Special Event Indeed (Charlie L. Harper III/KXAN)

I have to take back some of what I said in my previous entry Torn ACL, it was more like a sprained ACL for the first day of the festival.

We caught JJ Gray & Mofro on the Budweiser Stage, next was Jack Johnson’s buddy Donovan Frankenreiter playing his signature fireside beach music on the Honda Stage.  Soft Pack was making people move to their catchy song hooks on the Zync Stage.  Then I took a break in the tent to stretch, eat, and rehydrate.  I was trying not to tear a muscle, you know?

We had a short talk with Rymo from Slightly Stoopid then rushed back into the festival to catch some of Girls’ set on the Zync Stage.  Then I caught the first half of Black Keys set on the AMD Stage, the big crowd at the AMD stage went nuts. I had to leave there early to catch Slightly Stoopid clear across the park at the Budweiser Stage, I made it easily.  Then we got to see Vampire Weekend who may have been one of the best acts of the day as they hypnotized the crowd from atop the Zync Stage.

After all this, there still remained the headliners.  Phish and The Strokes.  We started with Phish who as always had their insane light show operating in full swing, every person in the crowd was waving a glow stick or hula hooping with a neon hoop, or had neon body piercings bouncing light off their face.  It was quite a scene and the dedicated Phish fans ate it up.

We left after three songs or so because I was anxious to see The Strokes who had a crowd that was probably twice as big as that of Phish … and man were they playing the hits.  In just the part of the set that I saw, I heard “Reptilia,” “Someday,” and the song that skyrocketed them to stardom in the first place, “Last Nite.”

All in all I found that I had an easy time getting around Zilker to the different stages, I was able to move from stage to stage without rushing it or feeling like I was missing out on someone else.  You can catch half a set then trek halfway across the park and catch the back half of another that started at the same time.  So, as it were, there should be no Torn ACLs this year at Austin City Limits, maybe just a sprain here and there.