With the Austin City Limits festival wrapping up this year, we talked to students around the Ridge about their experience this year at the annual event. Despite the lineup not meeting and satisfying all students’ expectations, many students still enjoyed attending the festival.
The Austin City Limits Festival has been hosted in Austin Texas since 2002. This event occurs at Zilker Park and brings in approximately 450,000 people every year from all parts of the world. People look forward to this festival every year because it’s three full days of all types of music from different genres all in one place, but it isn’t always easy to get into.
“When I started looking for a ticket, I realized the process wasn’t easy, especially with all the ticket vendors reselling them for so much. I didn’t want to spend a crazy amount since I was only going for one day,” said Senior Ben Mitchl. “But I got lucky because my friend Aubrey had an extra ticket she sold me for a good price, I will definitely order them far in advance for next year.”
The festival is a lot of fun, but it also comes with some challenges. Spending three days in the heat and in a crowded event can definitely be hard for some people. With such a large festival, finding relief from the heat you think would be easy, but the congestion of the crowd makes it hard to get from one place to the next. The ACL planners do a good job of providing water stations and food tents around the grounds, but it is also a good idea to come prepared with fans, chairs, and water backpacks.
“This was my first time attending ACL and I went all three days,” said senior Trey Muniz. “Looking back on my experience, I noticed other people had fans and I wish I would have brought one because the heat adds up when you’re out there all day and you’re sweating a lot. Next year I will definitely come more prepared.”
This festival has something for everyone with different artists playing all day and on different stages. One of the best things to look forward to each year is when the lineup of artists is announced. The lineup is not the same each year, it’s different every day and even though you don’t know what to expect, people plan way ahead to attend the festival since it is such a great experience.
“I was excited to see who was playing at ACL this year,” said Junior Hayden Willman. “My favorite part about ACL was definitely going with a big group of my friends, and my favorite artist I saw perform was Tyler the Creator.”
The experience with attending ACL is great for so many reasons and most people return each year. It might be difficult to get in and out of the concert, you may not know the lineup before you buy the ticket and the weather is always changing but every year the concert is sold out as soon as the tickets go on sale.
“Yes, I would love to come again next year, it was so much fun,” said Senior Trey Muniz. “My favorite band is the Beasty Boys and it would be awesome to see them at next year’s festival.”
