off with Kendrick Lamar’s performance on the American Express stage. Following Week One’s late start, Kendrick was much more punctual, starting only 4 minutes after his scheduled start with “N95” from his 2022 album “Mr. Morale and the High Steppers”. The audience was packed, elbow to elbow, shoulder to shoulder, if anything this delay only served to increase the already tangible anticipation throughout the crowd.
“Is anybody alive right now?” Lamar asked, the crowd roared in response. Lamar’s prolific and diverse songwriting career has garnered a huge following since his debut in 2011. His songs have become anthems, which was clear by the roars the start of every song garnered. As for his masked dancers, they were cool, but let’s be honest – it was hard to focus on anything but Kendrick’s hypnotizing bars.
On Saturday morning, we were ready for more action, but not without a crucial purchase – shoe inserts. With our feet prepped, we dove into the festival.
Ok, now we were ready.
Our first musical adventure of the day was with Sincere Engineer, a Chicago-based punk band. We only caught one song, but it rocked.
Up next was Declan McKenna, whom I’ve loved since he first released “Brazil” in 2017. Walking out with eclipse glasses and hair cut into a mullet, it was clear, this dude was cool. His first song “Why Do You Feel So Down?” was perfect to start. His energy was clear, belting the lyrics to every single song as the crowd sang along. His growth as an artist has been both metaphorical and literal. His identity as an artist began as a teenage sensation with his album “What Do You Think About the Car?”, and although some critics were quick to label him a “one hit wonder’ the release of his 2020 sophomore album, quickly proved them wrong. McKenna closed the set with “British Bombs,” the visuals behind him showing news clippings of British funding of various armed conflicts.
After the closing of McKenna’s set we wandered over to the covered Tito’s stage of Sudan Archives. We were initially confused by her being placed on the smaller covered Tito’s stage but it soon became extremely evident this was the perfect decision. Her tracks on Spotify make it sound like she’s an RnB artist – THAT IS NOT THE CASE. She’s like an electric violin goth R&B heavy bass vibe; she absolutely shreds the electric violin. Whoever is mixing her tracks is playing the biggest game of “Gotcha!,” I’ve witnessed. The audience was absolutely captivated by her presence, swaying with the heavy bass. At one point she stood on the railing and sang to the crowd. All in all it was entrancing, breathtaking, and a thing of fantasy.
After a quick falafel break (shoutout ACL media lounge) we were ready to make our return to Tito’s stage for twin duo Tegan and Sara. Although we didn’t stay for long, their charisma was evident. Apparently they used to dream about opening for Alanís Morisette, so it was really cool for them to be playing at the same time, on different stages. But apparently also some sort of sick joke to pit the Canadians against each other (at this point I learned that Alanis Morissette was Canadian).
We wandered our way to T-Mobile an hour before the start, and it was already packed. Noah Kahan walked out on stage sporting dutch braids and a jean jacket that said “Young Blood” on the front, a reference to his “Busy Head” album from 2018. Playing songs exclusively from his most recent album “Stick Season”, he had the crowd singing along for the entire show. For “She Calls Me Back,” he brought out special guest Mumford and Sons, whose velvety voices had the crowd sobbing when combined with the already heart wrenching lyrics. By the time the set ended the sun had gone down and night had befallen Zilker Park.
It was time for Foo Fighters. By this point the festival was packed, but on the bright side it was easier than ever to reach the Foo Fighters crowd. For the record, I love Dave Grohl, always have always will, so I must admit my review may be swayed by this fact. First and foremost this was the definition of absolute rock and roll, a term I have only ever used to describe seeing Darkbird, an Austin based band last year. Foo Fighters would play the beginning of a song pause, Dave would talk to the crowd, some shredding would occur then then continue playing the song. This formula had the crowd roaring. At different times during the set he would pause the music and direct that the lights on stage be flipped around and shined onto the crowd. During the band introductions, the keyboardist for Santana came out and played a bit alongside the keyboardist for us – this dude played at the original Woodstock and yet wasn’t missing a beat.
By Sunday we were achy but begging for more. After all, ACL only comes once a year.
Dope Lemon kicked off Sunday’s set with some lemonhead and cat visuals and jams to make us all feel like cowboys in the Texas heat. With songs like “Rose Pink Cadillac” and “Stonecutters,” the sun felt hazy and the vibes were good.
Del Water Gap was next on the T-Mobile stage. The highlight of the show was when he started climbing the side railing of the stage. Getting pretty far up and waving his arm around, he takes the trophy for most altitude gained during a performance by far.
We aimed to catch all of M83 but by the time we pivoted to the Honda stage, the set was underway. It was fantastic. They obviously played “Midnight City” and the crowd went crazy. That’s the great thing about ACL, energy can be found deep from within when a good song comes on.
Then it was time, the final set of our time at ACL, it was time for Hozier. Similar to my disclaimer regarding Dave Grohl, one is appropriate here as well: I love Hozier. With that being said, his set was beautiful and everytime he said anything with his Irish accent the crowd swooned. Playing a bit of a mixed set, he sampled from his entire discography hitting everything from “Cherry Wine” to “Eat Your Young”. He even brought on a special guest for “Damage Gets Done”. Just as the sun was setting, the set ended with “Take Me to Church.” It was the perfect ending to a great weekend.
See ya next year ACL!
