It started with creative announcements placed in classified ads and on bottle caps. Now it will finish with six days of concerts that focus heavily on more than three decades of alternative rock.
Like Coachella, the Austin City Limits Music Festival takes place with the same lineup over two weekends, Oct. 4-6 and 11-13, at Austin’s Zilker Park.
Unfortunately, the fest splits up the headlining acts each night, pitting them against each other on different stages – Depeche Mode versus Muse on Friday, The Cure versus Kings of Leon on Saturday and Atoms for Peach versus Lionel Richie on Sunday.
Of course, there will be many more difficult choices ahead when confronted by live sets happening simultaneously on eight stages.
This year’s ACL lineup includes Phoenix, Wilco, Vampire Weekend, The National, Eric Church, Passion Pit, Queens of the Stone Age, fun., Kendrick Lamar, Franz Ferdinand, D’Angelo, Arctic Monkeys, Kaskade, Tame Impala, Local Natives, Toro Y Moi, Grimes, Portugal. The Man, Silversun Pickups, The Joy Formidable, Neko Case, Divine Fits, Grouplove, Jimmy Eat World, The Black Angels, The Bright Light Social Hour, The Mavericks, Okkervil River, Shuggie Otis, Purity Ring, Dawes, HAIM, Smith Westerns, Walk the Moon, Vintage Trouble, Noah and the Whale, Paper Diamond, Lissie, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Wild Belle, Phosphorescent, Court Yard Hounds, Parquet Courts, White Denim, True Believers, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Delta Rae, Jake Bugg, The Lone Bellow, Shovels & Rope, MS MR, Asleep at the Wheel, Greensky Bluegrass, JD Mcpherson, Wild Feathers and JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound.
And if nearly 12 hours of concerts each day isn’t enough, then the 2013 Official ACL Music Festival Late Night Shows may fill your needs.
An extension of the main event, it hosts shows Oct. 3-12 in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Among the artists performing include Wilco, Queens of the Stone Age, Eric Church, Franz Ferdinand, Vampire Weekend, The National, Dawes, Tame Impala, Eric Church, Grouplove, HAIM, Shuggie Otis, The Black Angels, Silversun Pickups, Walk the Moon, Jake Bugg and The Bright Light Social Hour.
For more information on Austin City Limits Music Festival, visit http://www.aclfestival.com.
