ACL Fest to go to Two Weekends in 2013 (Houston, San Antonio: fit in, to rent)

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by scm53

Wow. I didn't realize you were capable of an air gapped Vulcan mind probe that could tell EXACTLY what I'm thinking. If you really were, then you'd also see the 17,000 songs in my iTunes collection and see the range there. Spare me the lectures until you know WTF you are talking about. Ask my daughter and son-in-law, who met while working at Maverick Records, how diverse my tastes are

Relax. I was seriously just giving you a hard time (thus the face) about your previous proposals that ACL should headline "country boy bands." I'm still a little incredulous about that, but I do agree that ACL has basically turned into Lolla South. I think the two weekends could give ACL much more room to expand its repertoire.

[Dog_Gone]

I wonder if this will change the way ACL sells their tickets? It was easy to buy tickets early, not knowing the line up, when it was one weekend. Now that it is two weekends the strategy for buying tickets changes, unless you just scalp for a living or are just a music hound and have lots of free time.
How will anyone know which weekend to attend if the bands are not announced sooner? Much more risk in my opinion.
I know the tickets will sell. Maybe not as many will be sold early.

[AustinGuy]

Originally Posted by scm53

If ACL wants to be something more than Lollapalooza South, then they need to get the diversity of the most successful music festival in the country, Milwaukee's SummerFest.

I don't think ACL wants to be anything other than Lollapalooza South. It IS Lollapalooza South for all intents and purposes and both are run by the same company, C3. I went to Lolla last year, and besides the location change and more moderate weather, it might as well have been ACL.

[centralaustinite]

It is an inconvenience for those of who live and are raising families in Central Austin. WAYA athletic activities, sports on Town Lake, getting to the Y, all the regular places that we go to in our ordinary lives (not to mention work and school which have us on Barton Springs Road, Riverside, Cesar Chavez etc multiple times a day) will be a headache.

The entire month of March is tough enough as it is! Now add two weeks in October and F1 in November, sigh. I'm starting to feel like a grumpy townie in a beach or resort town!

[BevoLJ]

Originally Posted by AustinGuy

I don't think ACL wants to be anything other than Lollapalooza South. It IS Lollapalooza South for all intents and purposes and both are run by the same company, C3. I went to Lolla last year, and besides the location change and more moderate weather, it might as well have been ACL.

This.

I don't think ACL wants to be anything but what it is. C3 does both ACL and Lollapalooza. It will never be anything like NO Jazz Fest. That isn't what it is or is trying to be. Personally I like to think of Lolla as ACL North, rather than ACL as Lolla South.

That said, it does have very diverse music. It is just silly to suggest otherwise.

If Austin is going to have its own version of NO Jazz Fest then going and changing ACL to that is the wrong way to go about it.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

This.

I don't think ACL wants to be anything but what it is. C3 does both ACL and Lollapalooza. It will never be anything like NO Jazz Fest. That isn't what it is or is trying to be. Personally I like to think of Lolla as ACL North, rather than ACL as Lolla South.

That said, it does have very diverse music. It is just silly to suggest otherwise.

If Austin is going to have its own version of NO Jazz Fest then going and changing ACL to that is the wrong way to go about it.

I made that comparison carefully, fully cognizant of the C3 connection. But basically, the two are interchangeable. What is played during the afternoon musical petting zoos - if that is your fig leaf of musical diversity, so be it. The meat is in the headliners. This year, for example, the headliners for ACL are IDENTICAL to the headliners for Lolla - just swap out Black Sabbath for Neil Young and the other three are the same. So much for diversity, huh? Continues down the bills - Florence + the Machine, at both. M83 - at both. Shinns - both. Afghan Whigs - both. Both festivals are solidly metal, punk, hip hop and indie.

Problem is, as much as some of you are like five year olds at Christmas over the prospect of a second weekend of the same old, same old, there comes a time when the PITA factor to all of Austin runs headlong into the narrow appeal of Lolla South. The impact of a single w/e of ACL on Austin is 100X the impact of Lolla on Chicago. Start with the thousands of parking places adjacent to Grant Park. Just like Zilker, huh? The freeways and Lakeshore Dr. Just like Barton Springs Rd, huh? And on and on. At some point, the average Austinite says, "What's in it for me?". If they are a metal, punk, hip hop or indie fan, plenty. If not, at some point, there WILL be a backlash. The way to avoid that is to make it, like SummerFest, something that appeals to everyone. Stay on the current road, and council can just as easily pull the plug. Like the F1 concert died a quick death because they dared to cross the Junior League!

Now, they get Paul McCartney here next year, all will be forgiven.

[MtnLion512]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

YES! Thank you. I know lots of people who have skipped ACL the last year or two for that reason and opted for out-of-town events like Free Press Summer Fest in Houston instead.

Milwaukee SummerFest, yes, but I can't think of any reason why anyone in Austin would want to go to Free Press Summer Fest over ACL for more diversity in genre...FPSF is essentially the same styles of music and tons of the same artists, with way less heavy hitters. The only potential reason I can think of is if someone wants to see lots of unknown or emerging Texas bands, but SXSW covers lots of that. I of course give major props to FPSF for their success, and their lineups are getting better every year...but folks in Austin foregoing ACL to drive to Houston for FPSF? Not many.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by Westerner92

Relax. I was seriously just giving you a hard time (thus the face) about your previous proposals that ACL should headline "country boy bands." I'm still a little incredulous about that, but I do agree that ACL has basically turned into Lolla South. I think the two weekends could give ACL much more room to expand its repertoire.

If you will go back and read what I said, I said specifically that the boy bands, like Rascal Flatts, would go over like a, well, you know what in a punch bowl. Tim McGraw - who has collaborated with Def Leppard and Nelly - might be a different deal.

I know all you ACL Fest lovers want to run around proclaiming how "diverse" it is. Fact is, all those "diverse" acts are relegated to the micro-stages. The Bud Light stage is almost exclusively metal, indie, alt or hip hop - all of which are the same things at SXSW and FFF. If ACL Fest wants to look like ACL The Show - then they need to put the right country acts, the right classic rock acts, on the main stage in almost equal numbers to the other genres. And no, Iggy Pop is not classic rock. Actually, neither is Neil Young - the oldest indie rock act alive. Maybe Van Morrison? And like I said earlier, Paul McCartney would get me and my walker out in the middle of all you I'm currently busy chasing off my lawn. Heck, Beach Boys played Bonnaroo this year. Why not ACL Fest next year?

[Onedarkrose]

Originally Posted by MtnLion512

Milwaukee SummerFest, yes, but I can't think of any reason why anyone in Austin would want to go to Free Press Summer Fest over ACL for more diversity in genre...FPSF is essentially the same styles of music and tons of the same artists, with way less heavy hitters. The only potential reason I can think of is if someone wants to see lots of unknown or emerging Texas bands, but SXSW covers lots of that. I of course give major props to FPSF for their success, and their lineups are getting better every year...but folks in Austin foregoing ACL to drive to Houston for FPSF? Not many.

I know people who went to see Primus at the Free Press Summer Fest because they rarely play here and when they do it's at Stubb's and the tickets sell out. It's easier to get tickets and Houston has more infrastructure for handling traffic than we do here.

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by MtnLion512

Milwaukee SummerFest, yes, but I can't think of any reason why anyone in Austin would want to go to Free Press Summer Fest over ACL

It's a whole lot closer than Milwaukee, for one! But yes, I think it was the lure of TX acts and a few others.... yep, remember hearing about Primus I think.