Photos by Josh Kamnetz
Words by Robert Pelle
Most of the time when we listen to music, it’s alone: in the car, on the bus, or on the computer while procrastinating on Facebook. But once a year, we Austinites get together from all walks of life and experience the magic of music together at Austin City Limits Fest. Each year they manage to outdo themselves with their incredible lineup, and 2014 is going to be a tough one to beat next year. The festival season’s hottest ticket Outkast playing the same weekend as rock legends Pearl Jam may seem like every music fan’s dream, but the folks at ACL made it a reality.
The fest kicked off on Friday with the much buzzed about Night Terrors of 1927. While I discovered them back at SXSW, their well-received ACL set hopefully will bring the synth-pop band to the mainstream. The always incredible CHVRCHES drew huge crowds and almost everyone was singing along to their anthemic hits. It’s crazy to think that I saw them with fifty other people at 11am two SXSW’s ago. But the main attraction the first night was Outkast. Atlanta’s hip-hop Gods busted out of the gate with their masterpiece “B.O.B.” and kept the energy going throughout their hit-filled set. Andre 3000 donned a white wig and a pricetag that just said “sold out” on it and while he may have dressed the part of corporate shill, he was clearly having so much fun that it seemed a little ironic.
Every day during the festival our friends at AT&T Uverse were holding public art shows featuring world renowned local graffiti artists like Grimnasty creating incredible pieces right before your very eyes in just an hour (as in super fast, you know, like the speed of Uverse’s GigaPower), all on the back of Samsung Galaxy phone covers! So you weekend two goers, I’d try my hardest to get a hold of one of those one of a kind phone cases and people will be asking about it for months! Plus, stopping by the AT&T Footprints tent gives you a chance to relax and charge a smartphone or two while catching livestreams of the festival and learning anything you want to know about GigaPower.
Graffiti Gallery
My favorite discovery of the festival had to be Jhene Aiko. I kept hearing her name in the same breath as Sade, which if you know me comparing anyone to Sade will get my attention. While she wasn’t as dynamic as the queen of slowjamz, Aiko definitely brought a great energy, burning incense and covering Tupac in an encore. While she made as much as she could with a 3pm set, I would have loved to have seen her in a small, intimate setting at 1am. She might be too big for that now, but I can still dream!
ACL 2014 was a blast. I’m really upset that I’ll be missing Lorde on Sunday, but it was still great to see all of the bands I did see. Can it be 2015 already?!
Secret message for our FCC overlords: This post was made possible through Ovrld’s association with AT&T. The tickets were provided by AT&T, but AT&T is not a sponsor, administrator, or involved in any other way with this post. All opinions expressed in the post are Ovrld’s own and not those of AT&T.
