Austin City Limits Music Festival 2023

October 12, 2023

Austin City Limits Music Festival 2023

The Austin City Limits Music Festival or ACL as it is known is my absolute favorite large scale music festival. Kathy and I have had the good fortune to attend a plethora of festivals both large and small, and as such things go, ACL is pretty easily my favorite consistently year in and year out. It has been a few years since I have attended, covid and other interests have stopped me from going the past few years, so I was excited to get back.

It was already one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the country and in the time since I was last there, it seems to have exploded. They must be selling way more tickets than ever as the crowds this year were as big as I have ever seen, simply massive- almost to the point of making it not so enjoyable, especially during the headliners. I am sure glad that I sprung for the VIP tickets, which provides a couple of large VIP areas with relative comfort, free food and drinks and nice air-conditioned and readily available restrooms. 

The folks who curate ACL know what they are doing and over the years, we have managed to see acts that would soon become huge on smaller, more intimate stages- which is something that I prefer over braving the masses trying to get a decent spot for the bigger names. The line-up this year wasn’t initially one that had me very excited, but I must admit that even I am unfamiliar with many of the new bands that were featured.

This is a plus for me because I go to watch unfamiliar acts with no expectations, and I am constantly happily surprised by how much I enjoy discovering new voices. And if I don’t like it, I can just wander over to one of the other eight stages featuring live music.

On Friday, I was able to check out the bands, Asleep at the Wheel, Breland, Blondish, Half-Alive, Nessa Barrett, Little Simz, Mars Volta, Portugal the Man, The Revivalists, Maggie Rogers and the Lumineers and my favorites were Brelandm a sort of country rap artist and the amazing Little Simz. I enjoyed most of the acts that I saw, but those two stood out, because I hadn’t heard them and because they were amazing. 

Little Simz was particularly a revelation, the lyrical British rapper was captivating and controlled the crowd like a seasoned veteran and put on a simply terrific performance. I hope to get to see her perform again soon as it was incredible. I also manage to score a backstage pass for the T-Mobile stage and got to meet a couple of the artists who were hanging around there including Breland and Blondish- who was really nice and fascinating and even gave me a personally signed t-shirt- which was cool. 

I was much more familiar with many of the bands on the bill for Saturday and was able to catch large portions of the sets by Tanya Tucker, Chromeo, Gus Dapperton, Ben Kweller, Poolside, Mt. Joy, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Noah Kahan, Alanis Morrisette, Foo Fighters and Shania Twain. A couple of those bands should probably have played on larger stages, Noah Kahan and Thirty Seconds to Mars both could have been headliners as they drew huge crowds. For me the nostalgia of seeing Alanis Morrisette who basically has become an icon on the strength of one album and Shania Twain whose headlining set was terrific were highlights for me.

The festival though has grown too massive and I am not sure that I am all that eager to attend again. I love the location and the music and the VIP experience, but there are just way too many people in attendance. It is way more than the last time I was there and it is tough just to walk through the masses. If not for the VIP, I would for sure never return. Lines are just too long and there are just too many people everywhere.

I did manage to see my friend Madison, who I had just seen last month at the reunion in South Haven for my childhood friends. She is the daughter of my friends Gerard and Loretta and is attending school at the University of Texas and was attending her first ever ACL with a group of friends. I also spotted a few celebrities in attendance including tennis star Venus Williams who I saw watching Breland and Matthew McConaughey who was watching his buddy Jerod Leto who fronts the band Thirty Seconds to Mars and is one crazy performer. 

I was planning to come back for day three on Sunday, but opted to head out and explore the Hill Country instead so I missed the likes of Mumford & Sons, Odeza, Niall Horan, Morgan Wade and more but I feel like I got my fill of the festival and just didn’t feel like dealing with the throngs of people. I rode the free shuttle bus to get in and out but when I saw the line to board was more than four blocks long on Sunday morning, I opted out. Overall though, it was still a positive experience, in fact just seeing Little Sima was worth the entire trip.