The first weekend of Austin City Limits 2019 surely brought the heat wave in Austin, TX, however, the lineup was too good to not miss. With sets from Childish Gambino, Billie Eilish, Lizzo, The Cure, and Guns N' Roses, ACL brought the heat literally and figuratively. This year however, was an easy breezy one, as in, not as many conflicts compared to previous years. It was also my first time attending the first weekend (mainly for Cardi B).
Merch: Two merch tents were offered at ACL; one for general festival merchandise including different collections of shirts with the lineup on the back, and the other was artist specific which included festival exclusive merchandise from Childish Gambino, and Guns N' Roses. The tent provided merchandise for all of the artists no matter which day they were on. I pretty much grabbed all of Gambino's exclusives, a Billie Eilish, Tame Impala, and a festival lineup shirt (oop)
Venue: Zilker Park is awesome. Located near Downtown Austin, walking to and from the festival is almost as if walking through a cool local swapmeet. Food trucks, restaurants, and gas stations and even vendors are seen from left to right giving away freebies all weekend long. The park itself is beautiful and is more enclosed compared to Coachella or Lollapolooza. To get from one stage to the next was an average of 10 minutes of brisk walking.
Crowd: The crowd this year was much different compared to previous years. Much like Coachella, the first weekend was filled with Instagram models/influencers and cool fashions. Going into the festival knowing that the first weekend sold out first, I still did not think the crowd would turn out like that for some odd reason. I also forgot the fact that the festival was all ages, so having 12 year olds acting immature definitely killed the mood in some instances, while adding 100 degree weather on top of that (oof).
As everyone has said, the most crowded set was indeed Lizzo's. While heading over to her set after Kacey Musgraves, seeing the crowd extend to the beer tent, I immediately turned around and watched from the Honda stage. A close second was Billie Eilish's, extending over to the Miller Lite stage (where Lizzo was on Sunday). Interestingly enough, the crowd slowly died down after Eilish performed "you should see me in a crown."
Highlights: Tame...Impala. Probably one of the best sets I have ever witnessed at a festival. It definitely lived up to the hype of what people have said about seeing them live: mind melting and visually appealing. Childish Gambino was top-notch, fully redeeming himself and then some after missing his headlining slot last year. Much like his "This Is America Tour" set, it was a religious experience to say the least.
Lizzo was another great show, including Flute playing and breakdown dance to "Watch Out For The Big Girls." I wish I could've attended Weekend 2 to be apart of the wave that she started and then came back to her. Ahh! One act that really surprised me was Mumford & Sons. Even though I only got to check out about 10 minutes of their set after Cardi B's set was delayed, they sounded great singing "I'll Wait For You." Honorable mentions are TroyBoi, Billie Eilish, 21 Savage, and PinkSweat$.
All in all, ACL 2019 was another great one. With a stacked lineup, less conflicts for performances, and more time to check out the city, it is by far one of my favorite music festivals out there. As much as I want to explore different music festivals each year, ACL always wheels me in. Cheers to 2020!