3 days
8 stages
130+ bands
75,000 festival-goers
During LCD Soundsystem's exuberant set, as I bounced happily with thousands of my new best friends and fellow music lovers, there came a moment. An emotion. Something I hadn't felt in a long, long time. Do you remember that feeling? When you were younger? Maybe when you were just falling in love. Or when you were driving a convertible with the top down, and the road wheeled away before you like infinite possibility. Or when you lay on the grass on a sunny day studying for an exam and stopped to simply watch the clouds float past.
Love. Joy. Connectedness. Transcendence.
And that's what music gives us. What music festivals give us. A connection with others. A shared joy. Something so simple and so profound and so precious in this time of divisiveness, discord, and disconnect.
So here are some scenes from this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival. Sorry they were taken with my little camera. No toting along the big gear this year.
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| Early in the afternoon at Zilker Park as the crowds begin to arrive. |
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| Self-explanatory, no? |
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| Broken Bells, the band composed of Danger Mouse and the lead singer of The Shins, James Mercer |
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| Crowds are growing. |
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| A rare self-portrait. The shadow. Not the dude. |
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| The sun sets on the second day of ACL. |
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| Muse put on one hell of a light show... |
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My favorite band? The National. Matt Berninger in business suit and tie surging through a driving, emotional, beautifully balanced set. Smokin'. Maybe I should imitate Tim, the superfan from San Francisco, and give up this blogger/mom/wife gig to follow the band. They're touring Europe in the next couple of months. Bonus.
