Austin City Limits

Friday morning we departed for Austin, TX.  I had not been to Austin in 25 years.  I am thrilled to report that Austin is still a very cool town.

Austin City Limits
is an alternative music festival.  3 days of music.  The event takes place in a huge park.  I’d say the average temperature was around 95 plus humidity every day.  Mostly college students wandering from stage to stage. Lots of music I knew but a few new artists that I found there.  All and all a great event.

MattDay one we saw two acts that I had never seen before.  Matt Nathanson and Okkervil River.  Matt reminded me a bit of Josh Rouse.  Melodic, one guy and a guitar with his drummer and bass player.  Okkervil River is a local Austin band.  They rocked.  Sounded a bit like Connor Oberst.  Politcal songs, great voice, rocking music. 

The pic is of Matt playing with his band.  We bagged staying for the last few acts.  Our friends had just flown in and we wanted to hook up.

The downside of the festival is that Austin is not as prepared for the amount of people that come in for the festival.  Getting down there is not so easy.  There are some shuttles but they aren’t consistent.  The taxi situation gets a bit crazed.  I actually tried to rent bikes for a few days but that wasn’t so easy.  We ended up finding the rickshaw type bikes to take home every night.  It was perfect.  You got to see the city and not deal with the traffic.  Thanks to the strong guys who drove us home.