Austin City Limits Music Festival 2019 kicked off on a scorching Friday afternoon with temperatures nearing 100 degrees farenheit. There were some patches of clouds here and there, but otherwise it was necessary to seek shade or refill on water at the hydration stations.
Walking around the fields through the day as more people filled Zilker Park, I noticed there were more totems than I’ve ever seen at a festival in person before. Poles with flags, balloons and even a Beyonce head were everywhere.
Lil Uzi Vert cancelled just hours before he was set to perform. ACL made the announcement on Twitter. Jai Wolf who performed earlier in the afternoon filled in with an encore set at the last minute. As his set ended he said last year he was touring with Odesza who headlined the Honda Stage, and he never imagined he would be playing the same stage one year later.
Unfortunately, Lil Uzi Vert has cancelled his #ACLFest appearance for today. Catch @JaiWolfx on the T-Mobile Stage at 2:30pm and an encore set on the Honda Stage at 6:00pm! Check our website or the Official app for more info: https://t.co/72TnU3p4yz pic.twitter.com/ye1vOtpovg
— ACL Festival (@aclfestival) October 4, 2019
There was more than just music happening on the festival grounds. In the beer hall, there were big screens showing the Houston Astros playoff game with about a hundred or so Texans sitting on the floor cheering on the home state team.
Starting off my day covering the festival, I arrived in time for FIDLAR‘s second song at the main AMEX stage in the blistering sun just before 2pm. Only stayed for a few songs, but was able to catch one of their radio singles ‘Can’t You See’ before going to explore the grounds a bit.
Up next on the list was Los Angeles rock band Cherry Glazerr at the VRBO stage led by 22-year-old Clementine Creevy. The band had a giant cherry behind them on stage. Unfortunately the set began with a malfunctioning mic, but the band seemed to take it in stride. The problem was quickly fixed and Creevy could finally be heard.
Black Pistol Fire is one of my favourite bands to shoot. I took one of my favourite photos of all time of them last year at SKOOKUM Festival in Vancouver. The duo never disappoints with their high energy rock show. Even in the Austin heat, Kevin McKeown was bounding around the Mille Lite stage with sweat dripping from his hair. At one point during the first three songs he went down to the pit area near the security barrier playing a solo.
Back at the VRBO stageK.Flay continued the rock vibes opening her set with ‘Not in California’. With her set being in the afternoon, the stage setup that she has on her regular tour days with lit platforms was not in play. Just a basic band staging. The set still had high energy regardless.
The last time I saw The Raconteurs live was 11 years ago at Coachella 2008, which happens to be close to how long it has been since the band last released music until this year. A great thing about the music festival setting? Jack White can’t force people to lock their electronic devices in Yondr pouches.
After a few songs at The Raconteurs, I decided to check out The Comet is Coming, not knowing anything about them. Shortly after arriving at the stage a festival goer who must have been enjoying the set asked me who the band on stage was. The London-based band performed a mix of electronica and jazz and funk.
I last covered Jenny Lewis at BottleRock Napa Valley back in May. At that show, Lewis began her set behind a piano for two songs before stepping out front for the third song, ‘The Big Guns.’ It wasn’t much different at ACL except that the piano was on an angle on stage this time around so you could actually see Lewis. Lewis is still one of my favourite artists dating back to her days with Rilo Kiley and also The Postal Service. Her performance in Austin was a great as ever.
Tame Impala headlined the Honda Stage which is considered the second main stage of ACL. There show included their “UFO” light setup, psychedelic visuals smoke and lasers. Photos were a challenge with all the smoke. Kevin Parker stepped down to the stages lower platform a few times allowing us photographers to get some clearer shots.
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke closed out the Miller Lite stage along with his Atoms for Peace band mate Nigel Godrich. Together with visual artist Tarik Barri, the trio performed as Thom Yorke Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes which was billed as a three-way collaborative audio visual experience. Yorke performed the sunset spot. The visuals on screen became more effective as the sun went down.
Guns N’ Roses headlined the AMEX stage. The last time I saw Guns N’ Roses, Axl Rose was sitting in Dave Grohl’s rock thrown at Coachella 2016 after Rose broke his foot in a reunion warm-up show. Despite the setback back then, that show ended up being a fun one to watch. This time Rose was fully mobile, but was not running around the stage like the old days. It seemed like he was enjoying performing though. He had calm pleasant banter between songs. Slash showed his masterful guitar skills playing an extended guitar solo before starting ‘Sweet Child O Mine’. Duff McKagan just coolly strode around the stage as he played his bass. Guns N’ Roses fans in the audience were dancing and singing along to the vast catalog of hits. The band started and 7:30 and played until nearly 10.
