Sep 22, 2011

Austin City Limits

We went to ACL this past weekend. It was my 6th and Jon’s 7th year to go. Last year was our first year to miss the festival since we met. We decided not get get tickets ahead of time last year and it ended up being a good thing because my best friend got married the same weekend.

This year we were all in. Got tickets early and arranged for Jon’s mom to come down and watch Aedan (which was a lifesaver!). We took Aedan for a little while on Friday but after the stomach bug, he got a cold, so he wasn’t feeling the best.

Even though Aedan didn’t get to dance to his favorite band, he had a BLAST this weekend. He got to go visit great grandparents, aunts and cousins. He got to eat out and stay up late and get pretty much all the attention he could ask for. Thanks MawMaw for coming all the way down and watch Aedan for us!!

So while Aedan was having fun without us, we got to see some great shows. The weather was not the best (but really it never is for this festival). They seem to have the worst luck when it comes to weather, but that doesn’t seem to cut down on the people going at all. It is crowded.

Like, a lot of people.

(source)

Friday was hot and humid, Saturday was hot and then wet, since we got the first decent rain in about 3 months and Sunday was just plain hot. But each evening was really comfortable so it made up for the hot/wet afternoons.

This year we saw Brandi Carlile, Foster the People, Sara Bareilles, Cold Play, The Antlers (love them!), Young the Giant (my new favorite), Alexander, Iron and Wine, Broken Social Scene, Gomez and Social Distortion (really good show!). We also listened to Arcade Fire as we left Sunday night. We could have seen more, but we took it pretty easy since I caught Aedan’s cold and Jon had a soccer game on Sunday.

Since this is the 10th year of the festival Austin Monthly did a write up all about it. I thought I would share some fun facts…

  • There are 8 stages, and 120 different bands across 3 days.
  • More than 200,000 people in one park – which is craziness!
  • 700 portable toilets are set up for the festival – wow
  • A diamond wedding ring was lost at 2003’s festival and it was found 4 months later by a soccer player at practice – crazy!

Overall it was a pretty fun weekend. The crowds get to me a little but everyone always really nice and it makes for some great people watching. 

Anyone else go to ACL?

-Lauren-

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