Posts by Greg Ackerman

The final day of Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL Fest) included the largest crowds of the three-day event on Sunday, which takes place in Zilker Park along Lake Austin. Ideal sunny weather and the promise of seeing Paramore perform at their first ACL Fest drew throngs of concertgoers to Austin’s flagship large format music […]

The second day of Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL Fest) presented a wide range of artists to see, from Adrian Quesada’s lush live presentation of his Boleros Psicodélicos record to pop sensation (and former Georgetown, Texas resident), Conan Gray, to hip-hop from Lil Nas X and the psychedelic Americana sounds of War on Drugs. […]

As expected, the 2022 version of the Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL Fest) presented a myriad of opportunities to discover artists booked down the bill.

On the cusp of the 20th Anniversary of Austin City Limits Music Festival, the city itself seems poised to recapture the pre-pandemic magic of Austin’s live music scene. Yes, the festival returned last year after a two-year hiatus but it felt different, as if live music had not fully made a comeback yet. 2022 feels […]

The SXSW satellite event out at Willie Nelson’s Luck Ranch near Spicewood, Texas, Luck Reunion celebrated the 10th anniversary of the event yesterday with a diverse slate of acts. Perhaps more so than previous years, indie rock, soul, indie-pop, punk, rockabilly and other genres unrelated to country music were prevalent at this year’s version of […]

Day three of of Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL Fest) was marked with killer hard rock by White Reaper, a crazy set by 070 Shake, witnessing the sorcery of the high-priestess of hip-hop, Erykah Badu, watching Tyler the Creator sink on his boat themed performance, and Duran Duran delivering a white hot set that […]

The second day of Austin City Limits Festival (ACL Fest) went smoother for fans and festival producer C3 Presents on Saturday versus Friday. The festival opened their gates at 11 a.m. as planned instead of the late 3 p.m. start ACL Fest had to adjust to in oroder to allow the Zilker Park grounds to […]

Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL Fest) returned to Zilker Park yesterday, October 1st, after last year’s edition didn’t happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a city that lives and breathes music, that’s taking away the manna that feeds the Austin masses daily. The festival could be viewed as a fully realized homage to […]

After much hand-wringing over the Delta variant COVID spike both locally and nationwide, Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL Fest) is taking place on Friday, October 1 at Zilker Park in the center of the Live Music Capital. Just last week, the City of Austin officially approved the park permit for C3 Presents to proceed […]

After four days of LEVITATION bliss and a minute to process the myriad of incredible musical performances we saw, it’s time to put a bow on Austin’s premier mid-tier music festival. After jumping from Empire Garage to Barracuda, Mohawk, and Stubb’s all weekend, we’re convinced Rob Fitzpatrick and the rest of the LEVITATION crew are […]

Saturday evening’s LEVITATION lineup was the centerpiece of the festival. The Black Angels performed with their idol, John Cale. A founding member of The Velvet Underground, Cale’s song, “The Black Angel’s Death Song” is the inspiration for the local neo-psych rock heroes’ moniker. The band was perhaps more excited about finally booking Cale for the […]

As Austin psych rock festival LEVITATION rolled into day two of the venue-based event, more fans, bigger acts and more cold weather contributed to an impressive array of performances on Friday, November 8th. The Flaming Lips were one of those marquee artists who appeared on the Stubb’s BBQ stage following sets by Mercury Rev and […]

The 11th edition of LEVITATION, the psych rock music festival launched by The Black Angels and The Reverberation Appreciation Society from Austin, Texas in 2008, kicked off a full weekend of shows on Thursday, November 7th. Sold-out sets by Power Trip, Japan’s Kikagaku Moyo and Minami Deutsch plus an eye-opening slot by Jonathan Bree made […]

You could feel the energy in Zilker Park was different the minute you stepped on the grounds for the final day of weekend one of the Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL Fest) on Sunday, October 6. There was a buzz of expectation that hung over the park like electric fog in some unreal musical […]

On what was the warmest weekend of Austin City Limits Festival (ACL Fest) for an October start, the event continued on Saturday, October 5th with massive crowds on hand to catch 90’s legends The Cure, Childish Gambino’s (Donald Glover) last concert, Metric, Brittany Howard (Alabama Shakes) and Bones UK among others. The audience in front […]

Day one of the 2019 edition of Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL Fest) was stacked with incredible talent at Zilker Park. Tame Impala delivered another stellar performance while Guns n Roses played at the opposite end of the park. Thom Yorke (Radiohead) performed on the Miller Lite Stage as Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes. The Raconteurs […]

There was perhaps no better way to kick off the 18th year of Austin City Limits Music Festival on Thursday, October 3rd than with The Raconteurs featuring the incomparable Jack White and his partner-in-crime Brendon Benson. The pair led a crack band on a 75-minute excursion into rock n roll punctuated by mind-melting guitar solos, […]

The 18th year of the granddaddy of Austin music fests, Austin City Limits Festival, kicks off at Zilker Park October 4th with a monster lineup of headliners, mid-tier acts and first-time festival performers. Guns N’ Roses, The Cure, and Tame Impala join Cardi B, Lizzo, and Childish Gambino (in a makeup of last year’s cancellation) […]

When Taylor Wilkins of Austin heavy rock act Otis the Destroyer got invited to travel overseas with a local non-profit, Project ATX 6, he had to rethink his approach to music as a solo artist as that was required of the participants. Thus, Otis Wilkins was born out of solo tracks the singer and guitarist […]

When Beck, Cage the Elephant and Austin hometown heroes Spoon announced they’d be touring together this summer, we knew the Night Running Tour stop here would be a hot ticket. And we don’t mean the Texas heat, although it was a typically warm July evening when they came through on Friday the 26th. The bill […]