ACL Festival Weekend One Recap

The weekend of October 4th-6th, my friends and I eagerly encountered the 3-day odyssey of music, festival clothing, local savory foods, glitter, and swarms of fans from all over the country. Having bought our tickets in early April, the time had come much quicker than we expected.

An Austinite myself, I drove three friends down to Austin, on what turned out to be a 7-hour drive to accommodate for different drop-offs, had dinner at my house, and went to stay with my roommate’s best friend downtown to stay in close vicinity of ACL.

I chose weekend one mainly for Cardi B, Guns N’ Roses, Childish Gambino, Billie Eilish, Rosalía, Lizzo, and Black Fire Pistol. I did not end up going to Guns N’ Roses, but ended up near the front for Tame Impala with my friends instead. The wait was long, almost 2 hours, with dehydration prevalent in everyone and the scorching heat singing us worse with each day. Tame Impala’s set was beautiful; an intricate mix of ebbing bass, light vocals, and luminous laser effects. I went in morose about missing the band I was raised listening to, and came out an emergent fan of Tame Impala. As the set went on, I found myself closing my eyes and feeling the music take over. Similarly, Childish Gambino closing the next night was the highlight of my weekend. 

He took control of his own narrative, spinning stories through dance, killer vocals, funny facial expressions, somewhat taking on a Michael Jackson-esque character. We lost ourselves that night, dancing, jumping and screaming in joy and awe over the talent we were lucky to be in the presence of all in one fleeting weekend.  

Rosalía and Black Fire Pistol got me fired up and wanting their performances to remain infinite. After all, I cut my hair 11 inches at 3 a.m. spurred on by Black Fire Pistol the week before ACL, in an act of peak impulsiveness and disdain of being swung around by my hair, as I had been at JMBLYA.  

I ended up running with the EDM crowd and bopping to GRIZ instead of Lizzo with some of my band members (Sounds of Isha-Austin), with some gummies definitely playing a part in me getting lost in the merging Cardi B and Lizzo masses. 

Cardi B ended up being 30 minutes late, with people leaving in annoyance. We stuck it out, and she definitely delivered. 

Overall, the whole weekend went by in a blink, yet each day dragged on at the same time. My feet died by each night, only to be resurrected to live up to what we had paid hundreds of dollars for. ACL is definitely worth the money, with an amazing selection of food from local vendors and great spots to take cute pictures in the bright scenery bursting with people brimming with excitement. The mosh pits were definitely avoided, with my friend literally being puked on and others losing their belongings along with their sanity. Fair warning: you may die without a hydration backpack; somehow, we survived with little to no water and food. If you want tips, definitely stop reading my article while you still can. 

My first ACL experience was crazy, especially having to drive the morning after to come back for classes and procrastinated schoolwork, but I would not change it for the world. Getting to experience it with the right people definitely matters, and I was lucky enough to and enjoyed being back right at home. Weekend two’s chilly weather seemed the better move, but Megan thee Stallion didn’t show up at all… I’ll take Tardy Cardi over that anyday.