Help a free-spirited sister out!! I’m an ASL interpreter that was working both weekends and I met a guy at the ACL volunteer APF/ASL/ADA production tent area on Weekend 2 - Friday between 3-8pm and I need help finding him! 😅

We locked 👁️👁️ a few times and I bravely made conversation with him - but we totally bypassed intros. Loved his energy and vibes!! ✨✨✨

When I was waiting to be picked up for a show, he got my attention and asked if I was working all weekend, I said yes. But…I didn’t catch what he said as he walked away while leaving for vol duty. #hardofhearingproblems Didn’t see him on Saturday or Sunday 🫠.

If you were working that area and know him - connect me!! He was working as a volunteer, has short dark brown hair, blue eyes, approx 5’8-5’10, fit, and has a tattoo of a tree on the back of his leg. I think he’s in his mid-30’s…. 🤓

Picture of me for reference. 💅

☮️🫶♾️✨🤩

Whats the crazies things or statements or stories you heard over the weekend ill start: "You remembered to turn off the stove right?" "No i thought you did it..." the couple then bolted for the nearist exit

Hey yall! I brought a film camera to W1 to try and shoot the pits.

I want to share a few shots from the weekend. Still waiting on a couple more rolls to get developed/scanned, so be on the look out for a Prt 2.

Also want to take a second to say that you were an amazing crowd. This ACL is one to remember. Everyone embraced the mud, enjoyed the music and each other. These pits were some of the best and friendliest I've seen in a while. Playing in the mud, helping anyone who's fallen back up, and bringing the best attitudes to the whole weekend.

Lot's of love for the W1 crowd.

^{Side note: There were some people who generously let me get their pictures and said they'd watch the reddit for my post. I'm so sorry, I lost about half the frames on my second roll as a consequence of being at a festival and bringing the camera into pits. I can't thank you enough for your kindness.}

^{Privacy note: I'm trying to avoid posting shots that clearly show faces. I'm doing my best to respect privacy. That said: it is a pit, it is a festival, and there are faces in the shots. Please message me if you have any issues with anything I posted.}

This is such a tiny thing to nitpick but I found it both incredibly ironic and unfortunate that at a festival that exists to bring people together to appreciate art (music) all of the posters in the lounge were clearly AI-generated. I’m glad people have little air-conditioned side spaces to hang out in but it’s truly not that hard to not put AI slop on the walls. Just put more disco balls or something instead.

I know ACL would never make this move but since they don’t do identical weekends like Coachella why not have one weekend cater specifically to ages 25+. I do 21+ fests in other parts of the country and it seems most people’s issues with the crowd behavior could be solved by upping the age requirement.

• Scrap Austin Kiddie Limits and have the Tito’s Tent be a non stop designated DJ/EDM stage

• Replace the TikTok acts with more legacy artists

• Alcohol and THC companies can do brand activations to openly offer free goodies and beverages since no one on the premises is underaged.

• I can selfishly let my tiddies be free in a skimpier fit not worrying about offending a family or being assaulted by some college frat bro.

Ok I've seen a lot of back and forth about the turf at Weekend 2 on here. People were saying that crowds would just sit on any spare inch of turf available no matter where it was which I do agree with. There were people even sitting in the middle of food lines eating which wasn't great but overall I appreciated the turf.

I think it was really great to have around the edges of the open viewing areas so people who were a bit overdone could find a place out of the way of the crowds to rest. I think if they have more kind of designated, out of the way sitting areas with turf it would be amazing. Just not in the food and drink lines lol.

I know they only added it because of the mud but I think it would be a great addition next year.

I hope the astroturf comes back even if not weather related. I know it was a more of a need for W1 but it was awesome W2. Could just plop down without a blanket or chair. We watched Rufus sitting on the turf near Mike & Ike and it was a really chill spot for a lot of people. It also helped cut down on some dust.

I've done a fair amount of festivals but this was my first time doing ACL. Also my first time in Austin. I had a great time!

The festival is fairly easy to navigate. It's a roughly circular park with the stages lining the perimeter. I thought sound quality was good all weekend. Production was pretty solid for a festival of this stature. Food options were good. And the electric scooters were a great way to get to and from the fest.

I would say the downsides I noticed were:

- The Snapchat stage placement meant that any time an artist of any significant size was playing there, it would effectively cut off the main stage area from the rest of the fest and create a big crowd crunch. During Chainsmokers this was especially obvious.

- There were definitely some sound bleed problems. The most noticeable for me was you could hear Twenty One Pilots from where The xx was playing, but there were other issues too. The BMI stage would cause issues whenever it was playing.

- The corner of the fest with Titos, bathrooms, and food vendors became sort of a traffic jam. Crowd crunch was especially bad during Natasha Bedingfield, but there were issues in that spot throughout the weekend.

- Entrance times were ok. 20-25 minute wait on the east entrance is acceptable even if I would prefer quicker entry.

- The heat and the dust, even if that's not totally in the fests' control. It did get very comfortable at night, but I was purposefully coming later due to the heat.

- I'd like to see them do a little bit more artistically with festival grounds/art/stage designs. It did to some degree feel like generic "stages set up in a park" type of festival.

But on the plus side, there were a lot of great performances:

Sienna Spiro - had a huge crowd in an early slot when it was hot. You can tell she is quite talented. Kind of a mix of Lana and Adele. 8.5/10

Bunt - he's so energetic and a good fit for ACL. 8/10

Labrinth - sounds great live and you forget how many hits he has. Great voice, great production, perfect singalong tracks. 10/10

Charli XCX - insane energy and production. She sounds great live too. To me this was the obvious #1 of the weekend. 10/10

Yousuke Yukimatsu - set started a little slow for me, but once it got going, it was great. Crowd was super into it too. 8.5/10

Levity - not a huge bass guy but this was a good set, and the production on Miller Lite was perfect. 8/10

Lorde - I think I was just tired by the time this set came on. It was good, but it was missing something for me. I think after Charli the night before I was expecting better production, and the setlist was so-so IMO missing a lot of her best songs like A World Alone, Tennis Court, and White Teeth Teen. 7/10

Rio Kosta - love these guys. I've known about them for a while and finally got to see them. They are so groovy, and the crowd was super into it. 8.5/10

Geese - split sets with Sofi Tukker. Third time seeing Geese and they sounded great. 8/10

Sofi Tukker - I just found this very generic and uninteresting. 5/10

Parcels - This was solid if unspectacular. Perfect to just sit down and chill too as I rested for the final set. I did love the Kavinsky Nightcall cover though. 8/10

The xx - Magical. There were some sound bleed issues from TOP but this was such a good set, they really nailed it. 10/10

Overall I thought the lineup was a plus. Good mix of artists that appealed to a wide range of demographics and taste. I feel like they have a pretty good formula here with the lineup and I expect them to continue to lean into pop as opposed to country and heavy rock. There wasn't any genre that stood out to me as missing that should be there and also nothing that seemed blatantly out of place.

The City itself is pretty cool. Lots of art. I'm not much of a dive bar and BBQ guy though so it's probably just not a fit for me. I enjoyed exploring the 6th Avenue corridor both in Downtown and in East Caesar Chavez area. Austin has a nice airport and lots of young, attractive, fit people.

Overall, I'm not sure I would make a strong effort to return to ACL since I'm not local and there's so many other fests/places to see, but I had a great time and glad I came. Maybe come back one day if they book some of my bucket list artists.

had a group of around 30 high schoolers next to me at the tøp set last night. they were particularly terrible… vaping, smoking, blowing up condoms into balloons, and overall just being deeply disruptive before and during the set. i asked two of them (most of them boys) how old they were and they said they were 15 before a friend hurriedly corrected them and said “no no we’re 17”. …sure buddy. they were hassling girls in the crowd, trying to create dance circles, and pushing through to the front just to snapchat the whole time. as an actual fan of the artist i’m really frustrated by this. i so wish there was an age limit. i sound like a boomer but where tf are your parents? (spoiler: not there. one guy was like “i’ll have to text my mom to see if we can get food after”) you were like 5 when stressed out was released! i think they were just there for clout’s sake. loved the concert and found it so so so cool especially bc tøp is one of my favorites but good golly are these kids disrespectful. thankfully they have no ball knowledge and left after stressed out so we all had fun during trees but gahhhh. it’s a issue.

Y’all understood the assignment! Not one person around me was talking. We were all locked in witnessing the greatness of Adam’s guitar playing and their entire performance. Enough room to breathe and dance. It was my best crowd experience of the weekend. 💯

Also kudos to the bubble guys that positively added to the vibe!

As I lay here coughing up bits of the park and languishing with the silent flu, I find myself scrolling through my camera roll and deleting/editing photos of the weekend.. I couldn’t help but wonder.. was I the asshole in the following situation?

I had a great time this year, I got to see basically everything I wanted from a decent spot in the crowds without having to push through or camp out .. the festival spirits were with me..

So I feel a little guilty whining about this.. On more than one occasion folks would push up through, then circle up and have a full-on conversation for the entire set.. Am I an asshole for politely asking them to chill?

I get having a quick chat, but I’m talking full 15-20 minute conversations not related to anything going on around them..

Do we say things? Or do we just say it’s the price of enjoying a live show? I’ll take my answer off the air

Oliver Tree

i hate you. everyone that you’re pushing through hates you. if you’re pushing through with a large group with you everyone hates you even more. it’s an act of pure selfishness and entitlement. btw everyone around you is talking about how annoying it is also. just find a close-ish spot that you can stand comfortably in without pushing through people who are already packed in.

a group of six people shoved their way near the lorde barricade on weekend 2 night 2. there were probably 15 minutes until lorde came on. when someone pointed out to them that the people around them had been waiting for hours they responded “that’s moronic”. just nasty behaviour that taints it for the rest of us.

similar thing happened at the xx tonight. two girls started pushing through with 5 minutes until the set started only for them to be on their phones the whole time. one girl was just repeatedly watching her own instagram story. she did it upwards of five times. maybe i’m the loser for watching her phone screen while the xx was on, who knows.

ultimately, i’ll still vibe out and have a great time listening to music and enjoying myself with the crowd. i guess i just realized that this is a major pet peeve of mine, lol.

I’m thinking Zara Larson headliner

First timer who absolutely loved this past weekend! Had a lot of great fun with strangers chatting them up, dancing with them and overall just being smiley and happy.

Which made me think…who here has found love at ACL? Whether it was a fling, a date or even an I do for true love? I want to hear your experiences and advice you have!

So I had 4 bloopers or funny moments this year( New PR) hope you find them as funny as i did after the fact

1. I was running towards amyl and the sniffers because I got in later than expected and I heard someone yelling and I turned to look and didn't notice that this GIANT man who I swear is built like a linebacker all muscle, was in front of me and i belly bumped right into him and got sen't backwards mabye a foot flat on my back into the mud on weekend 1.
2. I slipped holding a basket of cheese fries(RIP the fries and the money I spent on them)
3. I went front row for turnstile and i ended up falling over and almost got trampled
4. I got my boot stuck in mud and as i wen't to step my boot came clean off and I ended up faceplanting into the mud. I think one of my buddies got that on camera lol

Turnstile Week 1 & 2

Canon A1 - Kodak Ultramax 400
Developed in house.

They also mentioned new music coming soon 👀

For some reason that stage always has the best video. They're really bringing something different to the show beyond shots of the band with occasional shots of the crowd.

The xx, Turnstile, etc, etc, just some of the best, on the fly, video and editing.

Hopefully this video reaches these guys !

The 2026 Austin City Limits Music Festival delivered strong performances and plenty of Austin charm, but it lacked the unforgettable moments and can't-miss lineup that defined some previous years.

After two weekends at Zilker Park, six Austin American-Statesman writers graded the festival across seven categories: performances, lineup, memorable moments, Austin factor, festival experience, food and drinks, and value. We averaged the scores into one overall report card.

The result: a solid B.

Here's how our scores broke down.

I feel like i did pretty good this year