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ACL Fest: Made in the Shade: 4
Made in the Shade series: During the Austin City Limits Music Festival 2011, how will music lovers respond to the changing weather conditions and crowds as well as the acts they came to hear?
At least the mature turf is holding up. In 2009, the tender shoots turned to smelly mush by the end of Saturday at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Despite more sustained rain today, an cursory inspection of the field from end to end turned up no significantly bald spots.
The ponchos, umbrellas and makeshift shelters popped up by mid-afternoon. The additional tents, intended for sun protection, were used to keep music lovers dry.
“It good for our skin,” said Beth Bellanti, marketing guru for Tito’s Handmade Vodka. “We curly-haired people have to pin it down!”
“The rain’s not going to stop us,” said Brandon Erickson, temporary caterer for Central Market, which served 1,200 diners last night and expects to serve 1,700 today at the Grove Cafe. “It’s nice to have this year.”
“We were here for ‘09, so this is no big deal,” said San Antonio small businessman Michael Hoyle, whose family stocked up on ponchos, umbrellas and other gear at Costco. “Our problem is the lack of big (printed) programs. We don’t know half the bands.”
(Pictured: Chris Bunk, Denise Bunk, Rachel Fisher and Nina Hoyle)
That was a frequently heard complaint: The gap is huge between the marquee acts and the day bands, according to some patrons.
“It just amazes how smoothly this thing runs and how big it is,” said entertainer and humanitarian Turk Pipkin, praising the new wristband accounting system, the nested circles of behind-the-scenes zones and the relative dearth of crises.
“We have been hoping and praying for rain,” said fashion leader My-Cherie Haley. “So it finally comes on the first day of the festival.” (She sighs.)
“I’m from Houston,” said her husband and lobbyist Anthony Haley. “So it feels like home. I was flying back from Houston yesterday and, out of the window, we saw something that people were trying to figure out: Is it smoke or is it mist? It was rain!”
“God must like music festivals,” joked Democratic political activist Austin Adams. “But he must not like Rick Perry’s grandstanding.”
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By anthony haley
September 18, 2011 11:42 PM | Link to this
Biking is the way to go!