fitness & fro-yo: Austin City Limits

I apologize for the delay in this post. The original plan was to post my ACL review on Monday, but school caught up to me and what I thought was going to be a painless weak turned into a very stressful one. While the stress stinks, I am thankful that my professors have offered the opportunity to rewrite papers for a better grade. I have accepted that the rest of October is going to be pretty crazy, but I am hoping things will slow down upon the arrival of November. They probably won't, but here's to wishful thinking!

Anyway, let's move on to Austin City Limits. For those of you who don't know, Austin City Limits, also known as ACL, is a three-day eight stage music festival that takes place at our very own Zilker Park. This year was its 11th year, and it was the final year of being only one weekend. After years of sellout crowds, ACL is going to be two weekends next year, with the same bands playing each weekend.

2012 Line-up

I have to admit that ACL wouldn't normally be my scene. An avid country music fan, I have generally not heard of a majority of the bands that come to ACL, and I find myself being unable to justify spending $90 on a one-day pass. However, I knew that I wanted to take part in this legendary music festival at least one time before I graduated college, because let's face it, then I could call myself a true hipster. Okay, not really, but a girl can dream. Anyway, even I had to admit that the lineup was pretty phenomenal this year, and Sunday literally had all of the bands that I wanted to see, so a Sunday ticket was just calling my name.

Unfortunately, I was in Spain when the tickets officially went on sale, and tickets sell out fast for ACL, so I was unable to buy myself a ticket. Two of my roommates had Sunday tickets, so I refreshed Craigslist pretty much every day until I found someone who was selling Sunday tickets for a decent price. I ended up finding someone in Houston, and my mom so graciously met up with the man to make the ticket purchase before mailing me the coveted Sunday wristband.

When Sunday rolled around, I got all dressed up in my best hipster attire - which really isn't that hipster at all - ate a quick lunch, and rolled out in the direction of Zilker Park around 12:45pm. We ended up having to walk about twenty minutes to the park, but parking was free and I didn't have to attempt to parallel park. Score!

Roomies: Jamie Lynn, me, Natalie

Since this was my first ACL, I was pretty pumped, and it certainly didn't disappoint. First up on the list was Needtobreathe, and since I missed their February concert, I was excited to get to see them live. I listened to them for about 45 minutes before heading over to Aaron Ivey Band on the Zilker stage. While I get to listen to them every Sunday at church, it was cool to watch them perform at such a secular event. Plus, they sang some songs that we don't normally sing at Stone, so that rocked. Next up was The Civil Wars - a band I was unfamiliar with, but I fell in love. It is a Joy Williams and John Paul White duo, and they are just precious. I recommend doing a search on iTunes for them - you won't regret it. My friend and I jetted out a little early in the attempt to see The Lumineers, but that was a complete fail. They were on a small stage with poor sound, and it was a total traffic jam. Props to Jamie Lynn for forging a path to Austin Eats.

NEEDTOBREATHE

Aaron Ivey

I was starving by this time, so when my friend said she was getting barbecue, I knew exactly what I wanted. I opted for the chopped beef sandwich from Stubbs, which I scarfed down in a record three minutes. Seriously. I was still pretty hungry, so when I saw someone walking around with a giant slice of watermelon, I just had to find out where I could get one of those. It was from Luke's Inside Out and it was the perfect refresher for someone who was quickly losing energy.

After dinner it was time to make our way over to see the Avett Brothers, who I will admit I knew nothing about, but they were performing as the sun was going down, and I was able to sit on the grass and listen to some great music. They put on a fantastic show, and I was hesitant to get up and head over to get a prime spot for Randy Rogers Band, but they are one of my favorites, so I knew it had to be done. While I didn't stay for all of their show, they sure put on a great performance and here's to hopefully seeing them again at the Houston Rodeo!

Randy Rogers

We left after Randy Rogers, before the headliner Red Hot Chili Peppers, one, because none of us were too keen on them anyway, and two, we still had quite a bit of neglected homework to complete before Monday morning rolled around. We got home a little after 9pm, sunburned and smelling like a mixture of questionable things, but it was a day well-spent. And though I certainly paid for it this week in the school department, sometimes you just gotta do those things. I am already anticipating the release of next year's lineup, in the hopes that I will know enough bands to justify purchasing a ticket, because it sure was a great Austin experience. This view just never gets old.