AUSTIN CITY LIMITS - WEEKEND TWO: SUNDAY

All good things must come to an end and with the third day of the second weekend of Austin City Limits, the festival season is pretty much over. Yes there are a few left this year, but for the most part this was the end of the cycle for many bands. Plenty of acts even said as much during their set with saying it was their last shows of the year or they wouldn’t be playing these songs again for awhile.

ACL

Caroline Rose and Sego kicked the last day off. Caroline Rose moved all about the stage and the front amplifiers. Watching her is watching someone who if they stay still they might explode and the rest of the band follows suit. On the other side of the park Sego were doing the exact same, bringing a ton of energy to one of the smaller stages of the fest. Going from one high energy to the other was a great way to start the last day on a high note. From there Julia Jacklin brought her great songs to the Honda stage to a rapt audience. It was great to be able to hear nothing but the music while she was on stage as the crowd only made noise between songs to shower her and the band with some love.

Caroline Rose

Sego

ACL

Julia Jacklin

Local Austin band Ley Line might have been the most impressive band on the bill and were so happy to be playing their hometown festival. The harmonies between the four women were stunning and all of their playing was just jaw dropping. Their songs also contain multiple languages being sung, sometimes all at once. The wall of sound that came at the crowd was just inspiring. To go from that over to IDLES might have been the biggest dichotomy of the day, but sometimes that’s how festivals are. IDLES of course played a no nonsense punk rock as fuck set. Crowd surfers were plenty and mosh pits were numerous. Band members dove into the crowd and joined the mosh pit as well. IDLES is hands down one of the best rock acts out there right now and if you haven’t seen them yet you are doing yourself a disservice.

Ley Line portrait

Ley Line

IDLES

After seeing a band like that you need a moment to catch you breathe and Yola was perfect for that slot. She has one of the best voices around right now and she packed the tent in with it. She played most of her record Walk Through Fire and definitely made some new fans at the festival as more people seemed to continue to stop by while she played her set. From Yola on, it was an onslaught of powerful and talented women who brought the festival to a close. Rosalía put on a clinic of dancing and singing to a huge audience, which she noted a few times, thanking everyone endlessly for coming out to her set. Her mix of flamenco and pop filled the park with audience members smiling and dancing along fairly far back from her stage. Rosalía is someone that is to be paid attention to as her audience already grew a lot from weekend one from what I was told.

Yola

Yola portrait

ACL

Rosalia

Banks followed and while she sounded great and had the crowd grooving along to her songs it was time to get some rest and food. After a short refuel, Kacey Musgraves sang her heart out to a fairly crowded field, covering most of Golden Hour record and some choice covers including “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” that had the crowd dancing and yee-hawing along with her. Kacey really has had an absolutely terrific year and she was definitely happy to be at home in Austin soaking in that last bit of festival season.

Banks

ACL

Kacey Musgraves

It’s not a secret that the first weekend Lizzo commanded the largest crowd in the festival’s history for a non-headliner and weekend two was no different and might have been even bigger. They showed her set on two other stages so that everyone could watch it if they wanted to and she proceeded to rock the hell out of ACL. It has been wild watching her grow as a performer and make these crowds her own. Witnessing a crowd of tens of thousands of people do the wave because they are asked to is pretty damn impressive too. Finally it was on to one last dance party with Robyn. While I didn’t stay for the whole set, Robyn was in great form, constantly moving about the stage and showing that she is still quite the bad ass that she always has been. With that the 2019 Austin City Limits ended and the dates for next year are out there already.