Off the Record
Recounting the first decade of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, one year at a time
By Austin Powell, Fri., Sept. 16, 2011
Decade
The Austin City Limits Music Festival always begins the same way: the Star Wars theme followed by Western swing institution Asleep at the Wheel. Then things get interesting. On the cusp of ACL's 10th anniversary spectacular, OTR looks back at the highs and lows that have come to define Austin's premier destination festival. May the force be with you.
ACL 2002: Beginner's Luck
Sister Seven's road manager Charlie Jones of Capital Sports & Entertainment and Stubb's booker Charles Attal join forces for a two-day outing heavy on local talent.
Headliners: Arc Angels, Wilco, the String Cheese Incident, Ryan Adams
Breakout: Gary Clark Jr.
Chronicle reported: "[Y]ou'd have to be pretty damn jaded to look at this inaugural festival's lineup and dirt-cheap ticket price and not see the potential for something big." – Andy Langer
ACL 2003: Back in Black
Dedicated to Johnny and June Carter Cash, with Drive-By Truckers, North Mississippi Allstars, and Old 97's, among others, paying tribute.
Headliners: R.E.M., Steve Winwood, Al Green, Mavis Staples, Dwight Yoakam
Breakouts: Kings of Leon, the Shins, Jeff Klein
Chronicle reported: "Everybody we went after we pretty much got." – Charles Attal
ACL 2004: Growing Pains
An increase in capacity to 75,000 and deadening heat prove too much to handle despite Solomon Burke's royal R&B revue.
Headliners: Solomon Burke, the Pixies, Sheryl Crow, Cat Power, Elvis Costello
Breakouts: Franz Ferdinand, the Killers, Ray LaMontagne
Chronicle reported: "Hot tip for any band with two really good albums and a couple more fair to average discs to its credit: break up." – Michael Bertin on the Pixies reunion
ACL 2005: The Dust Bowl
Roky Erickson returns with the magnitude of Hurricane Rita, the latter causing cancellations and a massive dust storm; ACL earns Pollstar's Music Festival of the Year award.
Headliners: Coldplay, Widespread Panic, Oasis, the Black Crowes
Breakouts: Arcade Fire, the Frames
Chronicle reported: "Austin's autumn music fest has thus far been cursed with hellishly hot temperatures and not a prayer of rain. 2005 was the most biblical yet." – Christopher Gray
ACL 2006: It's Raining Tampons
Ben Kweller plugs his infamous nosebleed onstage, gets spoofed the next night by the Flaming Lips.
Headliners: Tom Petty, Van Morrison, Massive Attack
Breakouts: Ghostland Observatory, Phoenix, Feist
Chronicle reported: "[T]he dance party was too soon over – and, somehow, a new day was just beginning."
– Dan Oko on Ghostland Observatory's last-minute addition
ACL 2007: Ring of Fire
The White Stripes cancel, M.I.A. and LCD Soundsystem square off, a propane tank ignites, and somehow the newly minted C3 Presents avoids catastrophe.
Headliners: Bob Dylan, Björk, Muse, My Morning Jacket
Breakouts: Andrew Bird, Peter Bjorn & John, Regina Spektor
Chronicle reported: "In the end, M.I.A. really did pull up the people." – Audra Schroeder
ACL 2008: Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace
For once, everything goes as planned; Spiritualized rises to the occasion.
Headliners: Foo Fighters, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Beck, Manu Chao
Breakouts: Vampire Weekend, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, MGMT
Chronicle reported: "'We're not really a festival band,' offered Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold from the stage, but the Seattle quintet aptly demonstrated it was, in fact, worthy of the label." – Doug Freeman
ACL 2009: "Austin Shitty Limits"
$2.5 million in landscaping improvements goes out to pasture as Zilker Park morphs into a mud bowl reeking of Dillo Dirt, the city's treated-sewage compost.
Headliners: Pearl Jam, Kings of Leon, Dave Matthews Band, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Breakouts: Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, Raphael Saadiq, Passion Pit
Chronicle reported: "In an act of solidarity and sympathy that echoed as loud as any howls, [Eddie] Vedder splashed down in the mud of the mosh pit, a last reminder we're in this shit together." – Dan Oko on Pearl Jam
ACL 2010: Size Matters
C3 Presents lands its biggest headliners to date, a feat matched by the scale of the performances by everyone from the Flaming Lips to Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.
Headliners: Eagles, Phish, Strokes, Muse
Breakouts: The Relatives, Miike Snow, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
Chronicle reported: "Thank you, Eagles fans, for not throwing shit at us." – Ted Leo
Festival Notes
Park rangers have pledged to enforce the statewide burn ban this weekend. According to the Statesman, patrons will be asked to stop smoking or to exit the park to light up, refusal of which could lead to trespassing citations by the Austin Police Department. Good luck with that.
Hate the taste of Nicorette? YouTube's live-streaming performances on two channels with exclusive backstage footage: www.youtube.com/aclfestival.
Mavis Staples headlines the sixth annual Concert Under the Stars, a fundraiser for the re-election of Texas Sen. Kirk Watson at Zilker Park tonight (Thursday). Bring your checkbook.
Organizers have installed 11,000 square feet of shade as well as additional free water dispensers and an extra misting station. Patrons can bring two sealed water bottles.
Returning vendor Toms Shoes has donated 2,400 pairs of shoes through sales over the last five years at the festival.
Red Cross of Central Texas and Texas Wildlife Relief Fund will be accepting donations at the volunteer headquarters (10am-6pm), with help from the Do Good Bus,a traveling community activist initiative that is partnering with Foster the People. C3 Presents has pledged to match Friday's funds.
Three-time ACL veteran Colin Meloy of the Decemberists reads from Wildwood, the first installment in his fantastical middle-grade series set in Portland, Ore.'s "Impassable Wilderness," with his wife/illustrator Carson Ellis at BookPeople on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 7pm.
Just as the hangover from ACL subsides, Black Pistol Fire pulls from the hip at the Palm Door for Paper Cuts, the Chronicle's free live music series, sponsored by Capital Metro and featuring refreshments from Pacifico beer, DonQ Rum, and DoubleDave's. RSVP at austinchronicle.com/papercuts.
From Beyond
The Butthole Surfers didn't just open Pandora's box at Emo's East on Sunday; the shock-psych troupe drilled it a gloryhole. Wielding a 90-minute shotgun marriage of art-damaged Texas blues and hardcore delinquency, the reunited Surfers gave Frank Hendrix's sold-out, $2 million Riverside facility a trial by everything but fire. Three massive projection screens mirrored the quartet's twisted vision, which peaked with a searing medley of "Lady Sniff" and "Pepper." "Anybody want to hear a racist joke?" egged mad conductor Gibby Haynes early. "Go to a Rick Perry press conference."
