ACL Highlights Day 1

Hey all-

This is such a perfect post for the 200th post on Soundztastee!

The last 72 hours have felt like a week, but in a good way. There was so much great music, sun, food, and new friends.

My favorite part of the festival was the beginning of the day, between 12:30-2, before most people arrived. It was so easy to wander around and hop from stage (there were 8!) to stage and catch some lesser known bands.

Skyline of Austin in the background:

Arriving early I was able to catch Vonnegutt-a hip hop, alternative, yet slightly pop band:

and Givers before settling for the entire set of Charlie Mars.

Then it was off to see the Blues Travelers

followed by a bit of exploring the Art Market and grabbing food. There were so many food options! For meat lovers to vegans, and even local farmer's market goods. The only thing missing was fruit.

Day 1 I got the blackened fish taco, don't know what I was thinking there was tomatoes and cheese, I took them off but that didn't leave much.

Day 2-3 I went with a steam vegetable burrito which was a much safer bet. No picture but it contained carrots, peppers, and summer squash along with black beans and a chipotle sauce. Might not sound like anything wonderful for meat eats, but it was tasty!

Another vender that looked really good but I wasn't sure if my stomach could handle the fried food so I stayed away was...

Mighty Cone-Served hot and crunchy chicken or shrimp, with or without avocado, hot and crunchy avocado, venison sausage wrap, and death by chocolate

After lunch I made my way through the crowd and got a decent spot for the Black Keys. Originally I was going to race to Miike Snow but decided to stick with the Black Keys' stage and get a good spot for Spoon and The Strokes. Good decision on my part because the crowd was brutal and I wouldn't have been able to get anywhere close if I had walked away. In the end I was about 5 rows back for Spoon and 3 for the Strokes, both put on awesome sets and being close always makes it better!

The Black Keys (do you see the lady in the pink shirts on the bottom left of the picture? She and about 3-4 others signed various songs. Not quite sure why a deaf person would come to a music festival but their must have been a strong demand!).

For reasons I won't go into on the blog I ended up by myself of the festival. At first I was in tears at the thought of having to hang out alone, but it wasn't so bad. I was able to do my own thing, hop from stage to stage when I wanted and I met some really cool down to earth people.

Day 2-3 coming soon!

Nicole