#ACLFest Day One!

It's my second year going to the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas & I had a GR-R-REAT time! I wanted to share my weekend of craziness with you guys! So how 'bout it?!?

There were many bands I had never heard of or weren't familiar with, so I made a playlist on Spotify. I've fallen in love with many of these bands, and maybe you'll discover some to love along the way, too. :D

Group photo!

From left: Me, Morgan, Jill, & Lauren

Bleachers

Bleachers was the first band we saw, and they were right by the entrance so it was perfect!! This band is the side project of the guitarist from Fun, which I totally didn't know until my friend told me. If you haven't checked them out, I highly recommend them, especially if you like bands such as Grouplove. Bleachers is heavily influenced by the 80's and John Hughes films.

Favorite songs:

• "I Wanna Get Better"
• "Rollercoaster"

They covered "Dreams" by The Cranberries, and everyone (including me!) was singing along. I love that song so much. Nice blast from the past, & this band was a lot of fun to see. Awesome show! 

 

CHVRCHES

Unfortunately this pic really sucks since the sun was super bright and it was right behind the stage, but CHVRCHES kicked ass! Love that band, and they're new to me. I started listening to them before ACL and love them. 

The only problem with this show? A bitchy girl came to stand *right* in front of my friend with her hair totally up in my friend's face. My friend couldn't take a drink of her water without this girl's hair being in the damn way. Then the girl turned around and gave my friend an evil glare. As if! Ah well, such is the festival atmosphere at times. :P   

Favorite songs:

• "Recover"
• "The Mother We Share"

St. Vincent 

One of the acts I was most looking forward to seeing, St. Vincent put on one hell of a show. I first saw her as the musical guest on the season finale of SNL back in May and remember thinking what in the name of god am I watching?? 

But "Digital Witness" became stuck in my head and grew on me. I think it was her performance of "Birth in Reverse" on SNL that was so strange to me at the time. If you haven't seen the video for "Digital Witness" check it out. It reminds me of The Hunger Games and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest mixed together.

The hour she had to play flew by, and I didn't want it to end. One of my fave parts was when she climbed up the scaffolding on the side of the stage. That crazy girl! She's an amazing artist, and I'm SO happy she was at ACL this year!   

Favorite songs:

• "Digital Witness"
• "Birth in Reverse"
• "Cruel"

I love it when you're waiting for a band at one of the main stages, and they play clips from the ACL archives. I would've loved to have seen Weezer! They're one of my husband's all-time favorite bands as well as mine, and he's seen them before...but I haven't. And I really want them to come back to ACL next year - they're on my wish list!

Belle & Sebastian

Not a band I had originally planned on seeing, but I decided instead of going to see Foster the People alone, I'd watch Belle & Sebastian with my friends. I could hear Foster while we were waiting for Belle & Sebastian to come out, so it's all good. And we were pretty close to the front. Not 100% sure what my favorite songs by them are yet, lol.

Beck

Unfortunately no picture for this one - I was too far away (didn't feel like fighting the crowd), and it would've been a crappy photo. BUT this was one of my favorite performances at ACL - man, he just Rocked it with a capital 'R'. And that's my dorky way of expressing my happiness over seeing him since I've loved his music over half of my life now. No joke. I remember dancing in my room to "Loser" at the tender age of 13, lol. 

Favorite songs:

• "Loser"
• "Devil's Haircut"
• "E-Pro"
• "Where It's At"
• "Girl"

Outkast

Sometimes in life, well a lot of times actually, you've gotta make tough decisions. And one of those decisions is whether you're gonna watch Beck or Outkast because damn, they just HAD to play at THE SAME TIME. Gah! So since we watched Beck, we only were able to catch the end of Outkast. I bet they put on a helluva show. Too far away for photos for them, too. *sigh*

Favorite songs:

• "So Fresh, So Clean"
• "B.O.B."
• "The Whole World"
• "Hey Ya"

End of Day One at ACL! 

(Ignore the blurry people please, lol)

Days Two & Three coming soon! 

#ACLFest Bands I Saw, the Ones I Missed, & My Wishlist for 2015

Photo taken by me :D

Woo, I went to the Austin City Limits Music Festival again this year!!! I thought it'd be fun to do a post about bands I was able to see compared with the bands I was actually able to see for both this year and last year, plus I made a wish list for next year. 

Click here to be taken to the official website and see the entire lineup for the weekend.

I have more posts about ACL Fest coming up including lessons I learned from going last year (like take water with you on the walk to the festival!!! can't stress that enough), and posts for each day describing the bands I saw with some pics. So this is just the first of a series of ACL goodness. ;D

There's something about going to a concert where I feel at one with everyone around me. After a Green Day concert when they were touring for their American Idiot album, my husband commented that going to a concert is almost like having a religious experience, and I think that's a perfect way to describe it. 

Now imagine getting THREE DAYS of that feeling, and you'll get an idea of how awesome the ACL Fest is. I feel like I spend all year preparing for it, lol. It's so worth it!! Here are my lists below! 

~ Bands I Wanted to See ~ 
ACL 2014

• Pearl Jam
• Beck
• Outkast
• Skrillex
• Foster the People
• Spoon
• The Head and the Heart
• Interpol
• CHVRCHES
• St. Vincent (never thought I'd list this one, lol)
• Phantogram
• AFI
• Icona Pop
• Jenny Lewis
• Real Estate
• Bleachers
• Cults
• Miniature Tigers
• Black Pistol Fire
• Childish Gambino - (Did you know that Donald Glover from the TV show Community IS Childish Gambino?? Me neither!)

~ Bands I Saw ~

ACL 2014

• Pearl Jam - caught the beginning 
• Beck
• Outkast - caught the end 
• Skrillex
• Eminem - caught the beginning, lol
• Foster the People - heard them across the way while waiting for another band
• Belle & Sebastian
• Spoon
• Interpol
• CHVRCHES
• St. Vincent
• AFI - caught the end 
• Caught part of Icona Pop - the bass was BOOMING - I was far, far away buying t-shirts, & my ears were suffering in a major way!
• Caught the last few songs of Real Estate
• Bleachers
• Cults
• Lana Del Rey
• Major Lazer - on the TV in the VIP area but could hear them live on stage nearby
• Lorde - on TV, but could hear her on stage close by
• Chromeo - on TV but stage nearby

~ Bands I Wanted to See ~
ACL 2013 

• Depeche Mode
• The Cure
• Muse
• Atoms for Peace
• Phoenix
• Wilco
• Vampire Weekend
• Passion Pit
• Queens of the Stone Age
• Arctic Monkeys
• Fun.
• Franz Ferdinand
• Tame Impala
• Silversun Pickups
• The Joy Formidable
• Grouplove
• The Black Angels

~ Bands I Saw ~

ACL 2013

• The Cure
• Muse
• Atoms for Peace
• Passion Pit
• Queens of the Stone Age - heard them while waiting for Muse
• Arctic Monkeys - heard them while in the VIP area
• Fun.
• Franz Ferdinand - saw them side stage!!
• Local Natives
• Tame Impala
• Silversun Pickups
• The Black Angels - heard them from the VIP area

~ My Wish List for ACL 2015 ~

• Alanis Morissette
• Green Day 
• U2
• Radiohead
• Weezer - shocking I've NEVER seen them live!
• R.E.M.
• Coldplay
• MGMT
• Foo Fighters
• Lady Gaga
• Eels
• Delta Spirit
• Florence & the Machines
• Arcade Fire
• Geographer
• Animal Collective
• Alcoholic Faith Mission
• M83
• Imagine Dragons
• Passion Pit - would it be too much to ask to see them again??
• Sleigh Bells
• Generationals
• The Temper Trap
• Kasabian
• The Knife
• Goldfrapp

Don't worry...I'm going into detail in my next posts - one for each day of the festival. These lists are helping me get organized for those posts. Plus, I've been wanting to make a wish list forever! I'm also going to post about what I did in Austin besides go to the festival. I stayed a few extra days this year and got to see and do some more stuff. 

And I'm totally going back next year. Already saving up for the trip. :D Until next time party people...

  

When Life's Kicking Your Butt, How About a Theme Song? #2 #ACLFest

I'm feel pretty giddy this month because a couple of weeks ago, I got to go to Austin City Limits Music Fest again in Austin! This was my second year going, and it was so much fun as it was last year.

So I asked Robyn @ robgirlbooks if we could make the ACL Fest part of this month's theme song challenge, and she agreed! I also have a series of posts about my time there coming up on the blog, so keep an eye out for those! I swear this year I'm posting about it - I never did last year! :P 

It was SO hard to pick just one song, but here's my selection:

 

Click on the link above to see Robyn's pick in honor of ACL Fest! <3