During its 10th anniversary this weekend, Austin City Limits is slated to bring more than 130 indie, rock, rap and electronic bands and attract 70,000-plus patrons each day to Zilker Park. The festival will run Sept. 16 through Sept. 18. | Photo by Jack Edinger
Music aficionados everywhere —rejoice. The festival you’ve so anxiously awaited is just around the corner. Grab your sunscreen, fanny packs and bottles of water and head for Hill Country — the gates of Zilker Park open at 11 a.m. Friday for Austin City Limits.
ACL is celebrating its 10th anniversary this weekend, and has come a long way from it’s humble beginnings. The festival originally focused on Texas music and arts, but over the years has come to include bands from every genre on eight stages.
This year, more than 130 bands will be delivering their music to around 70,000 audience members each day. In addition to the music, local vendors, artists and chefs will give attendees a taste of their work.
Of the 130-plus acts, headliners include Kanye West, Coldplay, Stevie Wonder, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket and Cee-Lo Green.
West and Coldplay are both slated for Friday night performances, which could potentially be problematic for fans of the two. West released his latest full-length album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” last year and his most recent collaborative album with Jay-Z, “Watch the Throne” received rave reviews and chart-topping record sales. Meanwhile, Chris Martin and company of Coldplay are set to release their fifth studio album, “Mylo Xyloto” on Oct. 24.
On Saturday, both Motown singer and Apollo Legends Hall-of-Famer Stevie Wonder and Cee-Lo Green take the stage.
My Morning Jacket, who also played at Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn., earlier this year, will be performing an hour-and-a-half-long set that evening.
To bring ACL to a close, album of the year winner and The Woodlands-native Arcade Fire is set to be the last performance of the weekend.
Sunday also brings Randy Newman, Fleet Foxes and Broken Social Scene to the Bud Light and Vista Equity stages earlier in the afternoon.
Other notables for the festival include popular dubstep artist Skrillex, Iron & Wine, City and Colour, Young the Giant — who will be in Houston on Sept. 30 to open for Incubus at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion — and Chromeo, who headlined Free Press Summer Fest this summer.
If you’re not going to be westward bound on Thursday evening for ACL, don’t worry — we’ll bring the festival to those of you who are stuck at home this weekend.
You can expect live tweets from both the Life & Arts and The Daily Cougar’s Twitter account throughout the day with updates and a photo or two of performances, activities and other Austin City Limits happenings.
You can also stay in-tune with the festival from The Daily Cougar website — we’ll be posting nightly ACL recaps and other updates throughout the weekend. Of course, if you’re going to be in Austin this weekend, let us know — we’d love to say hello to all the Cougars getting their music fix at Zilker Park.
All three-day Austin City Limits passes are sold out, but one-day passes are still available on Sunday for $90. For more information, check out www.aclfestival.com. And of course, don’t forget to follow @thedailycougar and @dclifeandarts for updates all weekend.
